'Pacific' Takes Ratings Hit: Did Hanks' 'Racism' Remark Hurt?

The entertainment media is doing the best they can to spin the paltry ratings for the debut of “The Pacific.” But 3.1 million viewers compared to the 10 million for the premiere of “Band of Brothers” is pretty difficult to spin. Yes, Nielsen has changed the way they count HBO viewers since “Brothers” debuted in 2001. They once counted all HBO channels and now count them individually (are we to believe millions and millions were watching HBO Thriller in 2001? ). Still, according to Reuters, that ten million was considered a slow start for “Brothers” and 3.1 million for “The Pacific” represents a mere 69% increase over normal HBO programming in that same time period. For additional context we’re also told “The Pacific” did manage to beat the debut of “John Adams” by 22%.

Okay, fine, but let’s look a little closer at the real context, which is always found near the bottom of anything written by the MSM. On Sunday nights, the series “True Blood” averages 5 million viewers. “Blood” might air in a different time-slot than “The Pacific” but how fine do we want to split these hairs? Most telling is that when the History Channel aired a re-broadcast of “Band of Brothers” in 2004, 4.6 million tuned in. This bears repeating…

A rerun of “Brothers” delivered 1.5 million more viewers than the heavily promoted debut of “The Pacific.”

HBO has over 30 million subscribers and it’s just a fact that Sunday night less than 10% bothered to watch ”The Pacific,” even with the dual pedigree of Steven Spielberg and Tom Hanks combined with a very, very heavy promotional blitz and a lingering universal affection for “Band of Brothers.”

So what changed?

No doubt, there are all kinds of factors and to lay the blame completely at the feet of Tom Hanks’ ignorant and offensive comments would be impossible to prove and therefore unfair. However, it’s doubtful anyone wants to debate that having the high-profile face of Hanks — the face of the publicity blitz — defame our country and the troops who fought WWII and today’s War on Terror was at all helpful.