As the GSN schedule turns

Hidden Agenda, Michael Davies' harmless knockoff of Candid Camera, is disappearing fast from the GSN schedule. That's hardly surprising because the numbers stink like a skunk, according to our buddy Douglas at Mediaweek. I figure the show gets axed completely by the end of March.

Carnie Wilson's reality show is getting better ratings. You might even call the original showings semi-respectable, though the asinine reruns quickly run out of Nielsen steam. Carnage will probably hang around for a while and might even get a second season, if the demos turn a little younger than GSN's usual ancient skew.

We'll see if the gruesome fate of Hidden Agenda has any effect on GSN's supposed development slate of non-traditional shows. Things might slow down a little, anyway.

UPDATE: Guess what, Wink Martindale is returning to the GSN schedule with Instant Recall beginning March 4. This might be the replacement, more or less, for the flopped Hidden Agenda. Wink looks like insurance to attract some of GSN's current audience to an untested format. The network must have noticed the 700K+ number Bob Eubanks pulled for his episode of Newlywed Game.

Now if GSN could only get Eubanks for every episode of the game he made his own. By the way, GSN enjoyed a great month in January prime time. The total day numbers were good, too, except for the idiotic reruns of Carnage and Hidden Agenda.