UP IN THE SKY: IT’S SUPER RATINGSSunday’s Super Bowl XL telecast from Detroit between the Pittsburgh Steelers and the Seattle Seahawks did not break ratings records, but it was close enough. According to Nielsen overnights, the ABC telecast scored a 41.8 rating and a 62 share, down by about 4 percent from last year’s 43.4/63 but up a tad from 2004’s 41.4/63. (Because of the live nature of the telecast, with the West Coast viewing it three hours earlier than the East, final results, to be announced later today, could significantly alter the figure.) Sunday night’s post-game show was up considerably over previous years, drawing a 36.0/52 from 10:00 to 10:30 p.m. That compared with a 25.5/40 last year and a 28.8/46 in 2004.
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STEELERS WON GAME, BUT WHO WON AD BOWL?
Critics had high praise for the quality of the commercials that advertisers paid ABC $2.5 million apiece to be broadcast during Sunday’s Super Bowl telecast. New York Timesadvertising columnist Stuart Elliot said they represented a “marked improvement” over last year’s lot and noted that most of them appeared to be “reaching for a higher form of hilarity or trying to tug at the heartstrings.” The Bud Lightspot involving a revolving refrigerator won USA Today’s Ad Meter poll, while FedEx’s spot featuring a caveman crushed by a dinosaur was ahead in an online poll being conducted by The Wall Street Journal. The Washington Post’s Tom Shales said that the most talked about spot was the one for Burger King, produced like a lavish dance number in a Busby Berkeley musical.
“YOU MAKE A DEAD MAN (BLANK)”
It did not rival the controversy that erupted over Janet Jackson’s wardrobe malfunction, but questions arose following The Rolling Stones’ halftime performance during the Super Bowl telecast Sunday over who was responsible for some of the words of their lyrics being removed. USA Todayreported that Stones’ leader Mick Jagger had been informed before the telecast that his microphone would be turned down during some sexually explicit lyrics. “We agreed upon it earlier this week. They were fine with it,” an NFL spokesman told the newspaper. The New York Timesobserved that the 62-year-old Jagger showed off his “athletic prowess” and noted that “the television cameras could barely keep up. … He was as limber as anyone on the field.”
WOODRUFF’S FINAL WORDS BEFORE EXPLOSION AIRED
The report that Bob Woodruff was broadcasting for ABC’s World News Tonight when he was struck by shrapnel from a roadside explosion was finally broadcast on the program Friday night. The footage, rescued from a damaged camera that Doug Vogt, who was also injured in the blast, was holding showed Woodruff riding in the turret of an Iraqi armored vehicle describing his observations about the preparedness of the Iraqi military. It did not capture the explosion. ABC News correspondent Dan Harris, who narrated the footage, said that the explosion must immediately have knocked out Vogt’s camera and another that was mounted on the vehicle and operating automatically. Meanwhile, Woodruff remained in a drug-induced coma at Bethesda Naval Hospital while continuing to undergo treatment for his injuries. In an interview with TV Week, World News Tonightexecutive producer Jon Banner insisted that Woodruff and Vogt were both making progress. (Vogt, who was less seriously injured, has been talking with friends and family and was walking on Friday.) “We have every expectation and hope that Bob will be back,” Banner said. “That’s what we’re planning for. There’s no plan for any other scenario. He’s coming back and going to pick up where he left off and be anchor of this broadcast.” In an interview with today’s (Monday)Los Angeles Times, ABC News chief David Westin said that the wounding of the two newsmen has prompted the news department to contemplate producing more stories about the nearly 17,000 U.S. soldiers injured in Iraq. “In an ironic sense, Bob is still reporting as an anchor,” Westin told the newspaper. “He’s shining a spotlight on this.”
FORMER WNT PRODUCER FAULTS VARGAS
Appearing on CNN’s Reliable Sourceswith Howard Kurtz Sunday, former World News Tonightexecutive producer Emily Rooney said that ABC’s decision to add Charles Gibson and Diane Sawyer to the show during Woodruff’s absence betrays a lack of confidence in Elizabeth Vargas. “I think it’s because they don’t think she’s strong enough,” Rooney said, indicating that she herself agrees with that assessment. “I always have this kind of uneasy feeling that she doesn’t quite have the depth. You know, the other night I was watching the State of the Union Address, and the minute she tossed to Charlie Gibson, I thought, well, they’ve brought the adult into the discussion. And I think there’s no question about it, if this had been a reverse situation and, I hate to say, if Elizabeth had been wounded, I think Bob would be in the anchor chair solo.” Rooney also opined that it was “patently ridiculous” to have two people anchor the nightly newscast.
LOST FINDS WGA AWARDS FOR 23 WRITERS
Twenty-three writers will share the Writers Guild of America drama series award announced Saturday. They were last season’s writers of ABC’s Lost. By contrast only one writer takes home the comedy series award – Larry David, for his HBO series Curb Your Enthusiasm.The HBO drama Warm Springs, written by Margaret Nagle, received the award for best long-form adapted screenplay, while The Life and Death of Peter Sellers, written by Christopher Markus and Stephen McFeely, took the award for best long-form original screenplay. A new award for best new series went to ABC’s Grey’s Anatomy.
CBS MAY PUT SURVIVOR ON ITUNES STORE, AFTER ALL
On the heels of reports that CBS was “cutting out the middleman” and going it alone by distributing episodes of Survivoron its own website, the president of CBS Digital Media said Friday that the series might wind up on Apple’s iTunes Music Store as well. Larry Kramer told MarketWatch (which he founded) that CBS was considering several companies, including Apple, to distribute CBS shows on the Internet. Analysts questioned the network’s strategy, however, pointing out that its plans for Survivorpermit viewing for only 24 hours, while all other programs being made available through Apple may be permanently stored on a PC or on Apple’s video iPod.
