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Local Nielsen ratings snapshot (Fri.-Sun., Sept. 19-21) -- big Cowboys comeback otherwise no blockbuster

By ED BARK
@unclebarkycom on Twitter
It must be something about the Rams.

Roaring back from a 21-0 road deficit to beat St. Louis 34-31, the Dallas Cowboys nonetheless fell below the one million mark for the first time this season. The same thing happened last season in Game 3 -- which also was against the Rams. Noon starts on nice days don’t help, which was the case with both of these games on Fox4. But still . . .

Sunday’s Cowboys-Rams game averaged 894,764 D-FW viewers. Last season’s Game 3 rout of St. Louis, by a 31-7 score, averaged 943,135 viewers. In each case, the Cowboys improved to 2-1.

The 34-31 comeback win not surprisingly peaked in the final 15 minutes, with a crowd of 1,086,499. Among advertiser-prized 18-to-49-year-olds, the game averaged 400,574 viewers overall with a peak audience of 517,815 in the closing 15 minutes (2:45 to 3 p.m.).

CBS then cleaned up with the Seattle Seahawks 26-20 overtime win over the Denver Broncos after QB Peyton Manning led an incredible Broncos comeback in the 4th quarter. Stretching to 6:58 p.m., the game averaged 653,320 total viewers.

NBC’s Sunday Night Football matchup, in which the Steelers beat up the Panthers, swept the prime-time/late night Nielsens with an average of 440,281 total viewers. The game ran until 10:45 p.m.

CBS got excellent sampling of its new Madam Secretary series, though. Delayed by the Seahawks-Broncos run-over until just after 8 p.m., the premiere episode averaged 383,470 total viewers. .

Madam Secretary, starring Tea Leoni as a newly minted secretary of state, did not make a major impression on 18-to-49-year-olds. It 61,877 viewers in this key demographic, which amounts to a smallish percentage of the total viewership.

In central and eastern time zones, CBS scrapped a planned Sunday night repeat of Madam Secretary. The delayed Season 6 premiere of The Good Wife instead led directly to local newscasts. In D-FW, Good Wife drew 276,951 total viewers and 52,107 in the 18-to-49 range. 60 Minutes, which didn’t start ticking until 7:04 p.m., had the biggest overall audience of the night for CBS, with 433,179 total viewers. Its 18-to-49 haul was 113,985 viewers.

CBS’ afternoon Alabama-Florida game emerged as the biggest scorer among Saturday’s parade of college football games, averaging 205,938 total viewers.

In prime-time, Fox’s Oklahoma-West Virginia matchup and Clemson’s give away of a win against No. 1 Florida State on ABC averaged 149,127 viewers apiece. But Florida State-Clemson had Saturday’s highest peak audience, drawing 298,255 viewers in the closing overtime minutes. Texas A&M’s crushing of SMU during daytime hours on ABC averaged 85,216 viewers

The closing chapter of Ken Burns’ 14-hour The Roosevelts on PBS drew 71,013 viewers.

Friday’s prime-time winners were CBS’ Blue Bloods rerun in total viewers (163,330) and CBS’ Big Brother with 18-to-49-year-olds (45,934).

Here are Friday’s local news derby results.

CBS11 had the most total viewers at 10 p.m. while NBC5 won among 25-to-54-year-olds, the main advertiser target audience for news programming.

Two stations also split the spoils at 6 a.m., with the Peacock No. 1 in total viewers and Fox4 drawing the most 25-to-54-year-olds.

CBS11 unusually swept the 5 p.m. competitions and Gannett8 ran the table at 6 p.m., which likewise has been uncommon.

Email comments or questions to: unclebarky@verizon.net