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Zippy first regular
'MNF' game for ABC
Averages a 14.8 metered market household rating
All football fans talked about during the summer was the
Philadelphia Eagles, or more specifically, wide receiver Terrell Owens.
Would he play after his contract snit, could he and quarterback Donovan
McNabb repair their damaged relationship, was he actually injured or just
faking?
Yesterday provided the answer to only one of those
questions, but it was enough to give ABC a nice boost for the premiere of
“Monday Night Football.”
Owens and the Eagles took on the Atlanta Falcons on last
night’s “Monday Night Football,” minus the Nicollette Sheridan
pregame towel stunt, and it did well, averaging a 14.8 metered market
household rating.
That’s a 14 percent increase over the 13.0 metered market
rating earned for last year’s season opener between the Green Bay Packers and the
Carolina Panthers.
It’s also higher than the 13.1 metered market rating earned
last Thursday for the primetime season-opening game between the Oakland Raiders and
New England Patriots.
As it turned out, Owens played but not well enough. The
Falcons won the much-anticipated rematch of last season’s NFC
Championship game 14-10.
It led ABC to a first place finish for the night among
18-49s, according to Nielsen overnights, with a 6.6 average rating and a
17 share. Fox finished second at 3.4/9, CBS third at 3.3/8, NBC fourth at
2.2/6, and UPN and the WB tied for fifth at 1.0/3.
ABC swept the night, starting with a 4.2 average rating
during the 8 p.m. hour for the season premiere of “Wife Swap.” That
will likely dip when final ratings are released, as overnights capture
timeslot data and not actual program data, and “MNF” bled into
“Swap.”
CBS was second that hour with a 2.6 average for repeats of
“The King of Queens” (2.5) and “Everybody Loves Raymond” (2.7) and
Fox third with a 2.4 for a repeat of “Prison Break.”
At 9 p.m. ABC led with a 7.8 average rating for the first
hour of “MNF.” Fox was second with a promising 4.5 average for a new
episode of “Prison Break,” up 15 percent over last week’s second
outing, and CBS third with a 3.7 for an hour of “Two and a Half Men”
repeats.
ABC slipped during the 10 p.m. hour, but not much, leading
the way with a 7.7 average for the second hour of the Eagles-Falcons game.
CBS finished second during the hour with a 3.5 average for a repeat of
“CSI: NY” and NBC was third with a 2.5 for a “Medium” rerun.
ABC
also finished the night first among households with a 10.9 average rating
and a 17 share. CBS was second at 6.7/10, Fox third at 4.6/7, NBC fourth
at 4.4/7, and UPN and the WB tied for fifth at 1.8/3.
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Sept. 13, 2005
©
2005
Media Life
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