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Local Nielsen ratings snapshot (Wed.-Thurs., March 2-3) -- latest Republican fight night is another smash

By ED BARK
@unclebarkycom on Twitter
The circus came to town again Thursday night, and the ratings went through the Big Top.

Fox News Channel’s four-way Republican presidential candidate debate, featuring repeated name-calling and Donald Trump bragging about the size of his manhood, squashed all competing programming, including Fox’s American Idol.

Airing from 8 to 10 p.m., the debate averaged 453,274 D-FW viewers and 123,852 in the advertiser-coveted 18-to-49-year-old demographic.

Idol, which ran from 7 to 9 p.m., took the runner-up spot with 269,131 total viewers and 92,095 in the 18-to-49 age range. Sunnyvale’s Dalton Rapattoni climbed another rung on the show’s final season, making it to the Final 8.

ABC’s 8 p.m. premiere of The Family went into the teeth of both shows and came away with just 106,236 total viewers and 25,406 in the 18-to-49 realm. Among the Big 4 broadcast networks, that outdrew only NBC’s competing repeat of Blindspot.

On Wednesday, the last day of the February “sweeps” ratings period, CBS’ 8 p.m. episode of Criminal Minds topped all prime-time programming in total viewers with 297,461. CBS’ preceding hour of Survivor was tops with 18-to-49-year-olds (101,622).

ABC’s double shot premiere of The Real O’Neals had a so-so start. The 7:30 p.m. episode ran third among the Big 4 networks in total viewers (127,483), beating only Fox’s second half-hour of Rosewood. At 8:30 p.m., Real O’Neals also took the bronze with 141,648 total viewers, whipping Fox’s second half-hour of Hell’s Kitchen. It was the same story among 18-to-49-year-olds, with the Fox duo again placing fourth behind Real O’Neals.

Ratings for the premiere of Sundance TV’s East Texas-set Hap and Leonard were not immediately available.

Here are the Wednesday/Thursday local news derby results.

Wednesday -- On the final day of the February sweeps, CBS11 solidified its 10 p.m. first-place finish in total viewers by beating its three rivals. Fox4 likewise padded its lead with a dominating win among 25-to-54-year-olds (main advertiser target audience for news programming).

Fox4 swept the 6 a.m. competitions to finish the sweeps unbeaten at that hour. The station accomplished the same feat in the November sweeps by winning all 40 match-ups in the total viewers and 25-to-54 measurements.

NBC5, the sweeps victor at 5 p.m., finished strong with twin wins. And the Peacock nearly caught No. 1 TEGNA8 at the tape by also running the table at 6 p.m.

Thursday -- TEGNA8 had the most total viewers at 10 p.m. while Fox4 was tops with 25-to-54-year-olds.

Fox4 notched two more 6 a.m. wins and NBC5 did likewise at 6 p.m. The 5 p.m. golds went to NBC5 in total viewers and Fox4 with 25-to-54-year-olds.

Email comments or questions to: unclebarky@verizon.net