By Lisa de Moraes
Friday, August 29, 2008
Things are getting very down and dirty at the Democratic National Convention -- and we're just talking about the television networks.
Yesterday, for instance, CNN announced that for the first time, it was the most-watched network for national convention coverage, from 10 to 11 p.m. Wednesday.
CNN boasted that its coverage of Day 3 of the Democratic National Convention from the [Soda Pop] Center in Denver beat not only Fox News Channel and MSNBC but also ABC, CBS and even usual top-dog NBC.
"Hooey," responded NBC, claiming it once again was the most-watched network in the 10 p.m. hour, as it has been every night of the Dem orgy of speech giving.
This hotly contested time period is the one to be tops in quite simply because it's the only hour left in which the broadcast networks still cover the national party conventions. On Wednesday in the 10 p.m. hour, vice presidential pick Joe Biden gave his acceptance speech.
CNN says it logged an average of 5.383 million viewers in that hour, and NBC clocked just 5.361 million. NBC, however, insists it copped 5.464 million viewers, besting CNN. Other broadcast networks agreed with NBC's number.
NBC's number for its coverage includes a three-minute overrun; broadcasters report show numbers, and NBC's coverage wrapped at 11:03 p.m.
And yes, three minutes can make all the difference. Those final three minutes on NBC coverage, you should know, averaged 7.522 million viewers.
Cable news networks, on the other hand, report time-slot stats because that's the way they get their numbers from Nielsen. It's like one is talking kilograms, the other pounds.
Let's give the win to CNN. It's not the first in cable-news history: Back in '04, you'll recall, Fox News Channel's coverage of the Republican National Convention beat its cable cousins and the broadcast networks every night in the 10 p.m. hour.
This bit of network smackdown comes two days after the on-air talent at MSNBC suffered some sort of Internecine Meltdown. Among the strange incidents -- but compelling television -- MSNBC show hosts Chris Matthews and Keith Olbermann kept Rep. Steny Hoyer (D-Md.) waiting for an eternity while they spat at each other over who was blathering the most -- they even exchanged angry flapping-lips hand gestures.
The same day, "Morning Joe" host Joe Scarborough and MSNBC correspondent David Shuster thumped their chests and snapped at each other, which escalated to the point that Scarborough was left gibbering at Shuster, "Do you ever watch this show? . . Oh, that's right, you usually sleep through this show, because you didn't show up three times in a row," while the rest of his on-air gaggle watched nervously, in silence.
* * *
In perhaps the best example of perfect timing in the history of television, David Duchovny, who stars in Showtime's "Californication" as a charming guy whose wife has dumped him because he can't stop having sex with other women, has entered a rehab facility on the eve of the show's second-season debut.
His malady: sex addiction.
The actor's publicist yesterday confirmed to the Associated Press the report of the rehab stint, which first appeared on People.com.
We promised our editor we wouldn't make a crack about Duchovny taking his craft too seriously.
"I ask for respect and privacy for my wife and children as we deal with this situation as a family," said Duchovny through his lawyer. The former "X-Files" star is married to Tea Leoni; they have two children.
Showtime understandably had no comment; we'll let you know whether this has any effect on viewing levels for the show's first episode, Sept. 28.
* * *
The numbers of Asian American, African American and Hispanic households, and of potential viewers older than 55, grew at a rate two to three times that of the general population in the past year, Nielsen Media Research reported yesterday. That can only mean that television networks struggling to attract viewers will rush to develop shows starring Asians, Hispanics, blacks and thespians over 55 -- hahahahaha!
The number of people 2 or older (in homes with TV sets) has hit 290 million for the 2008-09 television season, the number-crunching Nielsen company said yesterday. Nielsen, the provider of ratings for the TV industry, updates its universe stats right before the start of a new TV season. Actually, the figure is 289.95 million -- about 1.3 percent more than last season's 286.3 million. (Nielsen tends to discount people under the age of 2 because, let's face it, they don't get an allowance and so have no disposable income to spend on Humvees, Sugar-Coated Honey Bombs, Grand Theft Auto XXIII or Viagra.)
The number of Hispanic and Asian American TV homes grew by more than 4 percent compared with last season. The number of black households increased by 2.2 percent. And the number of people 55 and older jumped nearly 3 percent. Of those 289.95 million people 2 or older now clocked by Nielsen, more than 71 million are 55-plus.
* * *
Since he made Olympics history this month, everybody wants a piece of the Beijing Games' It Boy, Michael Phelps.
Within 24 hours of returning to U.S. soil, HBO was filming him in a cameo for its flailing Hollywood series "Entourage."
Of course, Games-broadcasting NBC also wasted no time signing Phelps to host "Saturday Night Live" when it returns Sept. 13 to kick off its 34th season (having debuted 10 years before Phelps was born).
Meanwhile, what do Phelps and Miley Cyrus have in common? Yes, both have been photographed with their shirts off, but we're talking about them both being booked as presenters at the made-for-TV trophy show "2008 MTV Video Music Awards" on Sept. 7.
The "SNL" season premiere will be historic on so many levels. NBC boasts that Phelps will be "making his acting debut." Phelps, of course, went a perfect 8-for-8 in Beijing, breaking Mark Spitz's single-Games record for most gold medals won.
"SNL" is also making history; it's airing four live shows in a row when it returns -- "a rare practice," NBC says.
And in a stroke of casting genius, NBC has arranged for Phelps to share the history-making stage with Lil Wayne, who, NBC notes, has had three top-five singles: "A Milli," "Got Money" and, our personal fave, "Lollipop":
She say he so sweet
Make her wanna lick the rapper
So I let her lick the rapper
Shawty say I lo-lo-lo-lo-lo-lo-lo-lo-look like a lollipop . . .
View all comments that have been posted about this article.