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Local Nielsen ratings snapshot (Fri.-Sun., Dec. 14-16)

By ED BARK
The outcomes had nothing in common, but the ratings were almost mirror images.

Sunday's Cowboys loss to the Eagles, co-starring Jessica Simpson in a VIP box, averaged 830,540 total D-FW homes on Fox. The first game, a Dallas rout of Philadelphia, drew 832,569 homes on Nov. 4th.

That puts Cowboys-Eagles II in seventh place on the regular season list of 14 games, just behind Cowboys-Eagles I. The Nov. 29th Cowboys-Packers game is still the runaway ratings champ, with a combined 1,088,901 homes on MY27 and the NFL Network.

MY27 also has simulcast rights to Saturday night's now very important Dallas-Carolina matchup, which otherwise will be in the fumble-prone hands of Bryant Gumbel and the NFL Network. "The Ticket" (1310 AM), radio carrier of the game, needs to immediately launch a cheeky turn-the-sound-down campaign. And Ticket jester Gordon Keith needs to turn around a quick Gumbel impression. Shouldn't be too hard. Maybe he's already got it down.

Elsewhere Sunday, Green Bay's defeat of the St. Louis Rams on Fox averaged 245,996 homes, edging the competing Patriots-Jets game on CBS (228,946 homes). NBC's Sunday Night Football faceoff between the Giants and Redskins ran a close fourth in the pro football derby with 224,075 homes.

Saturday's biggest attraction by far, Fox4's local 9 p.m. newscast, drew 182,670 homes while the Mavericks win over the Rockets on TXA21 managed 97,424 homes.

Those watching Saturday night's competing telecast of The Notebook on CBS (107,166 homes) had to be pissed at the jarring, snap-transition from movie's sentimental end to CSI promos. It was akin to sitting in Santa Claus's lap one second, and having your head in a guillotine the next. Really shabby.

Friday's local news wars ran true to form. Belo8 won at 5, 6 and 10 p.m. in both total homes and with 25-to-54-year-olds, the key advertiser target audience for news programming.

Fox4 took the 6 a.m. races in both audience measurements and again whipped the three network morning shows with the 7 to 9 a.m. portion of its Good Day.

The 7 to 9 a.m. results among 25-to-54-year-olds were especially striking. Good Day had 91,280 viewers in that demographic, more than Good Morning America, Today and The Early Show combined (82,740).