Fox Sees Best Wild Card Rating In Decade; NBC Sets Primetime Mark

Cardinals-Packers Earns Best Wild Card Rating Since Dolphins' Comeback In '00

HELPING HOMER: The portion of Fox' Cardinals-Packers matchup which ran into primetime earned an 11.8 rating and 15.563 million viewers in the adults 18-49 demo, which helped Fox' 450th episode of "The Simpsons" earn a 6.9 rating and 9.084 million viewers in the demo, the show's best numbers since it aired following Super Bowl XXXIX in '05 (THE DAILY).

BOOTH REVIEW: SPORTINGNEWS.com's Dan Levy wrote Fox play-by-play announcer Joe Buck "understood the moment when calling the final play" of Cardinals-Packers, one of the "most memorable NFL playoff games of all time." After Cardinals LB Karlos Dansby "scampered into the end zone to give the Cardinals the overtime win ... Buck let the crowd take over." Levy: "Say what you will about Buck's less-is-more way of play calling, but he was right on with that one" (SPORTINGNEWS.com, 1/11). Meanwhile, in N.Y., Bob Raissman writes while NBC's crew of Tom Hammond, Joe Gibbs and Joe Theismann for Saturday's Jets-Bengals AFC Wild Card game will "ultimately take the fall for an awful performance, they cannot take the blame." That blame "goes to the braniacs at NBC Sports" who assembled the crew, as the telecast was "dead on arrival" (N.Y. DAILY NEWS, 1/12). SI.com's Richard Deitsch wrote he does not believe Theismann is "malicious with his propensity to dominate a booth but the simple fact is viewers outside of Washington don't seem to enjoy his broadcasts" (SI.com, 1/11).

COACHSPEAK: SI.com's Deitsch wrote if viewers "want information about the possible coaching destinations" for CBS studio analyst Bill Cowher, his advice is to "watch ESPN, Fox, NBC or even C-Span because CBS appears to be the last place you'll find it." Cowher last month on "The NFL Today," the "show that pays him in front of the viewers that watch him," reiterated he is "not going to talk about any jobs during the regular season." Deitsch: "While you can respect Cowher for not wanting to give the specifics about meetings he did or did not have with prospective future employers, it's hard to stomach not even confirming whether he is or is not interested in coaching, or whether he did or did not meet with an NFL team" (SI.com, 1/11).

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