The Ratings Are 'Turrible,' As Charles Barkley Might Say, For His New CNN Show

Charles Barkley's long-awaited CNN program with Gayle King debuted last week to just 501,000, marking one of the lowest-rated CNN primetime premieres over the past decade. 

This past Wednesday, the show dropped to 466,000.

King Charles, as it's titled, was again non-competitive with its counterparts on Fox News and MSNBC at 9 p.m. Hannity averaged 1.9 million viewers. Alex Wagner Tonight averaged 1.4 million.

The flop is not entirely on Barkley and King, two talented TV broadcasters. Hardly anything works on CNN these days.

The network even tried simulcasting a segment on HBO's Real Time with Bill Maher on Fridays and barely over 500,000 viewers tuned in.

CNN has struggled to find a place in the television market since the start of the Biden administration.

CNN is no longer quite as animated or loyal to the Democrat Party as MSNBC but still covers Donald Trump with blatant disdain.

As a result, both liberals and conservatives have better options than CNN.

Plus, the current batch of CNN personalities does not generate the same brand awareness as Chris Cuomo did for CNN or Rachel Maddow does for MSNBC.

They are boring. And unlikable.

That said, Barkley and King do deserve some blame.

Barkley and King combined for the lowest-rated show on CNN on Wednesday from 4 p.m. to 11 p.m.

King Charles' lead-in, Cooper 360, drew over 600,000 viewers. Jake Tapper at 4 p.m. had 882,000.

Barkley and King also trailed every CNN, Fox News, and MSNBC show in the coveted 25-54 demographic during those hours, drawing only 115,000 viewers.

Barkley, however, doesn't believe his new show is as big of a dud as the ratings say.

He ranted against Nielsen ratings -- the standard measurement of television data -- in a podcast appearance on Ernie Johnson's The Steam Room this week

“These Nielsen people try to say our CNN ratings weren’t great .... hey man, to my team, f*** them,” Barkley said.

“Don’t you worry about what people tell you about your ratings? Nobody knows what people are watching. They don’t! You got a group of people who get to dictate who gets hired and fired, and that’s the part that sucks about the Nielsen ratings.

"These Nielsen people are the biggest clowns in the world," Barkley concluded.

That's certainly one way to deal with record lows in the ratings.

Barkley and King are only signed with CNN through 2024. My guess is their show won't be extended.

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