• Mediaweek, Monday, December 15, 2008 9:30 AM

Few if any magazines have successfully imported their brands to a commercially viable TV series. That includes the lifestyle makeover show that Real Simple magazine and cable network TLC jointly launched this fall. Called "Real Simple. Real Life.," the fledgling show needs a makeover itself.

Its ratings are miserable. The installment that aired on TLC Dec. 5, at 7 p.m., averaged 287,000 viewers, not much more than the 207,000 viewers who tuned in for the repeat later that night at 2 a.m. So far, there's no decision if there will be a Season 2.

Two years in the making, the show tried to build on the success of the popular magazine and TLC's "What Not to Wear." In a new twist, Real Simple and Discovery Communications' TLC bundled print and online ads and jointly pitched the show to advertisers. Saturn, SC Johnson, Kraft, Sears and Aveeno signed on as initial sponsors and the show's launch Oct. 18 was heavily promoted.

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