Fox's coverage of last night's ALCS Orioles-Indians
Game Five earned an 11.1/17 overnight rating. Fox earned a
10.8/17 for Sunday's Game Four and a 8.4/18 for Saturday's
Game Three. On NBC, Saturday's NLCS Braves-Marlins Game
Four earned a 6.1/11, while NBC's Friday night coverage of
Game Three "took a rare Friday night win in the national
ratings with" a 9.9/19 (WASHINGTON POST, 10/14). NBC's Game
Five Sunday earned a 9.7 overnight (USA TODAY, 10/14).
FOOTBALL: ABC reports a 16.2/25 preliminary overnight
for its Cowboys-Redskins "MNF" game (THE DAILY).
LOCAL NUMBERS: In Baltimore, Orioles coverage on WBFF
drew a 23.3/43 on Saturday, and a 27.8/38 on Sunday (Milton
Kent, Baltimore SUN, 10/14). In Cleveland, WJW reported a
34.9 rating in Northeast Ohio for Saturday's Game Three and
a 51.1 for Game Four (AKRON BEACON JOURNAL, 10/14).
NETWORK REVIEWS: A sampling of reviews of NBC's and
Fox's LCS coverage: In Toronto, Rob Longely: "As it has done
with the NFL, Fox Sports has brought [MLB] to life with its
pictures, enhanced sound and graphics and refreshing
commentary." Longley adds that Fox's play-by-play man Joe
Buck "may be one of the brightest young talents on the tube"
(TORONTO SUN, 10/13). In Baltimore, Milton Kent wrote that
"in general," Fox analysts Tim McCarver and Bob Brenly "were
up to the level of the drama that unfolded" at Jacobs Field
on Saturday. Kent added that "while director Bill Webb is
doing a generally good job, his tendency to stay with tight
shots of hitters and pitchers or split-screens ... is
becoming a little irritating" (Baltimore SUN, 10/12). In
DC, Leonard Shapiro wrote that viewers are "frequently
bombarded by the hippest technology money can buy," while
some of it is "incomprehensible, hard to read and often an
unnecessary intrusion." Shapiro added that NBC's Bob Costas
"remains fabulous," but asked, "Why do both networks insist
on three men in the booth?" (WASHINGTON POST, 10/11).
NO MUST SEE MLB: In Boston, Peter Gammons reported that
NBC has the NLCS "because the network could not televise
baseball on Thursday nights" (BOSTON GLOBE, 10/13).
