NBC - WEB DRAMA HITS RECORD RATINGS SLUMP

A drama that made its debut on social networking website MySpace has failed to win over U.S. audiences when it aired last week (beg25Feb08). Quarterlife, created by the team behind 1990s hits Thirtysomething and My So-Called Life, was bought by U.S. network NBC and the first episode debuted on Tuesday (26Feb08) night. However, the show's future has now been put in doubt as it only attracted 3.1 million viewers - the lowest-ever rating for that time slot in the last 17 years. The programme, about a group of young friends living and working in Chicago, Illinois, may now be transferred to NBC's sister cable channel Bravo for the rest of its run. Co-creator Marshall Herskovitz thanked NBC for trying to make the show "a success on network television", but admitted he always feared the show would fail to connect with its target audience. He says, "I've always had concerns about whether it was the kind of show that could pull in the big numbers necessary to succeed on a major broadcast network." Quarterlife was a flop when it previously aired on ABC in 2004. It was then shifted on to the Internet where it appeared in eight-minute episodes on MySpace.