http://entertainment.tv.yahoo.com/entnews/ap/20050614/111878262000.html More television viewers were interested in B-list stars learning how to dance and Diane Sawyer interviewing Brad Pitt than either of the first two games of the NBA Finals. Fortunately for ABC, the network televised all of those events. The summer series "Dancing With the Stars" topped the Nielsen Media Research ratings in its second week on the air, with 15.1 million people tuning in. Pro basketball's premiere event is a flop so far, with 10.6 million people watching the San Antonio Spurs beat the Detroit Pistons in the first game, and 10.7 million seeing the same result in Sunday's Game 2. Five years ago, more than 15 million people watched each of the first two games of the Los Angeles Lakers against the Indiana Pacers. In last year's deciding fifth game between the Pistons and Lakers, there were 21.8 million viewers, Nielsen said. Why is the NBA slumping this year? Some critics say that relegating the playoffs up until the finals to cable TV hurt its ability to bring in casual fans, as did the lack of competitive teams this year in big market areas like New York and Los Angeles. A "Primetime Live" special with Sawyer pressing Pitt on his love life and his acting hit the Nielsen top 10 with 11.2 million viewers. Helped by a "Two and a Half Men" marathon last Monday, CBS won the week with an average of 7.9 million viewers (5.5 rating, 10 share). ABC had 6.8 million (4.6, 8), and easily won among the 18-to-49-year-old demographic. NBC had 6.5 million viewers (4.6, 8), Fox 5.3 million (3.5, 6), UPN 2.8 million (1.8, 3), the WB 2.3 million (1.6, 3) and Pax TV 580,000 (0.4, 1). NBC's "Nightly News" won the evening news ratings race, averaging 8.2 million viewers (5.9, 13). ABC's "World News Tonight" had 7.9 million viewers (5.6, 12) and the "CBS Evening News" had 6.5 million (4.8, 10). A ratings point represents 1,096,000 households, or 1 percent of the nation's estimated 109.6 million TV homes. The share is the percentage of in-use televisions tuned to a given show. For the week of June 6-12, the top 10 shows, their networks and viewerships: "Dancing With the Stars," ABC, 15.1 million; "CSI: Crime Scene Investigation," CBS, 12.7 million; "Two and a Half Men," CBS, 11.5 million; "Two and a Half Men" (Monday-10 p.m.), CBS, 11.4 million; "Primetime Live Special Edition," ABC, 11.2 million; "Two and a Half Men" (Monday-9 p.m.), CBS, 11.1 million; "Two and a Half Men" (Monday-10:30 p.m.), CBS, 10.9 million; NBA Finals Game 2: Detroit vs. San Antonio, ABC, 10.7 million; NBA Finals Game 1: Detroit vs. San Antonio, ABC, 10.6 million; "60 Minutes," CBS, 10.3 million.
I am the only person not watching "Two and a half Men." I don't think I have ever watched a whole episode.
I'm trying not to watch TV any more. I feel like I'm wasting my life away with useless junk when I watch it.
Spur-ball may be honey for the the basketball moralists ... but it's hella boring. Not helping it's boring Detroit rolling over, too. Memo to Stern - send in Tmac. Shaq vs Tmac. That's your rating match. Next year we'll have the evil Kobe back in the hunt, too. That dancer that was voted off "stars" is a great dancer, amazing coach. Trista must be a dumb, stiff cow.
I believe the fans should vote in who they want in the finals and they can have various challenges along the way like the old tv show Battle of the network stars.
As far as ratings I think it might go something like this. 1. Kobe - Lebron 2. Shaq - Kobe 3. Yao - Shaq 4. Lebron - Garnett 5. Lebron - TMac 6. Iverson - Kobe 7. Lebron - Duncan 8. Boston - Kobe 9. Shaq - Garnett 9. Shaq - Duncan 10. New York - Kobe
That article seems a little pointless...the "Dancing" show didn't even come on the same night as either one of the finals games. All they are basically saying is that the ratings aren't through the roof. Both finals games were 2nd highest on their respective days (Sunday and Tuesday)...and on Sunday was the most watched during that time frame. 60 Minutes beat game one out by a couple of slots, but it was at an earlier time also. A CSI repeat beat out game 2 by a longshot, and most of that probably had to do with people tuning out because it was a blowout. http://tv.zap2it.com/tveditorial/tve_main/1,1002,272|||weekly,00.html
I couldn't agree more. Unfortunately with numbers like these the number crunchers at the networks might decide it makes better sense to program variety shows with B - C list stars and inane sitcoms rather than show sports in primetime.
