No debate: 'Lost' a hit
Fox News still tops with 3rd presidential debate
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The survival drama surged week-to-week and must now be considered a bona fide smash for the Alphabet after nearly a month on the air.
Numbers for the debate remained strong and Fox's baseball was solid but, not surprisingly, down vs. last year's scorching scores.
According to Nielsen Media Research estimates, "Lost" (6.8 rating/18 share in adults 18-49, 18.16 million viewers overall) matched its Sept. 22 premiere score in the 18-49 demo while establishing series bests in adults 18-34 (5.8/17), men 18-34 (5.1/16), teens (3.9/13) and kids (3.1/12) -- especially impressive since it faced baseball in all time zones.
No 8 o'clock drama has consistently put up 18-49 ratings like "Lost" since Fox's "Melrose Place" in the mid to late '90s -- and it's hard to remember one that dominated in such fashion.
Elsewhere, Fox's split national coverage of the Boston Red Sox-New York Yankees and Houston Astros-St. Louis Cardinals series generated a 5.6 rating/14 share in adults 18-49, and 15.23 million viewers overall.
That's down from last year's numbers, when the big-draw Chicago Cubs were playing (6.8/19 in 18-49, 18.4 million), but up nicely from two years ago (4.2/12, 12 million).
The third and final Bush-Kerry debate (9-10:30 ET) attracted a combined 51.2 million viewers on ABC, CBS, NBC, Fox News, CNN and MSNBC, according to Nielsen estimates. That's more than the 46.7 who tuned in last Friday, but less than the 62.5 million who watched the first debate Sept. 30.
There was a surge of interest in the debates this year, as their average aud of 53.5 million viewers was up sharply from the 40.7 million who watched the three Bush-Al Gore debates in 2000.
Ratings were sustained by Nielsen for the broadcast nets and will not count in nightly averages, but the post-debate analysis that included advertising and thus was rated saw ABC narrowly prevail in adults 25-54 over NBC (4.3 vs. 4.2), with CBS well behind (2.9). The Alphabet also edged the Peacock in total viewers.
Fox News Channel remained the clear leader on the cable side with 6.91 million viewers from 9 to 10:30 p.m. ET, followed by CNN (3.72m) and MSNBC (2.09m).
Fox was down slightly from its total for Friday's second debate, while MSNBC rose by 23% and CNN by 12%. MSNBC had the best growth story to tell among the nets, gaining aud with each of this fall's debates.
Also Wednesday, FX drama "Rescue Me" finished its inaugural season by averaging 3.08 million viewers to rank as cable's most-watched entertainment program of the night. Denis Leary-starrer finished as the calendar year's No. 1-rated new basic-cable series in adults 18-49, making it three straight years the net has accomplished this (with "Nip/Tuck" last year and "The Shield" in 2002).
At the netlets, the WB's "Smallville" (2.6/7 in adults 18-49, 6.20m) was up week-to-week, topping UPN's "America's Next Top Model" (2.3/6, 4.80m). At 9, though, Frog's "The Mountain" crumbled (1.2/3 in 18-49, 2.77m), lagging behind UPN drama "Kevin Hill" (1.8/4, 3.85m), which performed very well for a repeat.
"Mountain" held just 40% of its "Smallville" 18-34 lead-in (1.2 vs. 2.3) and won't last much longer at this rate.
