Thursday, April 11, 2013

Eva Longoria's NBC Dating Series 'Ready for Love'

NBC may have been "Ready for Love," but viewers sure weren't.

 The new dating show executive produced and hosted by Eva Longoria was supposed to be NBC's next great hope. Instead, Tuesday's premiere bombed big time -- and that was with the singing smash "The Voice" as a lead-in.

 Though it benefited from both heavy promotion and having The Voice as a lead-in, the Peacock’s new dating show Ready for Love seems fairly dead on arrival. Its two-hour series premiere was the lowest-rated program in both the 9 and 10 p.m. time slots last night, earning just 3.8 million viewers and a 1.6 rating among adults 18-49. (To be fair, the show did beat Smash‘s last-Tuesday episode, which garnered 3.0 million viewers and a .9 demo rating.)

The series, which will be executive produced by the former Desperate Housewives star, has tapped Amber Kelleher-Andrews, Tracy McMillan and Matthew Hussey as matchmakers, The Hollywood Reporter has learned exclusively.

Kelleher-Andrews is the CEO of Kelleher International, a search firm credited with matching Fortune 500 CEOs and A-list celebrities as well as members of the British royal family and Rockefellers.

To put those numbers in perspective: "Ready for Love" held on to a measly 28% of "The Voice's" audience. That means nearly three-quarters of viewers fled when they realized what was on.

Giuliana and Bill Rancic will host the series, which is set to debut in winter 2012-13.

"These are three of the best relationship experts in the world, each coming to the show with their own unique approaches to matchmaking and fostering healthy, long-lasting relationships," NBC Entertainment alternative and late-night programming president Paul Telegdy said. "The chances of the men finding true love are infinitely better because the matchmakers hand-selected women they feel will be most compatible with each of the guys.”

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