Look at these TV Ratings for Last Week

[bluedog]

FOX NEWS TOPS CNN, MSNBC COMBINED AUDIENCE IN REAGAN FAREWELL; ABC TOPS NBC:

FOX News beat CNN and MSNBC combine from 10 AM - 3 PM ET, 7:30 - 11 PM (the Washington service and the family service at the Reagan Library) as well as for Total Day and Prime Time on Friday -- also beat them combined in the 25-54 ad demo...

Total Day: FOXNEWS 2,037,000 viewers; CNN 1,186,000; MSNBC 577,000...

OVER AT BROADCAST: ABC CLAIMING 6,060,000 VIEWERS FOR CATHEDRAL SERVICE TO 5,200,000 FOR NBC. . EVENING: ABC AT 8,180,000 TO NBC 7,800,000...

MORE THAN 20,841,000 VIEWERS WATCHED THE DAY FUNERAL ON MAJOR NATIONAL OUTLETS, 35,071,000 WATCHED THE EVENING, NIELSEN SAID LATE MONDAY... DEVELOPING...

[Fenris]

1. And MSNBC had the better coverage

They at least had Hitchens on there destroying their idol.

[MissRegina]

2. Maybe That's Why Nobody Watched MSNBC

Perhaps folks just wanted to watch a funeral without all the vitriolic commentary for 2 freakin' hours.

[Lex]

6. They should've gone to church then

and found another funeral to attend, not looked at a funeral for a friggin' criminal if they didn't want to hear vitriolic commentary.

[struggle4progress]

15. I missed it. Do you know when they'll do the reruns?

[GiovanniC]

17. Should've Planned Ahead

Maybe TIVOed it or something.

[Reciprocity]

3. They won b/c only Repugs were the only one's watching TV.n/t

[maggrwaggr]

4. zacktly. n/t

[Lex]

5. Damn skippy.

I wasn't watching that shit.

[Swede Atlanta]

7. Last Week's Ratings

While I share my fellow DU-er's assessment of the Reagan years, I don't think it is so surprising they were drawn to the events of last week. They have been beaten over the head by the losses in Iraq and Afghanistan, their pocketbooks have ben robbed by the tax cuts for the rich and the national debt, their profile to the world has been torn to shreds by the likes of the illegal-for-profit war and its progeny including the prison torture and Halliburton robbing-the-treasury scandal. They are embarassed about a Resident, selected by a partisan Supreme Court and terrified by the prospect of what comes next.

Reagan, despite the real effects of his policies were seen by the masses, almost as an opiate of the masses, as solace from a cruel and unknown world. So the fact they flocked to him is natural. The fact this turned into a 24/7 news-frenzy-in-seek-of-profits orgy is almost beside the fact. Let's face it, the world we live in isn't what we want.

The time now is to move beyond the "Reagasm" to the real issues facing this nation and the world; hunger, war (Iraq is a good example), disease (AIDS, cancer, obesity), lack of adequate health insurance, low wages, no wages (i.e. unemployment), devastation of our environment for profit, all education left behind, cultural and religious wars, etc. We need to rally around the only candidate who can salvage any hope for the future, John Kerry (not my initial preferred candidate). Kerry must win else all is lost. If Shrub and his band of merry bandits are re-SELECTED I will find a new country, a new identity, a new citizenship because I could not carry the shame of being an American.

[goclark]

9. Welcome to DU! n/t

[markses]

8. I didn't watch a stitch of it

Also, as far as a miraculous 35,000,000 watching some part, that's about 15% of the population, and 35% of the voting population. So, there ya go.

[goclark]

10. Watching Some Parts

Those numbers are more inflated than GHWB's balloon!
Half of those watching, like me, just could not get to the remote fast enough to turn off the cable box. Then you did turn to other channels only to find the SAME shit over and over and over again.

I had to restrain myself not to throw the remote and hit the casket and wake up Ronnie.

[merh]

12. I only watched RRs last funeral (weren't there 3 or more) ...

I had to see what Ronnie Reagan would say and I thorougly enjoyed his slam of Weed boy. It was great. Odd, none of the news channels seem to want to replay that. Go figure!

[depakid]

11. yawn- ratings are bogus measures

any statistician will tell you that.

Networks can claim whatever they want (and they have to have some way to justify their ad rates) but the bottom line is that "ratings" are about as valid as black box voting....

[Jade Fox]

13. Does anyone know how that compares to the usual quantity of...

television viewage? (viewage. I think I just made up a word)

What I mean is, were there more or less people watching TV
period than usual?

[MissRegina]

14. Good Question

I bet there are statistics on that somewhere. I would like to know the answer to that as well.

[Cleita]

16. So imagine if they had let Fox wallow in the whole funeral pageant

and if the other channels had shown something else, they may have gotten better ratings. I watched Sci-Fi and the Comedy channel throught the whole ordeal. I watched the news on BBC, NWI during the week and CNNintl when I could get it on the weekend.

I'm not surprised the other channels had poor ratings. No one else was interested except the hardcore Fox News viewers.

[KoKo]

18. Those are very low numbers! They thought the whole country would watch,

and those numbers don't look like anyone but a hadful given the US Population as a whole.

They must be very disappointed.