Last night's Game Five of the Yankees-Red Sox ALCS
earned a 11.3/18 preliminary overnight Nielsen rating on
Fox, up 1% from the comparable NLCS Padres-Braves Game Five
last year, also on Fox. The game earned a 25.1/39 local
rating in N.Y. and a 32.0/51 in Boston (THE DAILY).
AGAINST NFL: ABC earned a 12.3/19 preliminary overnight
rating for last nights Cowboys-Giants "MNF" game (THE
DAILY). In Dallas, Tim Cowlishaw, on the "MNF" games: "Who
knows what the TV ratings will say, but if Monday Night
Football maintains its place in the top 10 this season with
the games it's offering, maybe that's an indictment of the
entire nation." More Cowlishaw: "Are your remote controls
lost in the couch cushions? What in the name of Ally McBeal
are you people thinking?" (DALLAS MORNING NEWS, 10/19).
EVERY DAY IS NOT LIKE SUNDAY: USA TODAY's Rudy Martzke
notes that NBC's 13.2/22 overnight rating for Sunday's
Braves-Mets Game Five was the "highest for an afternoon LCS
game in 12 years." The combined 11.1 average rating for the
LCS on Sunday was up 14% over last year. National ratings
for the LCS are up 22% (USA TODAY, 10/19). In N.Y., Richard
Sandomir writes that the rating for WNBC-NY during the
conclusion of the Braves-Mets Sunday was a 36.9/52.
Sandomir: "That kind of single-minded focus on one program
is rarely seen except in mega events" (N.Y. TIMES, 10/19).
In DC, Lisa de Moraes writes that Sunday's game "proved to
be a ratings boon for NBC, as the game averaged about 16
million viewers" (WASHINGTON POST, 10/19). DAILY VARIETY's
Tom Bierbaum writes that "it's turning into one of the all-
time great autumns for sports, making it tough for TV's best
entertainment offerings to compete with the on-the-field
fireworks." Led by Sunday's NLCS Game Five, MLB's
postseason "dominated" the October 11-17 primetime ratings,
"advancing NBC to the easiest weeklong ratings victory for
any net since at least last spring and allowing Fox to climb
out of the Big Four cellar for the first time this season."
Bierbaum: "Football is losing some momentum vs. baseball,
but is still up solidly this fall" (DAILY VARIETY, 10/19).
LOCAL ANGELS: More than 33,000 NJ homes and businesses
lost their cable service on Sunday "just as the" Mets were
about to win Game Five of the NLCS. Comcast Cable of the
Meadowlands blamed the 13-minute power outage on a "power
failure" (Bergen RECORD, 10/19). In Boston, WFTX-Fox earned
a Red Sox season "high" rating of a 38.3/54 with Yankees-Red
Sox Game Four, with "peaks" of 43.5/62. Saturday's Game
Three eared a 33.0/63 (BOSTON HERALD, 10/19).
A BIT OF HYPERBOLE FROM "WAR-TORN" FENWAY: In Boston,
Howard Manly writes that he will miss Fox's MLB broadcasts.
NBC has the World Series, and "while their excellence is an
acquired taste, their style is more officious, more network-
of-record." Manly: "Fox is more tabloid, more willing to
have fun than any other network. It can go overboard at
times, but for the most part, its coverage is thorough,
opinionated, and humorous" (BOSTON GLOBE, 10/19). In N.Y.,
Bob Raissman reviews NBC's Bob Costas' performance during
Sunday's 15-inning game and writes, "Costas' Sunday's call
was all about nuance. All about knowing when to pump up the
volume, when to slide in the humor, when to milk the emotion
and when to trade insights with [Joe] Morgan" (N.Y. DAILY
NEWS, 10/19). NEWSDAY's Steve Zipay writes that Costas "has
risen to the occasion for the NLCS, as we expected"
(NEWSDAY, 9/18). In IL, Tim Cronin writes that Fox, NBC and
ESPN "have done an overwhelmingly terrific job capturing the
drama, excitement and even the beauty of the [postseason]
games. With rare exception, we've seen the right replays
when controversy arose. The commentary has matched the
pictures." Cronin: "The one area in which Fox shines over
NBC is the use of sound. ... NBC can rally with an audibly
better World Series" (DAILY SOUTHTOWN, 10/19).
SHOULD MLB CHANGE LIMIT ON GAME HIGHLIGHTS? In
Baltimore, Milton Kent notes the two-minute limit for LCS
game highlights on sports news shows and writes, "Viewers
have Major League Baseball to thank for that, since ESPN and
all the other sports news shows continue to be shackled by
time limits on the length of highlight packages. ... [and]
you, the viewer, take the loss" (Baltimore SUN, 10/19).
