# Woohoo! We're a Nielsen family! **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [May 6, 2004, 2:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/woohoo-were-a-nielsen-family/243766 "2004-05-06T02:56:29Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 18\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![dangermom](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e274bd/32.png) [@dangermom](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dangermom)\ **Post date:** [May 6, 2004, 2:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/woohoo-were-a-nielsen-family/243766/1 "2004-05-06T02:56:29Z")
Starting tomorrow, we are an Official Nielsen Ratings Family for a whole week. I’ve always wanted to be a Nielsen family! (It’s just too bad that _Wonderfalls_ has already been cancelled. Not that anything could have saved it from Fox’s ax, I suppose…) You may post your jealous feelings, votes for especially excellent programs, and good wishes here. Note that we will not be watching the _Friends_ finale, but I am planning on seeing _A wrinkle in time_ on Monday, though I’m very worried that it won’t be any good. ---
**Author:** ![porcupine](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/ac91a4/32.png) [@porcupine](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/porcupine)\ **Post date:** [May 6, 2004, 2:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/woohoo-were-a-nielsen-family/243766/2 "2004-05-06T02:58:09Z")
Do they still have you fill out a log book, or have they gone over to the “People Meter?” ---
**Author:** ![Syntropy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/65b543/32.png) [@Syntropy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Syntropy)\ **Post date:** [May 6, 2004, 2:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/woohoo-were-a-nielsen-family/243766/3 "2004-05-06T02:58:33Z")
Congrats! **major pout** I’ve always wanted to do that. How does that happen, anyway? Do you sign up, or answer a poll, or actually pick up the phone when a telemarketer calls, what? ---
**Author:** ![dangermom](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e274bd/32.png) [@dangermom](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dangermom)\ **Post date:** [May 6, 2004, 3:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/woohoo-were-a-nielsen-family/243766/4 "2004-05-06T03:08:45Z")
I picked up the phone and said I would be willing to answer a couple of questions about our TV viewing. (I love surveys.) Next thing I knew, I was a Nielsen person. It’s still a little log book. The worst part is they want me to write down every freaking channel we get–and we have Dish satellite, the basic package. Which is still like 150 channels. OTOH, they stick $10 in cash in the envelope to sweeten the deal! ---
**Author:** ![START](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/2bfe46/32.png) [@START](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/START)\ **Post date:** [May 6, 2004, 3:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/woohoo-were-a-nielsen-family/243766/5 "2004-05-06T03:16:34Z")
[http://www.savemyshow.com/](http://www.savemyshow.com/) That’s my only weapon, you have a voice I am so jealous…oh well hopefully you like the shows I like. ---
**Author:** ![Ross](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/e274bd/32.png) [@Ross](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ross)\ **Post date:** [May 6, 2004, 11:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/woohoo-were-a-nielsen-family/243766/6 "2004-05-06T11:19:53Z")
We used to be on the Audience Panel for the UK, they put little boxes on all of our tellies and the boxes connected to the phoneline at night and reported what we’d been watching. Unfortunately (a) we had to tell the box how many people were in the room at any one time, and everybody always forgot to press their own little button on the remote control… and (b) I had broadband at the time and the boxes couldn’t connect because of that. So we got taken off the panel again. We couldn’t have the panel AND Battlefield 1942. We got some vouchers for various UK shops at regular intervals. Not all that much but enough to give people for Christmas presents, etc. ---
**Author:** ![Bosda\_Di\_Chi\_of\_Tricor](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bosda_di_chi_of_tricor/32/16845_2.png) [@Bosda\_Di\_Chi\_of\_Tricor](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bosda_Di_Chi_of_Tricor)\ **Post date:** [May 6, 2004, 12:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/woohoo-were-a-nielsen-family/243766/7 "2004-05-06T12:27:10Z")
We turned 'em down. What business of theirs is it what we watch? We turned down the people meter, too. Why would you be _foolish_ enough to effectively do a favor for a corporation? They won’t return it. :rolleyes: ---
