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Local Nielsen ratings snapshot (Fri.-Mon., Aug. 10-13) -- Olympics pass baton to Cowboys

By ED BARK
@unclebarkycom
The Olympics are history and the Cowboys are back, even though that looked like a soccer score for Monday's pre-season opener.

CBS11's ESPN simulcast of Dallas' 3-0 win over the Oakland Raiders averaged 447,091 D-FW viewers while ESPN added another 182,901. The grand total of 629,992 viewers easily out-hit the Texas Rangers' 8-2 road loss to the Yankees, which had 155,804 viewers on Fox Sports Southwest.

Among advertiser-prized 18-to-49-year-olds, the Cowboys had 169,722 viewers on CBS11 and 99,271 on ESPN. The Rangers drew 57,641 viewers in this key demographic.

Monday also marked a big night of post-Olympics premieres on NBC, which had flogged the launch of Stars Earn Stripes and the Season 2 start-up of Grimm throughout the Summer Games. Both of them bombed in a market where both the Cowboys and Rangers drained a big portion of the audience pool.

Stars Earn Stripes, which aired from 7 to 9 p.m., drew just 81,289 total viewers before Grimm dropped to 67,741. Fox's 7 p.m. premiere of Hotel Hell (121,934 viewers) and a new episode of Hell's Kitchen (155,804) both outdrew Stars Earn Stripes. It was the same story among 18-to-49-year-olds, only worse in terms of viewer margins.

Fox4's 9 p.m. local newscast more than doubled Grimm's audience in total viewers, but the two programs tied among 18-to-49-year-olds.

TNT fared even better with its series finale of The Closer followed by the 9 p.m. premiere of its spinoff, Major Crimes.

The Closer ranked as Monday night's overall top non-sports draw with 209,997 total viewers before Major Crimes held steady with 189,675 viewers.

Here are the prime-time audiences for the last three nights of NBC's prime-time Olympics coverage:

Friday -- 440,317 viewers
Saturday -- 399,672 viewers (lowest of any night during NBC's 17-day run)
Sunday (Closing Ceremonies) -- 806,118 viewers

NBC then deservedly paid a price for pushing The Who's closing performance to its brief late night wrapup in order to air a 10 p.m. sneak preview of the new fall sitcom, Animal Practice. It dove down to 304,835 viewers.

Here are the Friday and Monday local news derby results:

NBC5, in the final throes of its Olympic afterglow, swept Friday's 6 a.m. and 5 and 6 p.m. competitions in both total viewers and 25-to-54-year-olds (main target audience for news programming). WFAA8 won a downsized three-way 10 p.m. race in total viewers but Fox4 had the edge with 25-to-54-year-olds.

Buoyed by a Cowboys lead-in, CBS11 easily won Monday's 10 p.m. competition in total viewers but couldn't hold serve among 25-to-54-year-olds. Fox4 instead topped that field, with CBS11 dipping to second.

NBC5 kept its early morning ball rolling on a post-Olympics Monday with twin wins at 6 a.m. The Peacock also swept a downsized three-way 6 p.m. face-off while CBS11 opted for a Cowboys pre-game show that beat the newscasts on Fox4 and WFAA8.

Fox4 ran first at 5 p.m. in total viewers and NBC5 took the 25-to-54 gold.