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Local Nielsen ratings snapshot (Fri.-Sun., Sept. 30-Oct. 2) -- big numbers for Cowboys comeback win

By ED BARK
@unclebarkycom on Twitter
The Dallas Cowboys’ 24-17 win at San Francisco, after trailing 14-0, grew in ratings strength during each quarter-hour of the second half.

Running until 6:24 p.m. on Fox, Game 4 averaged 1,396,051 D-FW viewers and 590,106 in the advertiser-coveted 18-to-48-year-old age range. The final minutes of the game ballooned to 1,679,624 total viewers.

Last season’s fourth regular season game, a 26-20 loss at New Orleans, had bigger grabs of 1,593,540 total viewers and 746,290 in the 18-to-49-year-old demographic. But that one was played on NBC’s national Sunday Night Football stage, which almost always pays higher ratings dividends.

The Cowboys’ warmup act on Fox, the Atlanta Falcons and Carolina Panthers, averaged 479,893 total viewers while CBS’ Sunday morning game from London -- Jacksonville Jaguars vs. Indianapolis Colts -- was a ratings snooze with 145,422 opposite church pulpit time for many.

NBC’s Sunday Night Football attraction, the Pittsburgh Steelers’ blowout of the Kansas City Chiefs, drew 458,079 total viewers.

The post-season bound Texas Rangers closed out their regular season in relative obscurity on Fox Sports Southwest with a day game that had 72,711 total viewers.

On Saturday, ABC’s high-scoring, prime-time Top 10 matchup between Clemson and Louisville narrowly led the college football parade with an average of 239,946 total viewers. Fox’s Oklahoma-TCU matchup and ABC’s Oklahoma State-Texas game, both won by the Okies, averaged 232,675 viewers apiece.

NBC’s season premiere of Saturday Night Live, with Alec Baldwin dead-on as the show’s new Donald Trump, pulled in 203,591 total viewers.

Friday’s top overall prime-time attraction, CBS’ 9 p.m. episode of Blue Bloods, had 261,760 total viewers. The network’s 7 p.m. hour of MacGyver was the night’s top draw among 18-to-49-year-olds (67,349).

Fox’s second episode of The Exorcist continued to make heads spin -- and not in a good way. It ranked last in prime-time among the Big Four broadcast networks in both total viewers (43,633) and 18-to-49-year-olds (12,828).

Here are Friday’s local news derby results.

CBS11 drew the most total viewers at 10 p.m. while Fox4 and NBC5 tied for first with 25-to-54-year-olds (main advertiser target audience for news programming).

Fox4 swept the 6 a.m. competitions and NBC5 did likewise at both 5 and 6 p.m.

Email comments or questions to: unclebarky@verizon.net