The ratings and shares for the January 17 episode of “Nothing Sacred” were 4.1/7. Only one show on the major networks, “Cracker” (which follows “Nothing Sacred”), did worse. This episode of “Nothing Sacred” attracted less viewers than any previous show.
William Donohue, Catholic League president, commented as follows:
“It can’t get any better than this. ABC moves ‘Nothing Sacred’ to Saturday night and it bombs the way it never did before, breaking its own record of September 25. And just consider the competition: CBS offered a new cowboy show; NBC provided another one of those stupid ‘blooper’ shows; and FOX aired a cop show that is broken into two parts. With all this going for it—to say nothing of the free hype it continues to draw (e.g. TV Guide flagged this episode three times)—Father Ray still can’t command an obedient flock.
“To say we aren’t basking in all this would be lying. We are. And why shouldn’t we? Here’s what Kevin Anderson said just days before he got his wish and the show was moved to Saturday night: ‘The biggest reason it hasn’t reached a wider audience is that it has been on at 8 o’clock Thursday night. We’re happy not to be run over by the NBC Thursday night juggernaut.’ Who, or what, will he blame now? After all, ‘Nothing Sacred’ didn’t have to compete against the NBC show, ‘Friends.’ All it had to do is beat ‘All Star TV-Censored Bloopers’ and it still couldn’t do so. Indeed, it did so badly that it tied with the WB show, ‘Buffy the Vampire Slayer.’
“The only reason the writers and directors of ‘Nothing Sacred’ have a job is because Disney/ABC doesn’t want to yield to the Catholic League. That’s fine by us because our ratings continue to soar: Catholics across the country are joining the league at a rate faster than ‘Nothing Sacred’ is losing viewers. Or even advertisers! And that’s no small feat.”