**Author:** ![Ross](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/e274bd/32.png) [@Ross](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ross)\ **Post date:** [May 6, 2004, 12:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/woohoo-were-a-nielsen-family/243766/8 "2004-05-06T12:40:28Z")
> [@Bosda Di'Chi of Tricor](#): > > Why would you be _foolish_ enough to effectively do a favor for a corporation? 1. It’s extra gadgets. Gadgets, y’see. Gadgets. I love gadgets. I just like saying “gadgets”. 2. Extra remote controls. When it’s time to lose a remote, you can just lose the ratings machine remote instead of your telly remote. 3. In the UK it’s not a commercial thing, or not really, or not entirely. It’s on behalf of the completely impartial and entirely unbiased British Broadcasting Corporation, who, as I think the Hutton Report proved, cannot ever in any way be influenced by anything other than Truth and Beauty. 4. They gave us some vouchers. 5. Everybody went “wow!” 6. I could at the drop of a hat add 5000 viewers to a gaelic-language soap opera broadcast at 3am. THAT’S POWER, BABY. 7. Extra gadgets. 8. The man who came to fix them always fixed whatever was wrong with the rest of the telly stuff at the same time, for free. 9. Extra gadgets. 10. The box looked stupid and that amused me. ---
**Author:** ![Elret](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/b9bd4f/32.png) [@Elret](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Elret)\ **Post date:** [May 6, 2004, 1:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/woohoo-were-a-nielsen-family/243766/9 "2004-05-06T13:25:07Z")
> [@Bosda Di'Chi of Tricor](#): > > We turned 'em down. > > What business of theirs is it what we watch? > > We turned down the people meter, too. > > Why would you be _foolish_ enough to effectively do a favor for a corporation? > > They won’t return it. :rolleyes: That’s right. Corporations want to put out shows and merchandise that nobody wants and take away anything we like! They’re so devious. I’ve never understood people who feel this way about doing various marketing surveys. They want to know what people like, so that they can make more of what people like. They make more money, we get more of what we like. How is this not win-win? ---
**Author:** ![av8rmike](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/edb3f5/32.png) [@av8rmike](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/av8rmike)\ **Post date:** [May 6, 2004, 2:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/woohoo-were-a-nielsen-family/243766/10 "2004-05-06T14:46:10Z")
We’ve done this one at least once before: [We’re A Nielsen Family! So what should I watch?](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=236913) Note what **tracer** and I wrote (posts #25 and 28), where we say that the Nielsen corporation doesn’t want people going around advertising their identities. ---
**Author:** ![Bosda\_Di\_Chi\_of\_Tricor](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bosda_di_chi_of_tricor/32/16845_2.png) [@Bosda\_Di\_Chi\_of\_Tricor](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bosda_Di_Chi_of_Tricor)\ **Post date:** [May 6, 2004, 3:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/woohoo-were-a-nielsen-family/243766/11 "2004-05-06T15:12:10Z")
> [@Elret](#): > > That’s right. Corporations want to put out shows and merchandise that nobody wants and take away anything we like! They’re so devious. > > I’ve never understood people who feel this way about doing various marketing surveys. They want to know what people like, so that they can make more of what people like. They make more money, we get more of what we like. > > How is this not win-win? I’ve learned througfh bitter experience, that anything that is good for Corporate America is **never** good for Mrs. Di’Chi’s little **Bosda**. As you grow in years and wisdom, Grasshopper, so shall you. ---
**Author:** ![jk1245](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/49beb7/32.png) [@jk1245](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jk1245)\ **Post date:** [May 6, 2004, 3:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/woohoo-were-a-nielsen-family/243766/12 "2004-05-06T15:23:43Z")
You should spend all your time watching hard-core porn. I would _Love_ to see something like **Back Door Bettys** show up in the weekly top 20 lists in the paper. 😃 ---
