Jericho, Sprague, and TvBigShot

"What would you think about an online "fantasy" game that offered $100,000 cash to the person who could best predict which shows the Nielsen households would watch over a nine-month period? Would you have a problem with it, if Nielsen household members -- or even Nielsen employees -- could play and win?

What if the rules of this game provided an incentive for Nielsen members who are enrolled in the game to watch broadcast TV shows instead of cable TV shows? And what if, in order to get really good at the game, Nielsen members would peruse and learn about dozens of network-only TV shows, many of which they would not have otherwise known about, while not being exposed to a single cable TV show?

Well, folks, such a game exists. It's called TVBigShot, and the game is sponsored by NBC Universal and the Bravo Company. The motto at the top of the Web site? "Spare the Snark, Spoil the Networks." Over 16,300 people have already subscribed, and the game is designed to attract people who are passionate about TV and TV ratings. I think this game will draw Nielsen members like moths to a cathode ray tube."



Sprague Grayden says it's Jericho fans against the world.

"She also believes its time to re-evaluate the Nielsen Ratings system, believes "Jericho" leading lady Sprague Grayden -- after seeing thousands of "Jericho" fans create the campaign that caused CBS to reverse the show's cancellation. "Obviously, 'Jericho' is doing well on the Internet or TiVo, but there's no way to rate that. I think it happens to a lot of shows. This whole TiVo situation is a problem," she says."


"Who knew a post-apocalyptic world could be so beautiful?
Jericho Season 1"


"How brave of CBS to be one of the first networks to say, 'You know what? We need to revisit this. We need to find a new way to define how successful a show is.'" She continues, "The fact that our producers are so open-minded and are saying, 'Sure, I'll listen' -- that never happens. We're all kind of in it together now. It's not just 'Jericho' versus CBS or other shows. It's now 'Jericho' and our fans kind of versus the world."