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Local Nielsen ratings snapshot (Thurs.-Sun., Nov. 22-25) -- bounteous Thanksgiving numbers for another Cowboys turkey

By ED BARK
@unclebarkycom
The Cowboys' annual Thanksgiving Day game pigged out in the D-FW Nielsen ratings despite the team's 28-3 deficit at halftime en route to a 38-31 loss to Washington.

The allure of Redskins QB Robert Griffin III likely had something to do with that. 'Cause it sure couldn't have been Kenny Chesney. Stretching all the way to 7:10 p.m. on Fox, Cowboys-Redskins averaged 1,301,114 viewers with a peak crowd of 1,418,145 between 5:45 and 6 p.m.

That makes it the regular season's No. 2 attraction, behind only the Sept. 5th season opener against the Giants on NBC. The Cowboys' upset win in prime-time averaged 1,348,046 viewers. Two of the Cowboys' 11 games this season have fallen below the one million mark.

In Thanksgiving's other NFL activities, the Houston Texans' overtime win at Detroit averaged a robust 750,378 viewers on CBS. NBC's first-ever holiday prime-time game, between the Patriots and Jets, fell to 323,557 viewers. But the Patriots already had smashed the Jets into submission by halftime.

Over on ESPN, the prime-time TCU-Texas matchup averaged 247,831 viewers.

Sunday's biggest NFL draw, the Giants' dismantling of the Packers on NBC's prime-time stage, drew 433,705 viewers. Native Wisconsinite Uncle Barky said some bad things during this blowout. Sorry.

Saturday's college football menu was paced by ABC's prime-time Notre Dame-Southern Cal game, in which the unbeaten Irish advanced to the National Championship game. It averaged 344,210 viewers while Fox's afternoon track meet between Baylor and Texas Tech pulled in 192,758 viewers.

The local news derby results were inoperative. From Wednesday through Friday, Fox4, NBC5, WFAA8 and CBS11 all took holiday "H" designations for their 6 a.m. and 5, 6 and 10 p.m. newscasts. That means they're "thrown out" by Nielsen.

As previously posted, Fox4 and CBS11 paced the November "sweeps" newscast ratings.
unclebarky@verizon.net