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UPDATED: Game 7 of the World Series on Friday that featured the triumphant comeback of the Cardinals attracted 25.4 million viewers– the most-watched matchup since 2004, when the Red Sox won its first title in 86 years. The game posted a 14.7 rating/25 share in homes and was the single highest-rated Friday night program in Fox history..
It was also the most-watched Friday night program of any kind on any network since the opening ceremony of the 2010 Vancouver Winter Olympic Games on NBC.
The performance is great news for Fox, which was bracing itself for a ho-hum championship series. It had also took some lumps for having to adjust its schedule to accommodate its annual MLB coverage. Yet the network ended up with its first Game 7 since 2002.
As for how entertainment programs like NBC’s Chuck and Grimm premieres fared Friday night, that story is here.
Might have something to do with the snow and sleet on the east coast last night. People stayed home! Sleeted here in VA all night!
I bet you sleeted.
Women don’t sleet. They drizzle.
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Maybe if you were Tim’s tit I’d take you up on that offer, but Amy’s tit……heck no!
Swing low, sweet chariot, COMING for to carry me home…
lol
Baseball is so boring. Those guys also look fat in those pajama looking uniforms. They need to be in tighter uniforms like football players and maybe then I’ll watch.BTW,I wanna share a good news to you.My best friend ,she just has announced her wedding with a millionaire man who is a businessman
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Why don’t you two marry earch other for the money you don’t have.
I can’t believe you’re so silly enough to think anyone with 1/2 a brain woukld fasll for your SPAM.
Wait, let me see if I understand…EW’s brilliant predictions of the worst ratings ever…did NOT come true? I am so confused, I thought EW knew everything. Well, I guess it’s because all of the EW writers know NOTHING about sports and its role in the entertainment of this country.
It actually was the lowest rated game 7 in MLB history. And by a significant margin. Still, glad to see so many people turn out on a Friday night to watch.
Jeff, that’s a ridiculously misleading statistic. There have only been 36 game 7s in history, and 24 since the rise of television (1950s onward). 19 of those 24 games took place between 1955 and 1987, when there was almost nothing else on TV besides the Big 3 networks. These days, there is plenty of competition on hundreds of channels, including live college football at the same time for both Thursday’s Game 6 and Friday’s Game 7. The point is, Fox won the nights, and by a good margin, and they exceeded their ratings over most of the past decade. It was an EXCELLENT ratings performance, considering the negativity that was expressed towards the matchup of teams and the ratings “predictions”.
Fair enough. But there have been 3 WS game 7s in past 10 yrs and this one was by far the lowest rated. For example, NY/Ariz game 7 drew 39 mil viewers in 01. Also, I’m not sure about game 6, but games 1-5 were also the lowest games of all time if you compare game 1 to every other game 1, etc…
I’m not trying to kill this series or MLB in general. It was a great series…just not a great matchup.
oh jeff, there hasnt been a game 7 in 10 yrs…..ratings have declined across the board for all televised shows and events, so yeah, it doesnt take a genius to figure out that this game 7 will be down from previous game 7s.
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Boo! Stupid baseball pre-empted FRINGE. BOO! Now Football’s a different story…
baseball > fringe
fringe > everything else, including football
You obviously failed all your math classes. Here’s the correct equation:
-
Football >/= Fringe
-
Everything Else > Baseball (clearly)
beisbol, your equation is correct. Hank is retarded.
Hardly son. Go back to school and stop swilling the beer and peanuts. Baseball = FAIL
Baseball is the National Pastime.Football is just lunkheads getting away with breaking the rules of soccer.
Olivia… Did you see the ratings 25.4 mil is not a fail ever.
Hank needs to go away. Now. Baseball is awesome. If you don’t like it, don’t watch it. And stop trolling sites that talk about it. Makes you look even more stupid than usual.
Fringe hasn’t been canceled yet? What’s taking so damn long?
For reasons it won’t explain, Fox decided to go through an elaborate ritual of expressing support and sympathy after banishing Fringe to TV’s backwaters night, and follow that script for a while before axing it.
@Nathan you just won’t quit lol. Let me see..are you a die hard fan of “Lie to Me” or “The Chicago Code”? is that why you hate Fringe so much? You are the weirdest of them all lmfao.
Baseball is so boring. Those guys also look fat in those pajama looking uniforms. They need to be in tighter uniforms like football players and maybe then I’ll watch.
Sounds like you wish for the creation of a lingerie baseball league.
I wouldn’t complain if they played in only boxer briefs.
You might want to look at who else was playing in 2004 to find out why it’s the next highest to2011. It’s not Boston bringing in the audience. It’s the Cardinals. They were the farthest west franchise for decades and have a massive following.
Jim needs to get laid.
