This is an archived article that was published on sltrib.com in 2011, and information in the article may be outdated. It is provided only for personal research purposes and may not be reprinted.
A big contract with ESPN, a new No. 1 station in town, another crop of Utahns in reality TV shows and the exit of an icon highlighted the year in TV.
Y., U. on real channels • After laboring in near-anonymity for five years on The Mtn., the Brigham Young University and University of Utah football teams had breakout seasons — at least in terms of viewership. The newly independent Cougars appeared on one ESPN network or another 11 times this season, and, cumulatively, were available in 1.2 billion homes in the U.S. The Pac-12's big new TV contract doesn't kick in until the fall, but the Utes were seen on CBS, ESPN, ESPNU and FSN/ROOT. Heck, even Utah State was on ESPN three times.
Channel 2 is No. 1 • KUTV-Ch. 2 established itself as the undisputed king of the hill in the local news ratings. The station supplanted longtime leader KSL-Ch. 5, winning all four ratings sweeps in 2011. Mired-in-fourth-place KTVX-Ch. 4, meanwhile, revamped its news team (again) and gave up on its 9 p.m. newscast on KUCW-Ch. 30.
"Bachelor" blues • Utah contributed more than its share to the horrific drama that is ABC's dating show. First Michelle Money was the villain on "The Bachelor" — and, at the same time, revealed she'd had an affair with then-married, then-Utah Jazzman Carlos Boozer. Then Bentley Williams proved himself to be one of the most vile human beings ever on a reality show, saying awful things and acting like a complete jerk before he quit "The Bachelorette."
Rulon rolls over • There were not one, not two, but three Utahns on "The Biggest Loser" in early 2011 — Denise Hill of Bountiful, who won the $100,000 at-home prize for losing 125 pounds, nearly 49 percent of her body weight; Justin Pope of Logan; and onetime Olympic wrestling champion Rulon Gardner, also of Logan. Gardner made headlines and launched all sorts of unconfirmed rumors when he quit the show. For the record, Gardner maintains it was his decision to leave.
Reality rewind • There were other Utahns whose appearances on reality/competition shows didn't prompt negative headlines. Hip-hopper Tadd Gadduang surprised everyone by advancing to the finals of "So You Think You Can Dance," finishing fourth. Aurora cattle rancher Rick Nelson and BYU English professor Dawn Meehan were on "Survivor: South Pacific," although neither made it to the end. Nelson finished fifth; Meehan finished 10th. And Gage Hubbard of Syfy's "Face Off" finished second in that competition among prosthetic makeup artists.
Oprah is so over • After reigning as the Queen of Daytime TV for a quarter of a century, Oprah Winfrey hung up her microphone and went off to try to fix her struggling Oprah Winfrey Network. The Utahns who missed her most are the folks at KUTV-Ch. 2, who took a hit when they lost the still-powerful "Oprah Winfrey Show" as an early news lead-in.
Gone, but still suing • The polygamous Browns of TLC's "Sister Wives" may have moved to Nevada to avoid possible prosecution for bigamy, but they remained in local headlines when they sued to overturn Utah's bigamy laws.