**Author:** ![ShadiRoxan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/59ef9b/32.png) [@ShadiRoxan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ShadiRoxan)\ **Post date:** [May 6, 2004, 3:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/woohoo-were-a-nielsen-family/243766/13 "2004-05-06T15:23:53Z")
I’m suppose to be getting my Neilsen packet in soon. Unfortunately it’s coming in a little too late since Scrubs just aired their season finale. That’s the only show that I really wanted to support. But, hell, it’s $10. It’s not like I have much else to do. ---
**Author:** ![gobear](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/8dc957/32.png) [@gobear](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gobear)\ **Post date:** [May 6, 2004, 3:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/woohoo-were-a-nielsen-family/243766/14 "2004-05-06T15:32:03Z")
Shoot, if this had been posted a month or two ago, I would have urged you to watch _Arrested Development_ to save it from cancellation. ---
**Author:** ![Severian](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/49beb7/32.png) [@Severian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Severian)\ **Post date:** [May 6, 2004, 3:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/woohoo-were-a-nielsen-family/243766/15 "2004-05-06T15:53:47Z")
You’ve just **got** to watch _Family Guy_. ---
**Author:** ![Evil\_One](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/45deac/32.png) [@Evil\_One](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Evil_One)\ **Post date:** [May 6, 2004, 4:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/woohoo-were-a-nielsen-family/243766/16 "2004-05-06T16:27:48Z")
Former TV news person checking, in Dangermom. Since you have a diary instead of a people meter, you have a unique chance to reward the shows you like and punish those you don’t. You can do the same with your local newscast. “The book” is a much anticipated mid-June event, as it will go a long way to determining advertising rates through much of the rest of the year. (The July sweeps are not nearly as important. November and May are looked at as the big ones. Especially May.) Choose who you like and say that you watch them faithfully. Conventional wisdom says that diary families ignore the book until a couple of days before it’s due to be sent back and then they sit down and retroactively fill it in. That’s why you see midweek promos on newscasts that say “Here’s what we did last week. Remember it. Please. And get our station right in the book for gods sake!” The books run for one week, from Thursday to Wednesday. I know Neilson has asked you to be honest. But remember that shows can live and die by your pen. I urge you to pick it up, slaying mediocrity and rewarding quality. ---
**Author:** ![MacTech](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/c0e974/32.png) [@MacTech](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MacTech)\ **Post date:** [May 6, 2004, 6:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/woohoo-were-a-nielsen-family/243766/17 "2004-05-06T18:24:13Z")
I wish the Neilsen corp. actually tracked what people _didn’t_ watch and have no plans to ever watch, so they can cut funding appropriately for me, the victims of my wrath would be; reality shows reigious programming shopping channels reality shows freinds (glad it’s ending tonight, never saw a single ep and proud of it) reality shows infomercials “crossing over” with john edwards reality shows Tremors any skiffy channel show except the Farscape reruns reality shows oh, and i think i forgot to mention reality shows shows i would watch; Farscape (the reruns and the miniseries) Futurama (reruns) Family Guy The Simpsons ---
**Author:** ![Voyager](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/voyager/32/133_2.png) [@Voyager](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Voyager)\ **Post date:** [May 7, 2004, 2:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/woohoo-were-a-nielsen-family/243766/18 "2004-05-07T02:32:23Z")
> [@av8rmike](#): > > We’ve done this one at least once before: > [We’re A Nielsen Family! So what should I watch?](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=236913) > Note what **tracer** and I wrote (posts #25 and 28), where we say that the Nielsen corporation doesn’t want people going around advertising their identities. Maybe so, but like I said then, there is nothing in their book saying that. I’m sure doing something like accepting money to write something, or not being accurate could get you in trouble. DM, I just gave up and wrote down the channels I had any chance of watching. There wasn’t room for all of them, and I’m sure they know what DishTV(which we have too) carries. I did make an effort to watch (or tape and then watch) the final MST3K, and my father in law watches classic arts showcase. And we did have our TV on during Janet’s Boobiegate, so I suppose we went down in history.