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Local Nielsen ratings snapshot (Fri.-Sun., March 1-3) -- Ups, downs for Red Widow while Walking Dead beats all

By ED BARK
@unclebarkycom
ABC's two-hour Sunday premiere of Red Widow fared fairly well in the total viewer Nielsens but fell victim to Donald Trump's All-Star Celebrity Apprentice in the key 18-to-49 demographic.

But neither show could match AMC's 8 p.m. episode of The Walking Dead, which had 227,179 D-FW viewers with 159,470 in the 18-to-49 age range.

Red Widow averaged 199,642 total viewers from 8 to 10 p.m., easily enough to beat the latest season debut of Celebrity Apprentice (103,263). But Trump turned the tables with 18-to-49-year-olds by a score of 54,220 to 35,083.

Red Widow also was beaten in the 18-to-49 measurement by CBS' 8 p.m. episode of The Good Wife and Fox4's 9 p.m. local newscast. And it fell sharply from the 70,167 viewers bequeathed by ABC's Once Upon A Time.

D-FW ratings for History (Channel's) twin Sunday night debuts of The Bible and Vikings were not immediately available.

In Friday's prime-time numbers, ABC's new 8 p.m. episode of Shark Tank led all programs in both total viewers (199,642) and 18-to-49-year-olds (95,682). It helped that CBS threw in two repeats of Blue Bloods. Still, Shark Tank is a growing success story for a network that kept the faith and nurtured it into a substantial demographic hit.

In Friday's morning hours, D Magazine's FrontBurner blog post about "ratings gold" for its two new programs hit a wall with the latest daily numbers.

(As previously posted, Thursday's 9 to 11 a.m. editions of D: The Broadcast and D Living on KTXD-TV (Ch. 47) turned in uncommonly solid performances n the key 18-to-49 demographic. But D publisher Wick Allison failed to mention -- and still hasn't -- that Fox4, NBC5, WFAA8 and CBS11 all devoted a substantial portion of those hours to live coverage of Pope Benedict XVI's farewell. In Baptist-dominated D-FW, that turned out to be ratings poison on a day when ABC's usually dominant The View was in large part pre-empted.

KTXD's 8 a.m. rerun of Daniel Boone also had an unprecedented number of 18-to-49-year-old viewers Thursday, raising speculation that Nielsen might have had a screw loose somewhere.)

Anyway, Friday's 10 a.m. hour of D Living reverted to "hashmarks" (no measurable audience) in both total viewers and 18-to-49-year-olds. D: The Broadcast did a bit better at 9 a.m. with 2,754 total viewers and 1,594 in the 18-to-49 range.

For comparison's sake, The View topped the 10 a.m. ratings with 75,726 total viewers and 22,326 in the 18-to-49 demographic. At 9 a.m., NBC's Today led in total viewers (82,610) while Today and Fox4's syndicated Kelly & Michael tied for the most 18-to-49-year-olds with 22,326 each.

None of this is earthshaking ratings news. But D, in concert with KTXD head man Phil Hurley, clearly misled its FrontBurner blog readers last week. So this is a corrective measure. Both D: The Broadcast and D Living may yet prove to be success stories down the road. And if that happens, you'll also get that information in these spaces.

Finally, here are Friday's local news derby results:

After a miserable February "sweeps" ratings performance, NBC5 had some bright spots. The Peacock won at 6 a.m. and 5 p.m. in total viewers while also running first at 10 p.m. with 25-to-54-year-olds (main advertiser target audience for news programming).

CBS11 had the most total viewers at 10 p.m. and Fox4 remained unbeaten for this entire year in the 6 a.m. competition for 25-to-54-year-olds.

WFAA8 won at 5 p.m. in the 25-to-54 demographic. The 6 p.m. spoils were split between WFAA8 in total viewers and Fox4 with 25-to-54-year-olds.
unclebarky@verizon.net