Friday, May 01, 2009

A Little of The Old In And Out



(image via collider)

In: Fox TV. In an interesting programming event, an original television program beat a reality show. The contrarian political instincts of NewsCorp paid off as Fox TV elected to buck the decisions of its fellow network brethren opting to air "Lie To Me," a show about a human lie detector who can "can detect the truth by analyzing a person's face, body, voice and speech," instead of a press conference by the President of the United states. The gamble worked. From Medialifemagazine:

It seems many people were interested in an alternative to President Barack Obama’s press conference last night. Fox, the only Big Four network that did not carry Obama’s address, finished first in the 8 p.m. hour with a new episode of the drama series 'Lie to Me.'

"'Lie' averaged 7.9 million total viewers, according to Nielsen overnights, bettering second-place NBC’s Obama coverage by 1.2 million.

"'Lie' also won the hour among adults 18-49, averaging a 2.4 rating, 0.8 ahead of NBC and ABC, which tied for third at 1.6. The CW’s 'America’s Next Top Model' was second at 1.8.

"Overall, Obama’s speech drew nearly 19 million viewers across ABC, CBS and NBC, according to early numbers. As fast nationals measure only timeslot and not actual program data, those numbers may not be accurate. Final ratings will be released later today.

"Fox won the night easily thanks to 'Lie' and 'American Idol,' averaging a 5.0 18-49 rating and 14 share. CBS was second at 2.6/7, followed by ABC at 2.4/7, NBC at 1.7/5 and the CW at 1.2/3."


Of course the President doesn't really worry about things such as overexposure during times of national exigency. But he has been ubiquitous this week, even scheduling a presser on Wednesday night discussing the Afpak situation, swine flu and torture. It should also be noted that when you combine all of the networks covering Obama, his numbers beat Fox TV. Just saying.

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