Local Nielsen ratings snapshot (Fri.-Sun., Oct. 17-19)
10/20/08 12:56 PM
By ED BARK
The suddenly destitute Dallas Cowboys also were at a loss in Sunday's D-FW ratings.
They again drew the day's and the weekend's biggest TV audience, of course, averaging 611,336 homes for the early afternoon carnage on Fox. But the lowly Rams' 34-14 slaughter of the cratering Cowboys fell almost 150,00 homes shy of what had been the season's least-watched game to date.
Dallas' lopsided Sept. 7th victory over Cleveland, which kicked off the regular season, had 759,907 homes on Fox. That's now a smash hit compared to the Cowboys-Rams stomach-turner. Dallas' high-scoring shootout with the Eagles remains this fall's biggest draw, with 930,399 D-FW homes.
Sunday night's closing Game 7 of the American League Championship Series, won by Tampa Bay over Boston, drew 104,731 homes locally on TBS. The game's closing 15 minutes, from 10:30 to 10:45 p.m., also had the biggest tune-in -- 143,700 homes.
But no, it didn't beat NBC's Sunday Night Football matchup between Seattle and the Cowboys' next opponent -- Tampa Bay. It averaged 160,750 D-FW homes.
Moving along to Saturday, where NBC's Sarah Palin-infused Saturday Night Live was a smash with an overall average of 260,609 homes. The show's opening 15 minutes, in which Palin and her double, Tina Fey, briefly crossed paths, tipped the Nielsen scales with 345,855 homes. That's a massive audience for a late night network show.
Earlier Saturday night, No. 1 Texas' prime-time trampling of Missouri on ABC averaged 231,382 homes. Its peak audience of 277,658 homes came between 8:15 and 8:30 p.m.
On Friday night, NBC's two-hour premiere of Crusoe averaged 102,295 homes from 7 to 9 p.m. That was good enough to win those two hours overall. But in the opening hour, CBS' Ghost Whisperer topped the crop with 112,038 homes. Crusoe then beat CBS' new Ex-List (70,632 homes) to a pulp in the 8 p.m. hour while also outpointing all other competing network attractions.
Crusoe ran second from 7 to 9 p.m. among advertiser-craved 18-to-49-year-olds, with MY27's WWE Smackdown! taking the overall gold by just one-tenth of a rating point (3,153 viewers).
In Friday's local news derby, WFAA8 again muscled up at 10 p.m. with wins in both total homes and among 25-to-54-year-olds, the main advertiser target audience for news programming.
WFAA8 also took first at 6 a.m. in total homes and tied for the top spot with NBC5 among 25-to-54-year-olds.
The 6 p.m. wars went to WFAA8 as usual, with the ABC station also notching a 5 p.m. win in the total homes Nielsens. NBC5 took the 25-to-54 gold in the earlier hour while WFAA8 slipped to third behind runnerup CBS11.
The suddenly destitute Dallas Cowboys also were at a loss in Sunday's D-FW ratings.
They again drew the day's and the weekend's biggest TV audience, of course, averaging 611,336 homes for the early afternoon carnage on Fox. But the lowly Rams' 34-14 slaughter of the cratering Cowboys fell almost 150,00 homes shy of what had been the season's least-watched game to date.
Dallas' lopsided Sept. 7th victory over Cleveland, which kicked off the regular season, had 759,907 homes on Fox. That's now a smash hit compared to the Cowboys-Rams stomach-turner. Dallas' high-scoring shootout with the Eagles remains this fall's biggest draw, with 930,399 D-FW homes.
Sunday night's closing Game 7 of the American League Championship Series, won by Tampa Bay over Boston, drew 104,731 homes locally on TBS. The game's closing 15 minutes, from 10:30 to 10:45 p.m., also had the biggest tune-in -- 143,700 homes.
But no, it didn't beat NBC's Sunday Night Football matchup between Seattle and the Cowboys' next opponent -- Tampa Bay. It averaged 160,750 D-FW homes.
Moving along to Saturday, where NBC's Sarah Palin-infused Saturday Night Live was a smash with an overall average of 260,609 homes. The show's opening 15 minutes, in which Palin and her double, Tina Fey, briefly crossed paths, tipped the Nielsen scales with 345,855 homes. That's a massive audience for a late night network show.
Earlier Saturday night, No. 1 Texas' prime-time trampling of Missouri on ABC averaged 231,382 homes. Its peak audience of 277,658 homes came between 8:15 and 8:30 p.m.
On Friday night, NBC's two-hour premiere of Crusoe averaged 102,295 homes from 7 to 9 p.m. That was good enough to win those two hours overall. But in the opening hour, CBS' Ghost Whisperer topped the crop with 112,038 homes. Crusoe then beat CBS' new Ex-List (70,632 homes) to a pulp in the 8 p.m. hour while also outpointing all other competing network attractions.
Crusoe ran second from 7 to 9 p.m. among advertiser-craved 18-to-49-year-olds, with MY27's WWE Smackdown! taking the overall gold by just one-tenth of a rating point (3,153 viewers).
In Friday's local news derby, WFAA8 again muscled up at 10 p.m. with wins in both total homes and among 25-to-54-year-olds, the main advertiser target audience for news programming.
WFAA8 also took first at 6 a.m. in total homes and tied for the top spot with NBC5 among 25-to-54-year-olds.
The 6 p.m. wars went to WFAA8 as usual, with the ABC station also notching a 5 p.m. win in the total homes Nielsens. NBC5 took the 25-to-54 gold in the earlier hour while WFAA8 slipped to third behind runnerup CBS11.