It’s been about two years since Caitlyn Jenner sat down with Diane Sawyer to discuss her identity as a transgender woman. The interview broke ratings records. Her newest interview did not do so well.
Deadline reports that Jenner’s 20/20 appearance on Friday was not the anticipated catch-up the network was hoping for:
Not entirely surprising, Friday’s one-hour 20/20 was down 85% among adults 18-49 from the two-hour April 24, 2015 interview, that was Jenner’s first real revelation to the world of who she was becoming. However, with all the hype power behind last night’s show and plugging Jenner’s new The Secrets of My Life book, the ABC News mag took an 11% demo decline from its April 14 show – which received barely any such promotion.
At the time of her first interview about her transition, the reveal also served as a simple explainer of trans issues for viewers unfamiliar with them at home, likely contributing to the special’s popularity. There weren’t many shocking revelations left for Jenner to share on Friday, as much of her life is now very publicly covered on a regular basis. She did share this anecdote about her children’s reactions to her Vanity Fair cover:
“I know my kids, they thought, ‘You know what, it’s a little too much,’” she said. “But, from my standpoint, I had suffered for 65 years. To have a beautiful shot of my authentic self was important and [I wanted] the shock value. I wanted to end the old Bruce, my old life, and that picture did it.”
Overall, Jenner seems very comfortable with who she is, which is nice, but not riveting television. “I’ve grown into Caitlyn,” she says, “It’s tough to take 65 years of being Bruce and being male, and then like, overnight, everything changes. At first you don’t know how to handle it.”
She’s handled it, folks. Nothing to see here. What’s on CBS?