‘The Rickey Smiley Show’ Makes TV One History

Congratulations are in order! According to reports, ‘The Rickey Smiley Show’ broke TV One records, with the biggest debut in the history of the network. AJC reports that the show, which debuted on Tuesday, drew about 900,000 viewers. So how does 900K viewers fair in comparison to other African American shows? Tyler Perry’s sitcoms on TBS, bring in nearly twice as many households. (TV One is seen in 57 million households vs. 100 million for TBS.) This week, VH1’s “T.I. & Tiny” brought in 1.76 million viewers. And TV One’s ‘R&B Divas’ brought in similar numbers with it’s debut. Nonetheless, Smiley’s show is cause for celebration. Roger Bob, the show’s producer said in an interview, that both he and the network are thrilled:

“They’re extremely happy, as am I.”

He also explained that Tyler Perry’s (who he use to work for) formula was successful for the show.

“While the model was successful for us, it doesn’t always benefit the networks financially. It’s a tremendous gamble, an unnecessary gamble. You don’t know if the 90th episode will be as good as the second or third or 40th.”

Meanwhile, the comedic radio personality and actor, Rickey, is hype about the numbers. Friday morning, he tweeted:

If you watched ‘The Rickey Smiley Show’ this week, what were your thoughts–were you underwhelmed or entertained? And are you surprised that the show broke TV One history?