Primetime Ratings: NBC Dominates With 'SNL Presidential Bash'
Network's win comes on first Monday of November Sweeps
By John Eggerton -- Broadcasting & Cable, 11/3/2008 8:53:00 PM
CHART: Download primetime broadcast ratings from Oct. 20-26
NBC won the primetime broadcast Nielsen ratings in the 18-49 demo Monday night thanks to its two-hour SNL Presidential Bash special stringing together SNL bits lampooning presidential candidates. That win marked a second break in CBS's march toward Monday dominance, and came on the first Monday of the November sweep (which began Oct. 30).
Fox won Monday night last week with baseball after CBS had won the first five Mondays of the season with its regular lineup of comedies.
Bash averaged a whopping 5.8/13 at 9-10 p.m. and a 5.4/13 at 10-11 p.m., winning both those time periods easily. NBC averaged a 4.4/10 for the night in the demo, thanks to an underwhelming 2/5 for Deal or No Deal at 8-9 p.m., though that was good enough for a tie for third in the time period.
CBS was second on the night with a 3.7/9 18-49 average and, unlike Fox and NBC, did it with its regular lineup of Big Bang Theory (3.8/10), which CBS says was the show's best ratings perfomrance to date; How I Met Your Mother (4.1/10); and Two and a Half Men (4.6/10). It did not do as well with Worst Week (2.7/6), though that was still good enough for a tie for second at 9:30-10 p.m.
ABC was third with a 3.1/7, led by Dancing With the Stars, which grew from a 3.5/9 in its first hour to a 4.2/9 in its last half hour up against SNL on NBC.
Fox was a distant fourth with a 2/5, led by Prison Break at a 2.1/5.
The CW averaged a 1.6/4 for Gossip Girl and One Tree Hill.
