ABC holds Tuesday,
despite baseball
Ties with Fox and its World Series coverage
By Toni Fitzgerald
Oct. 25, 2006
Even against an admittedly diluted World Series,
ABC’s Tuesday night keeps chugging along.
Another strong performance by “Dancing with the Stars”
helped ABC tie baseball carrier Fox last night with a 4.2 adults 18-49
average and 11 share for the evening, according to Nielsen overnights.
That was up 8 percent over the 3.9 ABC averaged the equivalent night last
year, when “Stars” was not airing and “Commander in Chief” was.
Thus far this year, ABC is averaging a 4.4 on Tuesday
nights, up 29 percent over the 3.4 it averaged on that night in 2005,
according to Nielsen data crunched by Fox.
“Stars” remained the top-rated show on the night
despite solid competition from the World Series. It averaged a 5.0 in its
first hour, leading the Series by 1.5, and a 6.0 in its final half hour,
1.6 ahead of the Series.
The night will become much more interesting when Fox’s
“House” returns from its baseball-induced hiatus and moves to the 9 p.m.
timeslot. It had been beating “Stars” at 8 among 18-49s, though not total
viewers, before going on break.
NBC finished third last night behind ABC and Fox with a
rerun-heavy lineup, averaging a 3.3/9. CBS followed with a 2.9/8, CW was
fifth at 1.7/5, and Univision was sixth at 1.5/4.
As a reminder, fast nationals measure timeslot data and
not actual program data. Ratings for Fox’s World Series game, which ran
until 11:39 p.m., will likely change when final ratings are released later
today. Even so, it looks as though this year’s game will be down from last
year’s Game 3.
At 8 p.m., “Stars” led with a 6.0, followed by the
World Series at 3.5, CBS’s “NCIS” rerun at 2.9, NBC’s “Friday Night
Lights” at 2.6, down slightly from last week, CW’s “Gilmore Girls” at 2.0,
and Univision’s 1.9 for “La Fea Mas Bella.”
At 9 p.m., Fox led with a 4.7 for baseball, followed by
ABC’s 4.6 for the last half hour of “Stars” (6.0) and “Help Me Help You”
(3.3), a 3.3 for a rerun of NBC’s “Law & Order: Criminal Intent,” a 2.9
for a rerun of “The Unit” on CBS, and a 1.4 apiece for CW’s “Veronica
Mars” and Univision’s “Mundo de Fieras.”
At 10 p.m., Fox led again with a 4.6, followed by NBC
at 3.9 for a “Law & Order: Special Victims Unit,” a 3.1 for ABC’s “Boston
Legal,” a 2.9 for CBS’s “Criminal Minds” rerun, and a 1.1 for Univision’s
“Ver para Creer.”
Among households, ABC led with a 10.4/16, followed by
Fox at 9.2/14, CBS at 6.6/10, NBC at 5.8/9, and the CW and Univision tied
at 2.0/3.
© 2006 Media Life Magazine
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