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Local Nielsen ratings snapshot (Fri.-Tues., Oct. 21-25) -- Numbers up for Game 1 of World series (but with an asterisk)

By ED BARK
@unclebarkycom on Twitter
Fox’s Game 1 of the World Series between two teams starved for a championship hit for a higher D-FW Nielsen ratings average than last October’s opener. There are, however, mitigating circumstances.

The Cleveland Indians, who haven’t won a World Series since 1948, cruised to a 6-0 win over the visiting Chicago Cubs, who hadn’t even been in a World Series since 1945. Stretching to 10:48 p.m., the game averaged 363,555 viewers.

Last fall’s Game 1 on Fox, between the Kansas City Royals and New York Mets, drew an average of 290,378 viewers. But although a thriller, the 14-inning game ran all the way to 12:18 a.m. and included a 4th inning power failure that knocked out Fox’s pictures for several minutes and sent the game over to the MLB network. In the game’s final full 15-minute segment, the audience had dwindled to 184,182 viewers. The Royals won, by the way.

Among advertiser-prized 18-to-49-year-olds, Indians-Cubs averaged 153,941 viewers compared to 117,501 for Game 1 of Royals-Mets.

CBS’ 7 p.m. hour of NCIS nipped the first hour of Indians-Cubs in total viewers by a score of 349,013 to 341,742. The World Series otherwise won the rest of the night in total viewers and easily swept prime-time and late night in the key 18-to-49-year-old demographic.

On Monday, NBC’s 7 to 9 p.m. edition of The Voice as usual led all prime-time programming in total viewers with 312,657. The 7:30 p.m. premiere of Matt LeBlanc’s Man With A Plan sitcom on CBS finished third in its time slot among the Big Four broadcast networks with 181,7778 viewers.

In the 18-to-49 age range, ESPN’s Monday Night Football (Broncos vs. Texans) had the best overall average with 128,284 viewers.

On a Dallas Cowboys-less Sunday, CBS’ late afternoon/early evening New England Patriots-Pittsburgh Steelers game led the NFL parade with 494,435 total viewers. That put it just ahead of Fox’s earlier Philadelphia Eagles-Minnesota Vikings clash (472,622 viewers).

AMC’s latest season premiere of The Walking Dead had 385,38 total viewers, falling short of the competing 8 to 9 p.m. portion of NBC’s Sunday Night Football matchup between the Seattle Seahawks and Arizona Cardinals. But Walking Dead walloped everything in the 18-to-49-year-old demographic, with 253,361 viewers.

Let’s move to Saturday, where the most-watched TV attraction in total viewers, CBS’ afternoon Alabama-Texas A&M game, weighed in with 283,573. Languishing on FS1, the Chicago Cubs’ clinching win over the visiting Los Angeles Dodgers, which sent them to their first World Series in 71 years, averaged just 167,235 total viewers.

On Friday night, CBS’ 9 p.m. hour of Blue Bloods as usual led all programming in total viewers with 254,489. But NBC’s two-hour edition of Dateline was tops with 18-to-49-year-olds (54,521).

Here are the local news derby results for Friday, Monday and Tuesday.

Friday -- CBS11 drew the most total viewers at 10 p.m., but Fox4 won among 25-to-54-year-olds (main advertiser target audience for news programming).

Fox4 also swept the 6 a.m. and 5 p.m. races. At 6 p.m., TEGNA8 had the most total viewers and NBC5 won with 25-to-54-year-olds.

Monday -- NBC5 had a big day, running the table at 5, 6 and 10 p.m. Fox4 again scored twin wins at 6 a.m.

Tuesday -- CBS11 won a downsized three-way competition at 10 p.m. in total viewers while TEGNA8 was tops with 25-to-54-year-olds.

Fox4 swept the 6 a.m. races and NBC5 did likewise at 5 p.m. The Peacock and TEGNA8 tied for the most total viewers at 6 p.m., but NBC5 had the gold to itself among 25-to-54-year-olds.

Email comments or questions to: unclebarky@verizon.net