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Local Nielsen ratings snapshot (Tues.-Thurs., April 19-21) -- Mavs crash-land, as do numbers

By ED BARK
@unclebarkycom on Twitter
Game 3 of the Dallas Mavericks-Oklahoma City Thunder first-round playoff series offered D-FW viewers a sharp contrast to Game 2.

A gutty, improbable 85-84 Mavs’ road win was erased by a 131-102 Thunder romp in Dallas. The Nielsen numbers dipped accordingly, although TXA21’s home-grown “homer” coverage again was blown out by TNT’s national presentation. The early starting Game 3 ran from 6:11 to 8:53 p.m.

TNT averaged 120,401 total viewers and 63,514 in the advertiser-coveted 18-to-49-year-old demographic. Those numbers were significantly down from Game 2’s 198,307 and 111,150 viewers.

TXA21 lagged with 77,906 total viewers and 41,284 in the 18-to-49 age range. The respective TXA21 numbers for Game 2 were 99,154 and 34,933 viewers, giving the CBS11 sister station a bit of a bump up in the key 18-to-49 demographic.

The combined TNT/TXA21 numbers of 183,921 total viewers and 104,798 in the 18-to-49 realm were a significant drop from the 297,461 and 146,083 for Monday night’s down-to-the-last-split-second Game 2. That’s what a blowout will do for you.

Game 1 of the series, in which the Thunder demolished the Mavs by a 38-point margin, drew a combined 219,554 total viewers and 107,974 in the 18-to-49 demographic on TXA 21 and ESPN. TXA21’s coverage edged ESPN’s in both measurements.

The homegrown first round playoff telecast in recent years has tended to fare better against ESPN than TNT, which has the attendant circus of pre-, halftime and post-game shows featuring the quartet of Charles Barkley, Kenny Smith, Shaquille O’Neal and Ernie Johnson. Still, the combined audience for Thursday’s Game 3 is the smallest so far.

Over on Fox Sports Southwest Thursday night, the Texas Rangers completed their three-game sweep of the Houston Astros. Playing at home, the Rangers pulled in a nice-sized 162,895 total viewers and 53,987 in the 18-to-49 age range.

On the Big Four broadcast networks, CBS11’s 7 p.m. episode of The Big Bang Theory easily led all prime-time programming with 389,532 total viewers and 139,731 in the 18-to-49 measurement.

In contrast, Fox’s second episode of American Grit continued to struggle with 70,824 total viewers in the 8 p.m. hour. But NBC’s new Game of Silence was the rock bottom Big Four attraction for 18-to-49-year-olds with a measly 15,879 of ‘em at 9 p.m. Despite the lowly lead-in from American Grit, Fox4’s 9 p.m. newscast dominated that hour in both ratings barometers opposite Game of Silence and two other new network dramas, ABC’s The Catch and CBS’ Rush Hour.

OK, let’s move to Wednesday night, when the Dallas Stars’ road win against the Minnesota Wild averaged 84,989 total viewers on Fox Sports Southwest, with 57,163 in the 18-to-49 motherlode. That’s still an impressive percentage of “desirable” viewers. The Stars now lead the Wild three games to one in their first round Stanley Cup playoff series.

Wednesday’s TV attractions as usual were topped by Fox’s Empire, which amassed 417,862 total viewers and 193,718 in the 18-to-49 age range.

On Tuesday, the 8 p.m. premiere of The CW’s Containment fell flat with 28,330 total viewers and 9,527 in the 18-to-49 realm. You know it’s bad when even CW33’s following NewsFix whips you among 18-to-49-year-olds with 15,879.

AMC’s 9 p.m. premiere of the critically acclaimed The Night Manager had 28,330 total viewers and 15,879 in the 18-to-49 demographic. On FSS, the Rangers’ opening win against the Astros had respective totals of 169,978 and 69,865 viewers.

Here are the Tuesday through Thursday local news derby results.

Tuesday -- NBC5 swept the 10 p.m. competitions in both total viewers and 25-to-54-year-olds (main advertiser target audience for news programming).

The Peacock also has been making some noise of late at 6 a.m., where it tied the usually dominant Fox4 in total viewers and won outright with 25-to-54-year-olds.

NBC5 likewise ran the table at 6 p.m. and added a win with 25-to-54-year-olds at 5 p.m. Fox4 edged NBC5 for the most total viewers at 5 p.m.

Wednesday -- CBS11 drew the most total viewers at 10 p.m. while Fox4 led among 25-to-54-year-olds.

NBC5 continued to prosper at 6 a.m., tying Fox4 for first in total viewers while again finishing alone on top with 25-to-54-year-olds. The Peacock also swept the 5 and 6 p.m. competitions.

Thursday -- CBS11 again had the most total viewers at 10 p.m., but Fox4 won among 25-to-54-year-olds.

Fox4 regained its footing at 6 a.m. with twin wins over runner-up NBC5. They are the only two stations with any real ratings punch at that hour.

NBC5 remained rock solid at 5 and 6 p.m. with sweeps of both time periods.

All of this left TEGNA8 as the only station without any wins from Tuesday through Thursday in D-FW’s major four-way local news face-offs. The current TV season’s climactic four-week May ratings “sweeps” period begins on Thursday, April 28th.

Email comments or questions to: unclebarky@verizon.net