ESPN earned an 8.7 overnight rating for last night's Colts-Chargers "MNF" telecast, which aired up against Cardinals-Dodgers NLCS Game 3 on TBS. That figure is down 5% from a 9.2 overnight for Broncos-Chargers in Week 6 last year, which went up against Fox' Giants-Cardinals NLCS Game 2. Colts-Chargers is also down from a 9.2 overnight for Dolphins-Jets in Week 6 of the '11 season. Dolphins-Jets had no MLB postseason competition. In Indianapolis, last night's game earned a 13.9 local rating on ESPN and a 23.1 on WTHR-NBC. In San Diego, the game earned a 13.7 rating on ESPN and a 14.6 on KUSI-Ind. Rounding out the top five "MNF" markets were Las Vegas (14.1), New Orleans (13.4) and Sacramento (13.2). Meanwhile, the Patriots' last-minute comeback over the Saints on Sunday afternoon drew a 35.1 local rating in Boston, making it the most-watched Patriots game of the season to date and top broadcast in the market for the week of Oct. 7 (Austin Karp, Assistant Managing Editor).
ALIVE & WELL: In N.Y., Bill Carter notes AMC's "The Walking Dead" season premiere on Sunday night was seen by 16.1 million viewers, "far surpassing the show’s previous record for cable entertainment programs," which was 12.4 million viewers. The show attracted 10.4 million viewers in the 18-49 demo, marking "an enormous total even surpassing" any NFL game this season. "The Walking Dead" managed its big audience "despite the presence Sunday night of two potent sports attractions," NBC’s Redskins-Cowboys "SNF" game and Fox' Tigers-Red Sox ALCS Game 2. Before Sunday night, "every top-rated show this season had been an NFL game" (N.Y. TIMES, 10/15).
BACK TO THE DRAWING BOARD: WFAN-AM's Joe Benigno noted CBS "tried to be cute" Sunday by putting the co-hosts from "The NFL Today" pregame show in "various different cities for the teams they used to be associated with." However, Bill Cowher's addition to the Jim Nantz-Phil Simms broadcast team for Jets-Steelers made the telecast the "most slanted towards the Steelers I've ever seen." Benigno: "All they needed was the (Terrible) Towels and out-and-out rooting. It was an absolute joke and a disgrace" ("Daily News Live," SportsNet N.Y., 10/14).
