NFL on NBC Scores Big on Sunday Night

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Posted: Mon., Sep. 11, 2006, 4:22pm PT

Kickoff returns
Football debut scores big for Peacock

By RICK KISSELL

Sunday's marquee contest drew somewhere between 22 million and 24 million viewers.

ABC's controversial two-parter 'The Path to 9/11' drew a solid 13 million viewers but paled opposite NBC's 'Sunday Night Football.'

ABC's controversial 9/11 movie drew a sizable aud of roughly 13 million viewers on Sunday night, but that number was dwarfed by comparison with NBC's big showing for pro football.
On the eve of the five-year anniversary of the terrorist attacks, America turned to the comfort of its most popular sport, as the heavily hyped opener of the Peacock's new NFL "Sunday Night Football" franchise stormed out of the gate.
Fox, meanwhile, went against the grain with the premiere of its "The Simpsons"-led comedy lineup, which opened pretty well.
According to preliminary nationals from Nielsen, the opening night of the Alphabet's two-part dramatization of the events leading up to Sept. 11 averaged 13 million viewers on the net's affils from 8 to 11 p.m.
Pic, which concluded Monday night, had drawn criticism from Clinton administration officials who charged it fabricated scenes about actions prior to the attacks. ABC cut or changed several scenes from the movie and aired disclaimers before and during the pic that called "Path to 9/11" a dramatization, not a documentary.
Reliable numbers weren't available for CBS' repeat of its 2002 documentary "9/11," which also aired Sunday night. Two-hour program, updated with new interviews, was delayed by a tennis overrun in much of the country and didn't air or was delayed further on some CBS affils due to sensitivity over its salty language.
Both the ABC and CBS pics were not supported by advertising, so their national viewership figures won't be released by Nielsen.
At Fox, the indefatigable "The Simpsons" launched its 18th season with the show's best numbers in 10 months (preliminary 5.3 rating/14 share in adults 18-49, 11.5 million viewers overall) -- especially good given that it opposed NBC's football coverage on both coasts.
"American Dad" dropped off a bit at 8:30 -- opposite the start of the game in the east -- but scored a solid 4.1/10 in 18-49 and 8.9 million viewers overall in prelims. "Family Guy" then picked up at 9 (prelim 4.7/11 in 18-49, 9.9 million) before "The War at Home" took a tumble at 9:30 (prelim 3.5/8 in 18-49, 7.4 million).
A big weekend for football, meanwhile, was capped Sunday night by NBC's coverage of the Indianapolis Colts' 26-21 victory over the New York Giants (8:15-11:15 p.m. ET).
Marquee contest, pitting the Manning brothers against each other (Peyton's Colts beat Eli's Giants) should draw somewhere in the 22 million-24 million viewers range and an 18-49 rating of about 8.5 when Nielsen releases nationals today -- putting it above all but one of the "Monday Night Football" games of a year ago on ABC.
The other NFL broadcast carriers shone as well Sunday, with Fox's doubleheader action averaging a 12.1 household rating/24 share in the overnights, up 3% from last year (11.7/24). Its national game from 4:15 to 7:45 p.m. ET (Dallas-Jacksonville, Fla., in more than 70% of the country) scored a 14.9/28.
At CBS, its single game (five regional contests in the 1-4 p.m. ET window) averaged an 8.9/20 in the overnights, up 3% vs. last year.
In the pregame battle, Fox's show (3.3 household rating/9 share) won out in the metered-market overnights, although CBS (2.8/7), with Jim Brown back in the host's seat after a long run at Fox, was on the rise. Eye notes this is the closest gap between the two shows in the first week of a season.
College football performed well on the nets Saturday, with the Ohio State-Texas primetime matchup on ABC scoring an 8.8 household rating/16 share in Nielsen's overnights, up 19% from last year's same matchup (7.4/13). And NBC's afternoon Notre Dame-Penn State game did a sturdy 4.8/11.
And in other ratings news, preliminary nationals for last week's evening news had Katie Couric's "CBS Evening News" a dominant No. 1 in its first frame.
The CBS half-hour (2.8 rating in adults 25-54, 10.2 million viewers overall) won each night over NBC (1.9 in 25-54, 7.1 million) and ABC (1.9 in 25-54, 6.9 million), although the gap closed some by Friday.

Date in print: Tue., Sep. 12, 2006, Los Angeles

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