Television viewers gave a collective shrug to Fox’s attempt to turn a daughter’s search for her birth father into a game show.
“Who’s Your Daddy?” was seen by 6.3 million viewers Monday, fourth in its time slot, according to Nielsen Media Research. The Fox special starred a woman who picked her birth father from a group of seven impostors for a $100,000 prize.
The Sugar Bowl between Auburn and Virginia Tech was seen by 14.8 million viewers in the 8 p.m. hour, Nielsen said. CBS comedies and NBC’s “Fear Factor” each got about five million more viewers than “Who’s Your Daddy?”
Adoption advocates protested the special, and tried to get Fox affiliates not to air it. In the end, viewer indifference will likely doom the concept — “Who’s Your Daddy?” continues a trend of lackluster ratings for new reality shows.