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The shenanigans continue. Night after night this week, there will be wall-to-wall coverage of the Democratic Convention in Philadelphia. It is unlikely to create the kind of chatter and anticipation that last week's Trump-fest generated, but there is opportunity for Hillary Clinton to capitalize on the large TV audience for the Democratic convention, and I'll tell you why.

At the end of the Republican convention last Thursday night on NBC, former Republican strategist Nicole Wallace responded to Donald Trump's dark and near-apocalyptic acceptance speech by remarking that, to her mind, her party was dead. Wallace was on the White House staff during George W. Bush's first term, worked on the Bush-Cheney campaign, was White House communications director and worked on the McCain-Palin campaign. Her remarks did not have the vibe of the factionalism and divisiveness that preceded the convention and erupted over the Ted Cruz speech. The remark just sounded ominous.

Even if we allow for overstatement, something was fading away in that hall in Cleveland. It's possible that peak Trump has been reached and fatigue is now setting in.

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The evidence is in the TV ratings for the RNC. The viewer numbers don't indicate a disaster or a dramatic decline, but they are mediocre. Ratings are followed closely by the trade magazines that cover the TV industry and the headline on The Hollywood Reporter's site last week gave the gist: "RNC Viewership Still Looking for a Trump Bump." Right, the so-called "Trump bump."

During the Republican campaign, CNN, Fox News and MSNBC got sometimes staggering numbers for their debates. At one point, as high as 22 million viewers in total. The draw was Trump, and the anticipation was that he would be his outrageous, boasting, belligerent self and say something outlandish. How others handled him was part of the buzz and the bargain with viewers. That's the reason for the ratings bump right there.

There was no big bump for the RNC last week. For Monday's opening – when Melania Trump spoke – ratings were up slightly on the viewing figures for RNC 2012. But Tuesday night — when Chris Christie, Tiffany and Donald Trump Jr. and Ben Carson spoke — had a total of 19.8 million viewers, lower than any convention showing in 2008 or 2012.

For the Thursday night crescendo of Trump's acceptance speech, The Hollywood Reporter delivered this summary – "TV Ratings: Donald Trump's RNC speech tops Romney with 31.5 million viewers, falls far short of McCain." That's the upshot. Up slightly on Mitt Romney's big night, but no "Trump bump," even on the climactic night. Eight years ago, John McCain's speech accepting the Republican nomination drew 42 million.

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What's particularly prophetic for the Trump campaign is the low number of viewers watching on network TV. Ratings for CNN and Fox News were solid, but their core audience is already engaged with politics. When the main networks switch to their convention coverage at 10 p.m., that's the sweet spot for a candidate. The viewers tuning in are the curious and undecided, the ones who can win an election if they are persuaded. At times during last week's coverage on the networks, as few as two million or less were watching. For Thursday's night climax, ABC had 3.2 million and CBS has 3.3 million. This on a night when almost seven million watched a repeat episode of the Big Bang Theory.

What's happening is a fade. Television has that impact – the novelty wears off and, in this case, the larger-than-life, reality-TV type swagger of Trump eventually seems smaller, much less compelling. The allure of the disruptor abates. With Trump fatigue setting in, the curious and undecided are Hillary Clinton's to capture and cajole. In television, you live or die by the numbers and Trump's numbers are tumbling. Not dead yet, but in the TV-ratings poll, somebody has stalled.

Airing Tuesday

HumanTown (CBC, 9:30 p.m.) is a one-off special featuring the Vancouver-based comedy troupe called HumanTown, if I've got that straight. Absurdist and ambitious, it is mostly silly. There's a long-winded explanation from the troupe itself: "Unlike most sketch shows, HumanTown is not an assortment of unrelated sketches. Every scenario and character is part of a united storyworld, where all sketches intertwine and flow into one other inside the bizarre city of HumanTown." In other words, one apparently crazy sketch is connected to another one that unfolds later. That's not cutting edge and neither is what airs tonight. Heads blow up. A guy gets stabbed in the head. There's a musical number. It's very male, very comic-book centred and, often, gross. Maybe you'll laugh your heads off. But I doubt it.

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