Television

Sarah Palin's Ratings Plummet

Two million viewers desert Alaska show.

TLC executives have a lot less to crow about this week: Ratings for Sarah Palin's Alaska, tanked after just one episode. The show's premiere last Sunday surprised the television world with 5 million viewers, a ratings record for the medium-sized network. But viewers seem to have had their curiosity satisfied with a single episode. Two million, or 40 percent of them, failed to tune in for more. Worse for TLC, the median viewer age for the second episode was 57—well outside the target adult demographic and 15 years older than the network's typical viewer. Network execs said they expected a ratings dropoff after the premiere, and that the show could have been hurt by the American Music Awards.