Ultimate Fighter Returns to Taped Format for Season 16

[Misfit]

One and done.
The Ultimate Fighter Live format will go away with the second season of the reality show on FX as they return to the taped format that was featured for the first 14 seasons of the program.
UFC President Dana White confirmed the news to MMAWeekly.com content partner Yahoo! Sports on late Tuesday evening.
When the UFC signed their 7-year deal with Fox Networks, part of the move was bringing the Ultimate Fighter reality show over from Spike TV to FX. The new format for the show was that it would run for 13 weeks consecutively with the ‘elimination fight’ happening live on TV each week.
The first season of the show aired live on Friday nights at 10pm, but ratings for the show dipped considerably from previous seasons, mostly due to the Friday timeslot, which is a notoriously bad night for original programming on TV.
Add to that the element of live fights going over television time, which causes many viewers to miss the show when using recording devices like TIVO or home DVR’s (digital video recorders) and the live format just didn’t seem to mesh well with the reality show.
While FX executives were happy with the overall ratings of the show, the live format ultimately just didn’t pan out the way UFC officials had hoped so now they will return to the taped format of previous seasons.
Season 16 of the reality show will begin casting in about three weeks with the welterweight division being the focus. The next season of the Ultimate Fighter will then debut in September back on Friday nights at 10pm.
UFC President Dana White told Yahoo! that he hopes the show will pick up steam on Friday nights as they go back to the taped format, but if not they are confident FX will shift them to a different night.
“FX wants to try it again on Friday nights,” White said. “But if it’s not up to the standards I’m expecting, I’m pretty sure they’ll give me what I want. But this season was a smash hit home run for them.
“(If) this next season isn’t up to the standards I expect, they promised me we can move it to Tuesday or Wednesday.”
Currently much of FX’s regularly scheduled programming airs on Tuesday and Wednesday nights, but obviously for only part of the year. For instance, FX’s biggest show in terms of ratings, the outlaw biker drama Sons of Anarchy, airs on Tuesday nights at 10pm, but runs for 13 weeks and then goes on hiatus.
At least for now the Ultimate Fighter will continue to occupy the same Friday night timeslot with the renewed taped format for season 16.

http://www.mmaweekly.com/ultimate-fi...-for-season-16

[Rich Davie]

The first few episodes were really rough on the production end, but the season got better as things progressed... but it's always difficult to improve upon anything original.

The taped format will give the producers better control of the end product, and not so many awkward silent moments.

[Dirty Daley]

good call. it all sounded good at first but just plopped liked a wet fish. that's just me, i couldnt get into it and didnt try. plus you have to remember, im in the u.k so i had to stay up till 3 in the morning to watch it. i did on the first 2 shows.

[BluenoseGreig]

I never watched it 'live' for the same reason as Dirty...too late with work the next day as well. I did watch the whole season and I did enjoy it too, most fights were pretty entertaining if not of the greatest standard! The return to taping also gives the finalists time to recover for the final card unlike this season where they only got 1 week!

[Rich Davie]

Here's MMA Junkie's article on this one :

Report: 'The Ultimate Fighter' abandoning live format this fall

by MMAjunkie.com Staff on Jun 13, 2012 at 10:00 am ET

It appears that "The Ultimate Fighter Live" will drop a key word in its title when it returns in the fall.

According to a report at Yahoo! Sports, the UFC's reality series on the FX cable network will abandon the live format it experimented with this past spring in favor of a return to taped weekly shows for the next season.

Though the show will remain in its Friday night time slot, UFC president Dana White told the site that could change in 2013 if ratings numbers don't pan out in the fall.

"(If) this next season isn't up to the standards I expect, (FX) promised me we can move it to Tuesday or Wednesday," White told Yahoo! Additionally, White said casting for the fall season will take place in the coming weeks for a season that will feature welterweight fighters.

White said, though, that expectations for the show from FX and FOX were met in their first go'round with the series, calling the season "a smash hit home run for them" despite being on television's roughest ratings night of the week.

After 14 seasons of weekly episodes in a taped format on Spike TV, "The Ultimate Fighter" moved to FX earlier this year as part of the UFC's seven-year broadcast deal with the FOX network. But the show went to a format that combined taped material from earlier in the week leading into a live fight. While White has said he likes the live format of the show, ratings weren't at the level experienced on Spike – owing in large part, White has said, to the switch from Wednesday nights to Fridays.

In late May at the "TUF Live" semifinals in Las Vegas, White told MMAjunkie.com (www.mmajunkie.com) he was unsure just what direction the fall season might take.

"You guys know as well as anybody we've got a lot of work to do here," White said. "We've got a lot of things we need to figure out. But we will do the work and we will figure it out."

Part of that work now appears to be a return to taped episodes and fights in the elimination-style tournament that ultimately crowns the next "Ultimate Fighter." White expects the fall season – the second on FX and the 16th of the show overall – to begin airing in September, meaning the old standard of taping over six weeks should begin some time in mid-July in Las Vegas. In the live format this past season, fighters were in the TUF house for 12 weeks instead of the usual six.

For more on the UFC's upcoming schedule and the debut of the fall season of "The Ultimate Fighter 16," stay tuned to the UFC Rumors section of the site.

(Pictured: Dana White)

http://mmajunkie.com/news/29183/repo...-this-fall.mma

[Kickass32]

Good move IMO.....I did not enjoy the live season at all....that could be partially due to the fact I had ZERO interest in the coaches.

[BluenoseGreig]

Damn this season may not go well for you either Kickass, still not even any rumours as to who the coaches are for this. I have a feeling it will be Dan Hardy and Brian Ebersole!!! Or will Bisping save the day.....again!

[Dirty Daley]

dan hardy is going to be the coach, he doesnt have a fight and coming off a loss. i thing it will be george vs hardy.

[Drock]

dan hardy is going to be the coach, he doesnt have a fight and coming off a loss. i thing it will be george vs hardy.

George? GSP George? Even off one Lose that makes zero sense

[Washed Up]

dan hardy is going to be the coach, he doesnt have a fight and coming off a loss. i thing it will be george vs hardy.

A loss??? He just KO\d Duane Ludwig