As a television producer, LeBron James’ most notable work includes Cleveland Hustles, Survivor’s Remorse, Warriors of Liberty City, Shut Up and Dribble and The Shop, among others. His newest show, Million Dollar Mile–which debuted on CBS on Wednesday–takes a different approach than what we saw with LeBron’s television efforts in the past.
The Million Dollar Mile is hosted by Tim Tebow and matches amateur athletes who are given a two-minute head start against professionals in events like Tough Mudder, CrossFit and Spartan Races. Despite the NCAA tournament games being peppered with commercials promoting the upcoming show on CBS, the early returns from a ratings standpoint were not ideal. Below are the rating breakdowns according to ProgrammingInsider.com.
“New reality/competition “Million Dollar Mile” was left at the Wednesday starting gate on CBS, with a modest 2.6 rating/5 share in households in the 9 p.m. hour. Comparably, that was 45 percent below lead-in “Survivor” (#2: 4.7/ 8 at 8 p.m.), and it was 33 percent below year-ago time period occupant “SEAL Team” (3.9/ 7 on 3/28/18). Since most new series decline 10 to 20 percent in week two, I would not get too used to “Million Dollar Mile.”
CBS had previously ordered 10 episodes of Million Dollar Mile from James and Maverick Carter’s Springhill Entertainment. During the show, streets of major cities are shut down and the Million Dollar Mile course goes up, providing contestants the chance to win $1,000,000 every time they run the Million Dollar Mile. Standing in their way, however, are those daunting courses coupled with a collection of elite athletes who are working to stop the contestants from securing that bag.
While the show still has time to strike a cord with its audience, the opening act was certainly not what the SpringHill group was hoping for.
