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'Christmas Story' to top all The annual 24-hour loop of the 1983 movie peaked Jan 3, 2008
Last week it wrapped up with TBS’s “24 Hours of ‘A Christmas Story,’” the comedy network’s annual marathon, which drew the best ratings in its 11-year existence as a Christmas eve and Christmas day event. The classic two-hour 1983 movie is played in a constant loop starting at 8 p.m. on Dec. 24 and lasting until 8 p.m. Dec. 25. For those 24 hours, TBS averaged 775,000 adults 18-34, 1.56 million 18-49s and 1.51 million adults 25-54, all bests for “24 Hours.” It also drew an average 2.8 million total viewers and placed first among all cable networks for the 24-hour period across all demographics. The 8 p.m. telecast on Christmas eve drew the most total viewers, 4.4 million, though the 10 a.m. telecast on Christmas morning was tops in households, drawing 2.18 million. Surely part of “24 Hours’” big ratings can be attributed to the generally large appetite for Christmas specials this year. Excitement over new ones like “Shrek” and ABC’s “Sesame Street” certainly helped fuel huge ratings for veterans like “Grinch” and “Rudolph.” The writers’ strike that suspended production on most primetime series over the past two months also helped pump up ratings for these specials. There was little original competition on the networks as they drew out their dwindling number of fresh shows over many weeks, meaning some specials aired opposite reruns. But “24 Hours’” big numbers also speak to the marathon’s growing reputation as a holiday tradition of its own. The 10 p.m. airing of the movie on Christmas Eve outdrew everything on television that night among adults 18-34, including broadcast networks’ local newscasts and NBC’s reairing of “It’s a Wonderful Life.”
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