Peter Jennings' ABC July 4th Special a ratings bomb

Associated Press ^ | July 9, 2002 | DAVID BAUDER

[tdadams]

NEW YORK (AP) - In probably the only time they will ever compete with one another, Rob Lowe can say he beat Peter Jennings.

Lowe was host of NBC's Fourth of July coverage of fireworks from New York City, which drew 7.9 million viewers, making it 28th for the week in the Nielsen Media Research rankings.

Meanwhile, ABC's ambitious Independence Day special with Jennings ranked a dismal 66th, with 4.6 million viewers.

Jennings' music special was the one that created a small controversy with country music fans, when singer Toby Keith complained that he wasn't booked to sing his Sept. 11-themed song, "Courtesy of the Red, White and Blue (The Angry American)."

The July Fourth week traditionally is one of the least-watched television weeks of the year.

For the week, CBS averaged 8.3 million viewers (5.7 rating, 11 share), NBC averaged 7.3 million (5.0, 11), Fox had 5.9 million (3.6, 7), ABC had 5.2 million (3.5, 7), UPN had 2.2 million (1.5, 3), the WB had 2.1 million (1.4, 3) and Pax TV had 1.1 million (0.7, 1)

NBC's "Nightly News" won the evening news ratings race with 9.3 million viewers (6.7 rating, 15 share). ABC's "World News Tonight" had 9 million (6.2, 14) and the "CBS Evening News" had 7.8 million (5.5, 12).

A ratings point represents 1,055,000 households, or 1 percent of the nation's estimated 105.5 million TV homes. The share is the percentage of in-use televisions tuned to a given show.

For the week of July 1-7, the top 10 shows, their networks and ratings: "60 Minutes," CBS, 8.6; "Everybody Loves Raymond," CBS, 7.9; Movie: "A Time to Kill," CBS, 7.7; "48 Hours-Monday," CBS, 7.4; "Dateline NBC-Tuesday," NBC, 7.4; "Becker," CBS, 7.3; "Law & Order," NBC, 6.6; "Law & Order: Criminal Intent," NBC, 6.6; "Crime & Punishment," NBC, 6.3; Movie: "Murder, She Wrote: South by Southwest," CBS, 6.2.

[patriot action]

A Time to Kill is also a leftist movie.

[gridlock]

It's hard to make headway in the ratings when your target audience flips the channel the minute they see your face. I am amazed that any American remotely interested in the Forth of July would keep Peter (Lettuce Roll) Jennings on his TV for even a second.

[patriot action]

He is a very dangerous animal rights activist.

[F16Fighter]

Perhaps if Jennings, draped into the pastel blue of the UN was fired out of an underground silo in the Dakotas would I have watched ABC's version of a July 4th "Special". In that case, I may even have taped it....

[Big Dan]

Luckily I missed that special, but I would not have been surprised to see Jennings pull a "Bono", opening his jacket to reveal an American flag sewn in the lining.

Then add Bono's greasy smirk with Jennings' blinking and finger-rubbing, and the barf alert would be complete.

[Mo1]

Does this mean Peter will have to take ANOTHER pay cut ..

[F16Fighter]

The only flag you'd be seeing in the lining of Jennings' jacket would be that symbol of socialist tyranny -- the UN pastel.

[Saundra Duffy]

Good!

[mil-vet]

SUPER! Jennings is a joke - he is banned from my house, as is most ABC programming BECAUSE of him.

At least I got some good laughs out of ABC running advertisements on ABC radio (the local Rush Limbaugh AM station) saying how supposedly wonderful he is - BWAHAHAHAHA!

The BEST laugh was due to realizing the ads were the direct result of his loss of rating due to his anti-Bush remarks on 9/11!!