Numbers maketh an athlete. But Charles Barkley loathes the numbers that make a TV show. The most lauded NBA analyst on TNT is not repeating the same success at CNN. Does that matter to Sir Charles? Not in the least. True to the freewheeling format, Barkley roasted the company that deemed King Charles a failure.

No, he’s not ranting at CNN – though there’s speculation that the network is already reconsidering the show. Chuck’s anger is directed at the people counting.

Charles Barkley declares that he hates counting

The only numbers that matter to NBA legend Charles Barkley are the statistics of an athlete and a team. The company that’s counting the number of people watching King Charles, that is Nielsen, he doesn’t count. Through the Steam Room, Barkley disparaged Nielsen as a whole.

“An article came out that our ratings weren’t great… I want to tell my team, ‘Man, these Nielsen people are the biggest clowns in the world.’ Name me one person you know with a Nielsen box,” Charles Barkley said through an expletive-laden rant about Nielsen.

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We know how they work. Nielsen’s proprietary data collection and measurement software churns out the numbers. King Charles averaged 501,000 viewers in its premiere. It did worse in its second week.

It’s slightly higher than CNN’s NewsNight, but to put in perspective, it’s the lowest rating for a CNN show this year. It’s also well behind MSNBC’s 1.62 million and Fox’s 2 million.

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Barkley said that even if the overall numbers weren’t impressive, they won a certain demographic. True to his claim, King Charles has drawn a younger median in the 25 to 54 age group. It was expected given the combination of two famous friends with their own fanbases – King in the media business and Barkley in sports. However, rumor has it that this combination is failing.

King Charles suffers in chemistry

Charles Barkley and Gayle King both claimed that they agreed to the show only because they wanted to work with each other. Yet a CNN insider claims that both are struggling to find a dynamic.

King wanted Barkley to research beforehand but Chuck wants to stay authentically outspoken even if not factual. The insider also claims that CNN might cancel the show.

However, the show’s producers told The Washington Post that ratings take time and the cohosts are nothing but friendly. King Charles runs till spring 2024 and it’s uncertain from there. It might depend on ratings.

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As Barkley said on the second episode, “We hope like hell y’all got Nielsen boxes.”