The Nielsen Riff on Baseball and Football

George Carlin's afterlife in June brought to apperception for abounding his iconic ball routine, "The Seven Dirty Words You Can't Say on TV." But conceivably his a lot of majestic use of his constant linguistic concern was "Baseball and Football," his riff on how anniversary sport's cipher words say a lot about the attributes of the sport.

In it, he compares and contrasts football's aggressive accent -- blitz, shotgun, continued bombs, et al. -- with baseball's pastoral chat -- as the article is not "an aeriform assault" by "the acreage general" (the quarterback) but is to access "safe at home." As affecting as his addition is, one chat he larboard out in his banana allegory was "Nielsen," which delineates the differences amid the two sports, which ran back-to-back on Fox on Sunday.

Fox won the night -- the accomplished day, in fact -- with a aggregate of an NFL overrun; "The OT" post-game show; and the pre-game and Bold 4 of the Apple Series amid the Philadelphia Phillies and the Tampa Bay Rays.

Football dominates lineup

The NFL bold was regular-season, while the baseball bold was allotment of the sport's apple championship. Yet so built-in is the amphitheatre on the Sunday anima of sports admirers that the beat was the highest-rated allocation of the night, with a 7.9/23 appraisement and allotment in the ad-centric developed 18-49 demographic from 7 to 7:30 ET. (All times are approximate, with final schedules and live-plus-same-day ratings accessible tomorrow.) "The OT" followed with a 5.9/16.

Next up to the programming bowl was the Apple Series pre-game, which delivered a 4.4/12, followed by a 5.1/11 for Bold 4 (based on fast-affiliate ratings -- final numbers will vary).

Whatever the final abstracts are, football's brush-back of the Apple Series shows the advantage football about has in agreement of popularity. The NFL has angry its absence -- just 16 regular-season games, a 10th of baseball -- into demand. Of course, as aflame as Philly fanatics and those auspicious the Rays' worst-to-first Cinderella adventure were, it hurts to not accept the Red Sox, or some added covering matchup, as anniversary of the amateur so far this Apple Series has under-delivered endure year's Boston ambit of Colorado.

This isn't to say baseball didn't win -- it did, giving Fox a first-place prime-time boilerplate of 5.6/14, able-bodied over ABC's 3.9/10, CBS's 2.6/7, NBC's 1.6/4 and the CW's 0.3/1.

NBC's fourth-place changeabout of fortunes is due to demography a abeyance from its "Sunday Night Football" season, as the arrangement had a bye anniversary adjoin the Apple Series. It approved to adhere assimilate its admirers contour with "Football Night in America," which got sacked by Fox's football and alone delivered a 0.8/2, and guy flick "The 40-Year-Old Virgin," which denticulate a 1.9/5. NBC afresh ashore with Steve Carell for an "Office" repeat, which fell to a 1.4/4.

Alternatives to sports

ABC and CBS, conversely, ashore with their starting lineups, to alloyed results. ABC runs a changeabout of the testosterone on Fox and NBC for a almost well-performing female-focused absoluteness and ball lineup. "America's Funniest Home Videos" (2.4/7) was up 20% from endure week; "Extreme Makeover: Home Edition" (3.9/10) confused not alone the bus, but 8% added viewers; "Desperate Housewives" (5.7/13) backward even with endure week; and "Brothers and Sisters" (3.5/9) had a slight 3% lift.

CBS, after its own football countdown it generally has on Sundays, absent a third of endure week's "60 Minutes" (2.2/6) audience. This apparently slowed down "Amazing Race," which fell 6% from endure Sunday. There was bigger consistency, however, for bent escapade "Cold Case" (2.7/6), which was about even with endure week, and aggressive ball "The Unit" (2.5/6), which was up 9%.

As for the CW, the Sunday agenda scuffled forth again, with a 0.3/1 for "In Harm's Way" and "Valentine," and a 0.2/1 for "Easy Money" (which is maybe what Media Rights Capital, which programs the arrangement on Sunday nights, anticipation they would be into).

Instead, every anniversary the calendar gets sacked, or beaned, or whatever sports allegory says "hurt," which may accomplish MRC programmers approach George Carlin. Not the "Baseball and Football" routine, apperception you, but the "Seven Dirty Words" you can't say on -- or about -- TV.

WHAT TO WATCH:

Monday: Like Sunday night, addition baseball / football double-header, but this time concurrently, as Bold 5 of the Apple Series plays on Fox while ESPN's "Monday Night Football" appearance the NFL's alone best team, the Tennessee Titans, hosting the Colts of Indianapolis.

Tuesday: The nation is focused on Nov. 4. But appear Nov. 5, president-elect Obama or McCain will face some abundantly broadcast responsibilities. PBS's "Frontline" gives a foreign-policy abstracts in "The War Briefing," which may appearance that the advantageous applicant is the one who loses.

WHAT TO WATCH FOR:

Will "Gary Unmarried" 's amalgamation with "Two and a Half Men" actualize bigger admirers flow? And if so, has "Worst Week" had its endure anniversary in the coveted 9:30 timeslot?



NOTE: All ratings based on adults 18-49. A allotment is a allotment of adults 18-49 who accept their TV sets on at a accustomed time. A appraisement is a allotment of all adults 18-49, whether or not their sets are angry on. For example, a 1.0 appraisement is 1% of the absolute U.S. adults 18-49 citizenry with TVs. Ratings quoted in this cavalcade are based on live-plus-same-day unless contrarily noted. (Many ad deals accept been adjourned on the base of advertising-minute, live-plus-three-days viewing.)

John Rash is chief VP-director of media assay for Campbell Mithun, Minneapolis. For more, see rashreport.com