Thank you for saying this! Mr. Hibbard blasted baseball in one of his columns earlier in the week and Mr. Labrecque actually stood up for baseball being awesome. I, too, am in St. Louis, but if you love the game you should always root for a Game 7. Last night was awesome! Can’t think of any reason I would normally even turn on the TV on Friday nights otherwise. Fox should consider themselves lucky (and Kevin Reilly should stop his incessant complaining…)
Jim from St Louis is Clueless!
1) Rating from Game 4, 2004 was 18.2. It was not the “next highest to 2011″.
2) The viewers that night were NOT showing up hoping that the Cards would stage a comeback, they were there to watch History and the Cards get Swept!
3) If the ratings were driven by the loyal St Louis fans, then why is it that the lowest rated game in 2004 was 13.7, while the higest rated game in 2006 (when it was St Louis/Detroit) was 10.3
4) What this article doesn’t mention was that this was the lowest rated Game 7 EVER. Just the last four? 2002=17.9, 2001=23.5, 1997=24.5, 1991=32.2…
Thanks Scott! You saved me a lot of typing:)
Scott, don’t forget that Game 6 was postponed to Thursday due to rain, and the Cards forced a Game 7, which was on a Friday night, when most people get out & about. If Game 7 had been on Thursday, then the ratings could have been ever slightly higher. I believe that it was mostly diehard fans of the Cardinals & Rangers that watched it.
But the Cards played in 2006 (and won) as well. What made 2004 so high was the fact that the Boston fans (of which there are MANY) all tuned in to see their team win the World Series for the first time in 86 years.
No, the reason why the ratings are so high is because there was a game 7. That hasn’t happened since ’01 and Game 6 was highly touted as one of the greatest games in history. The rest of the series didn’t rank as high. So no, it’s not the Cardinals.
of course i do too. I haven’t had a date since my wife left me 3 yrs ago.
I’m the Sam that posted above you. I’ll be your date. Come on over and I’ll show you a great time.
I sleep with Jim all the time so maybe I can help you out too dearie! <3
Only Jim’s dad will do.
You guys should come over to my house, i will show a real good time and relieve your stress. Just make sure you come over after 8pm, that is when Chris leaves for the night to go party without me.
How about you leave the house and Chris stays home and parties with the rest of us. I”m sure he would be much better at relieving my stress.
It’s “flak” not “flack”.
“Catching flak” from whom? EW? Everybody else is smart enough to realize the World Series brings in ratings far in excess of typical programming.
This – at least the first part.
If FOX really loved Fringe, they wouldn’t have moved it to Fridays.
The EW staffers live in their own bubble world of NYC & LA and tell themselves it’s a mirror image of the rest of the world.
The “world” series is over thank god. Those lame idiots who acts like baseball is everything can finally shut the f.uck up now.
Baseball is so gross. All these Neanderthals need to crawl back into their caves now that it’s over.
Excuse me? Neanderthals? Your words and attitude are what’s gross, you judgmental, nasty pr1ck.
Jason, none of us are trying to crawl into bed with you. You can keep your cave to yourself.
America loves crap.
Case in point “Two and a Half Men”, “HIMYM”, anything or anyone from Texas…
Or case in point Your Mom.
There’s a p.enis in my pants and it does a little dance.
Put it down on me, put it down on me.
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“…and taking flak for having to adjust its schedule to accommodate its annual MLB coverage…”
Well, EW was the only one that was “giving flak” because of the MLB coverage.
I don’t think anyone else was too concerned about it. It’s been like that for years, the World Series are really fun for baseball fans like me, so I don’t see the reason to bash Fox for not showing new episodes of its series for a couple of weeks.
It was the underdog team that that came in w/ a wildcard (& has 10 world series wins) vs the favorite well preforming team that has yet to win a world series. Game 3 in Tx was a record breaker. Game 6 was a game for history. I watch the game while my husband did laundry. We live in the St.Louis metro area. Fireworks went off & he had no clue what was going on & why despite being in the same room w/ the game on. Oh & I cried when a St.Louis native won the MVP award – esp after his home run Thurs night that sent it to game 7.
Game 7 is always going to be higher rated, and this is the first game 7 since 2002.
As a Rangers fan, I absolutely hated this game, but I’m glad to hear that people are watching baseball for once. This overall postseason was so fantastic, it’s a little disappointing to hear that people are still fixated with ratings. Oh well, I guess for the people that didn’t watch, it’s their loss.
I’m not much of a baseball-watcher, but I do ave an appreciation for the sport. (Plus I’m a Cardinals fan by marriage… I swear it’s in the DNA of St. Louis boys) but I have to admit that I was entranced by this series. From last Saturday’s Pujols Show to the games this week… Wow. Baseball was actually entertaining. Good for them!