Dayparts update
Dan Rather, still an American favorite
By Toni Fitzgerald
Aug 10, 2006, 01:05

Yet Rather remains a favorite among the American public. A new poll from Gallup Panel finds that the new HDNet anchor ranks No. 2 among all news personalities in likeability, behind only ABC’s affable Diane Sawyer.

Seventy percent of respondents said they had a favorable impression of Rather, compared with 80 percent for Sawyer.

That was much higher than the current lot of nightly news anchors, all of whom received favorable ratings of 55 percent or under: ABC’s Charles Gibson, 55 percent; CBS’s Bob Schieffer, 50 percent; and NBC’s Brian Williams, 47 percent.

Rather’s favorable rating was even higher than incoming CBS news anchor Katie Couric, the popular former “Today” co-host who takes over in September. She rated 60 percent.

Why is the public still enamored with Rather after his image took such a public beating? Some may feel sorry for the 74-year-old, who endured an unusually harsh public dismissal just weeks ago when CBS refused to negotiate a new contract.

Others may still have a fondness for him dating back to the Nixon White House years, when Rather annoyed the embattled president with his often hostile questions about the growing Watergate scandal.

For sure, much of Rather’s support was divided on party lines. Eighty-six percent of Democrats surveyed gave Rather favorable marks, compared with 48 percent of Republicans.

Plus, a favorable impression doesn't mean that respondents are actual fans. Rather's miniscule ratings when he left the anchor seat prove that he was never hugely popular, and while his successor, Schieffer, has a lower favorable rating, he has higher Nielsen ratings, as do the other anchors.

Plus, while Rather's favorables were quite high, so were his unfavorables. Twenty-six percent said they had an unfavorable impression of him, compared with just 7 percent for Williams, 8 percent for Gibson and 9 percent for Schieffer. (Respondents could also say they were unfamiliar with the person.)

Rather was hardly the only personality to inspire passionate responses on both sides. While Barbara Walters was third with a 66 percent favorable rating, she also received 28 percent unfavorable, more than Rather. Couric’s unfavorable rating was 23 percent.

At least people know who Couric is. A surprising 38 percent said they’d never heard of Williams, who anchors the top-rated newscast on broadcast television. And 27 percent were unaware of Gibson, while 29 percent don’t know Schieffer.

Perhaps that’s better, though, than being passionately disliked, which is the case for one former and one soon-to-be “View” co-host. Booted yakker Star Reynolds Jones’ had one of the highest unfavorable ratings, 45 percent, and the lowest favorable rating, just 19 percent.

Her nemesis, Rosie O’Donnell, who joins “The View” next month, had the very worst unfavorable rating at 60 percent. She had a 32 percent favorable rating. But she was one of the best-known names in the survey: Only 1 percent hadn’t heard of her, compared with 24 percent for Reynolds.

Meanwhile, in other daypart ratings for the week ended July 30:

With tension in the Middle East rising, NBC’s “Meet the Press” had its largest advantage in total viewers since April 9 as viewers for the top two shows were up week to week. “Press” averaged 3.71 million viewers compared with CBS’s 2.46 million for “Face the Nation.” ABC’s “This Week with George Stephanopoulos” averaged 2.18 million, almost double “Fox News Sunday’s” 1.1 million.

CBS’s “Early Show” was the only morning news program to rise week to week, up 100,000 to 2.2 million total viewers. NBC’s “Today” was even at 5.2 million and ABC’s “Good Morning America” fell 100,000 to 4.1 million.

In late night, NBC’s “Tonight Show with Jay Leno” had its best margin of victory over CBS’s “Late Show with David Letterman” since January, averaging a 1.8 in adults 18-49 to the latter’s 1.1. ABC’s “Nightline” was 0.1 behind at 1.0, tied with NBC’s “Late Night with Conan O’Brien.” NBC’s “Last Call with Carson Daly” and CBS’s “Late Late Show with Craig Ferguson” both averaged 0.6, followed by ABC’s “Jimmy Kimmel Live” at 0.5.

In daytime, NBC continued its hot streak, finishing first among women 18-49 in both full daytime and daytime dramas. It was the network’s third straight week at No. 1, the first time it’s done so since October 2004. ABC was second and CBS third on both measures, but CBS finished first easily among total viewers in full daytime and daytime dramas.

In syndication, “Wheel of Fortune” remained the No. 1 show at a 7.0 household rating, followed by “Jeopardy,” up 2 percent over the previous week to a 5.8. “Oprah Winfrey Show” was third at 5.6, up 6 percent over the previous week. “Everybody Loves Raymond,” in the fourth spot, also jumped 4 percent week to week.

For the week ended Aug. 6, viewership for all three broadcast newscasts rose, with leader NBC reaching its highest viewership, 8.39 million, since March. ABC’s “World News” averaged 7.65 million and CBS’s “Evening News” averaged 7.15 million. ABC jumped back into a tie with NBC among adults 25-54, both averaging a 2.1. CBS trailed with 1.9.