DFW viewers show up for some Diddy

by Ed Bark of of UncleBarky.com

ABC's stellar three-hour production of A Raisin in the Sun had gratifyingly high ratings in D-FW Monday night, sweeping the prime-time field in total homes.

Raisin averaged 241,124 homes, even winning in its first hour against NBC's ramped-up "Million Dollar Mission" edition of Deal or No Deal.

Advertiser-craved 18-to-49-year-olds also turned out, giving Raisin an overall first place finish in this key demographic after Deal controlled the first hour. ABC's only scheduled made-for-TV-movie of this season looks to be an odds-on favorite to make a big Emmy haul this coming fall.

Jason Kidd's home debut with the Dallas Mavericks also pumped up the team's flagging Nielsen ratings. The winning effort against Chicago averaged a nice-sized 143,700 homes, peaking at 204,590 in its final 15 minutes.

In the local news derby, Fox4's Good Day got a little breathing room in its tight battle to retain the 6 a.m. ratings title against WFAA8's very formidable Daybreak. Fox4 edged WFAA8 by two-tenths of a rating point in total homes, but won by a fairly comfortable margin among 25-to-54-year-olds, the main advertiser target for news programming.

With two weekdays left in the February sweeps, Fox4 has the pole position, with WFAA8 still trying to catch a last-minute tailwind.

The ABC station otherwise ran the table at 5, 6 and 10 p.m. in both ratings measurements. WFAA8 has ironclad locks on first-place finishes in all three competitions.

A hot battle for second place in the 10 p.m. total homes race is still in progress, though. NBC5 remains slightly ahead of CBS11 after a one-tenth of a point win Monday night.