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Local Nielsen ratings snapshot (Fri.-Sun., Sept. 15-17) -- lightning strikes thunderstruck Cowboys

By ED BARK
@unclebarkycom on Twitter
The combination of a one-sided loss and a one-hour lightning threat delay clouded the D-FW ratings for Sunday’s Dallas Cowboys-Denver Broncos game on Fox.

Play stopped at 3:56 p.m. and didn’t resume until 4:58 p.m., leaving the Broncos’ 42-17 win bleeding into the first 40 minutes of CBS’ prime-time Emmy Awards telecast, which ran from 7 to 10 p.m..

We’re going to subtract the 4 to 5 p.m. hour (Nielsen measures in 15-minute increments) in breaking down the local numbers. During that time, the audience tailed off for Fox’s substitute Washington Redskins-Los Angeles Rams game before picking up again at 5 p.m.

Using these start-stop-restart measurements, Cowboys-Broncos averaged 1,316,069 total viewers and 525,964 in the advertiser-prized 18-to-49-year-old age range.

Those numbers are down significantly, but not surprisingly, from last week’s season-opener on NBC’s prime-time Sunday Night Football stage. Dallas’ rather dull 19-3 throttling of the punchless New York Giants drew 1,635,998 total viewers and 715,183 in the 18-to-49 realm.

NBC’s Sunday night game -- the Atlanta Falcons and Green Bay Packers -- started shortly before the Cowboys ended at 7:40 p.m. It was the day’s number two ratings attraction with 487,164 total viewers and 230,911 in the 18-to-49 demographic.

The Trump-bashing Emmys slumped to a not-at-all-grand total of 225,404 total viewers and 83,385 in the 18-to-49 demographic. You can read our account on the Network News & Reviews page. Last year’s Emmys on ABC, with Jimmy Kimmel hosting, had 262,049 viewers and 95,271 of the 18-to-49 persuasion.

Sunday’s first chapter of Ken Burns’ 10-part, 18-hour The Vietnam War averaged 65,440 total viewers locally on KERA13. The first part drew a sub-scant 3,207 viewers within the 18-to-49 motherlode before Part 2 perked up considerably to 22,450.

Saturday’s college football parade was paced by Fox’s prime-time Texas-Southern Cal game, which the Trojans won in overtime.

Stretching all the way to 11:41 p.m., the game averaged 319,928 total viewers while crushing ABC’s competing Clemson-Louisville matchup (65,440).

Friday’s biggest prime-time draw was CBS’ 7 p.m. hour of Big Brother, with 138,151 total viewers and 44,899 in the 18-to-49 age range.

Finally, here are Friday’s local news derby results.

CBS11 at last ended a winless drought of at least several weeks by nipping TEGNA8 in total viewers at 10 p.m. Fox4 drew the most 25-to-54-year-olds (main advertiser target audience for news programming) while CBS11 ran second.

Fox4 also swept the 6 a.m. competitions and added 5 and 6 p.m. wins with 25-to-54-year-olds. NBC5 ran first in total viewers at both 5 and 6 p.m.

Email comments or questions to: unclebarky@verizon.net