Usually at the Lycos 50 we take a look at what you're searching for; today, we take a look at what you're not searching for.
Each year a few TV shows separate themselves from the pack to become internet phenomena. In 1998, we had Felicity, That '70s Show, and Will and Grace. Last year we had The West Wing, Popular, and the Buffy spin-off Angel. Over the summer, of course, we had Big Brother and Survivor.
The 2000 TV season seems to have only one breakout show: Dark Angel. While it is far below the level required to make the Lycos 50, last week Dark Angel had about four times as many searches as any other new television program.
Dark Angel also gives us our only breakout star of the 2000 TV season: Jessica Alba, who even made it on the Lycos 50 in October. Though searches for Alba have fallen somewhat in the last few weeks, she still is far and away the most popular new TV figure of 2000. Alba searches are up about 200% from this time last year, when she was mostly known for a supporting role in the movie Never Been Kissed.
The only other celebrity who has received a bump this fall is new Monday Night Football commentator Dennis Miller. A year ago he didn't regularly appear in searches. Now he gets a few, but not too many - he's low on the list near children's author Eric Carle and the city of Green Bay.
Other than Dark Angel, there are just a handful of shows that seem to have a modicum of support online. Here are the top five:
1) Dark Angel
2) Freakylinks
3) Boston Public
4) Titans
5) Gilmore Girls
(For shows named after their stars, we compared searches for that name to searches one year ago. We also did this for Titans, which can also be a search for the Tennessee Titans football team.)
Part of the reason that the fall TV season has proven so unpopular is that it never really started. While new shows usually premiere over a one or two week period, this year shows premiered any time from August to last week because of interruptions from the Olympics, the World Series, and the presidential debates. The result? Lycos users have greeted the new TV season with a big shrug.
