Super Bowl Update

It's starting to look like WEHT Local (and WDRB, WNKY-NBC, WKRN and KPLR) may have hitched their wagons to the wrong syndicated talk show when they chose to pick up Survivor host Jeff Probst's new program.

The show is doing poorly - very poorly - in the ratings, averaging well under a 1 rating during its first week on the air, and reports indicate that it's done no better so far this week.

If the show doesn't start to perform better, it's likely that it won't make it to a second season - indeed, some stations could pull the plug early.  (That's rare, but it has happened.)

The New York Post reports this afternoon that reps for Queen Latifah's new show have "quietly been calling TV stations around the country offering to take over for Probst as soon as his contract is up."  No word on whether any of the stations above have been called.

For his part, Probst seems to be OK with whatever the future holds.  He said last month that no matter what happens with the talk show, he'll still be hosting the next season of Survivor on CBS.

Those are a few of the stations around the region which will air Katie Couric's new ABC-produced self-titled talk show, which premieres this afternoon.

You'll note that none of these stations are located in Evansville.

Instead, Evansville's ABC affiliate, WEHT Local, will air The Jeff Probst Show.  Now, in my opinion, Probst is a good guy, but why WEHT would choose his program over something the network came along with is beyond me, especially when so many other stations around us were eager to get on board with Katie.

Even a spot on Local 7 WTVW would've worked.

But, incredibly, Katie's nowhere to be found if all you get is Evansville local channels.

I'm not alone in wondering why she's not here.  Several readers have expressed dismay that they won't get the chance to watch the show, so they've created a Twitter hashtag: #BringKatieToEville.

My feeling is that it's worth a shot to draw some attention to the situation, so I've joined up.  Would you like to watch Katie?  If you're on Twitter, use the hashtag above.  If you're on Facebook, leave a message on my page.  You can also email me or leave a comment below.  I'll get them all together and we'll see what kind of demand there is.

Hopefully it'll make something happen.