NBC has reclaimed the lead in NFL ratings, thanks to its biggest single-game rating in eight years.
The network, which was forced into a virtual tie with Fox two weeks ago, retook first for the year, with an overall 12.0 rating and 28 share, just topping the newcomers, who have posted an 11.8/28 this season.
This is NBC's first lead this late into the season since 1980, and its highest 12-week average since 1985.
For the week of Nov. 20, when NBC was allowed to show only one game in each market, the network drew a 14.8/35, its highest rating for a single game since Nov. 23, 1986.
The news was even better for NBC on Thanksgiving Day, when the early game, Buffalo-Detroit, racked up a 16.4/39, which topped Fox's Dallas-Green Bay (16.1/43). Even though a bigger share of the available audience watched the Fox game, more households were tuned in to the NBC contest.
Locally, Sunday's Miami-New York Jets game did a boffo 13.7/27 for Channel 2, beating all challengers, including the Philadelphia-Atlanta game on Channel 45 (7.0/14), the Pittsburgh-Los Angeles Raiders contest (13.6/22) also on Channel 2 and the Arkansas-Georgetown basketball game (3.9/7) on Channel 11.
According to Channel 11's Sharon Walz, this week's official "On the Air" ratings supplier, the Bills-Lions Thanksgiving game (15.3/38), carried locally on Channel 2, was a big winner over the Cowboys-Packers (9.9/27).
One last thing: Saturday night's Notre Dame-Southern Cal game got a 6.3/11 for Channel 13, drawing last place among the four local prime-time offerings that night. As a point of reference, a "Baywatch" Christmas movie airing at 11:30 that night did a 5.3/16, and a "Baywatch" rerun the next afternoon got a 6.3/11, matching the Notre Dame game.
Feel free to insert your own joke here.
Taking a pass
ESPN2 was scheduled to carry a Montreal-Chicago NHL game tomorrow night, but the lockout took care of that.
So it would seem the network would have the time to air what ought to be a slam-bang game between the top-ranked Tennessee women and No. 2 Stanford at 8 p.m. This is no run-of-the-mill early season game, as the winner of this contest has gone on to win the national title three of the past five years.
Instead, ESPN2 will carry something called "Extreme Energy" in that space. Mike Soltys, a network spokesman, said ESPN's and ESPN2's women's schedules were set long before the season started and were difficult to change. Soltys said the next women's games will air in January and February, six weeks into the season.
Sounds like a funny way to build an audience for a product that certainly could use it.
Familiar face
ESPN has hired Grace Lee Nikkel as its Chicago-based "SportsCenter" correspondent, replacing Andrea Kremer, who has been re-assigned to Los Angeles.
Nikkel, 30, a Maryland graduate, comes to the network from an anchoring/reporting stint with WCCO-TV in Minneapolis, and previously had worked as a producer/correspondent for Washington's Channel 9, performing assignments while still in college.
Marv-elous
The Emmy Award nomination committee no doubt will be beating a path to NBC sportscaster Marv Albert's door after his Olivier-like turn on Monday night's "Love and War" on CBS.
Albert, playing himself -- a role that taxed his considerable acting abilities to their limits -- strolled into "The Blue Shamrock," a New York tavern that serves as the sitcom's base of operation, to persuade a female sportswriter to resume sleeping with a slumping Knicks player.
(In case you all were wondering, that kind of thing never happens in real life.)
At any rate, Albert was successful at his task, and as the woman leaves the bar, Marv bellows his trademark "Yes!"
What an actor!
Baltimoreans will have to wait for the spring reruns to see this episode, because Channel 11, the current CBS affiliate, is blowing off "Love and War" through the network swap in January. It's worth the wait.