America’s Got Talent, Rangers near-disaster heat up prime-time numbers in Dallas/Fort Worth

by Ed Bark of UncleBarky.com

Talent just edged the Rangers, 272,363 viewers to 232,505.

The closing minutes of NBC's America's Got Talent and the super-perilous 9th inning of the Rangers-Yankees game on Fox Sports Southwest vied for prime-time supremacy Tuesday night. Both ended at 10 p.m., and here's the D-FW scorecard for the final 15 minutes:

America's Got Talent -- 272,363 viewers

Rangers-Yankees -- 232,505 viewers

No other prime-time attraction came close to drawing these crowds. The Rangers, who nearly blew a 5-run ninth inning lead in the Bronx before winning 10-9, averaged 126,217 viewers for the entire elongated game, with interest escalating from 9 to 10 p.m.

Talent latest two-hour edition averaged 285,649 viewers while again also beating all competing programming among advertiser-coveted 18-to-49-year-olds.

ABC's second edition of Shaq Vs. bombed at 8 p.m., running fourth in both ratings measurements. CBS' NCIS repeat as usual won at 7 p.m. in total viewers, but slid to third with 18-to-49-year-olds behind Fox's Hell's Kitchen and a Talent recap.

Gifted with another dream lead-in from Talent, NBC5's 10 p.m. newscast rose to the occasion by winning comfortably in total viewers and 25-to-54-year-olds, the main advertiser target audience for news programming. The Peacock also kept a good deal of the audience inherited from Talent.

NBC5 likewise swept the 6 a.m. news competitions, again narrowly over Fox4 in both measurements.

WFAA8 had a better than usual day at 5 p.m., where it ran the table. The ABC station also finished first at 6 p.m. in total viewers, but fell to second behind Fox4 among 25-to-54-year-olds.

WFAA8 was aided by a better-than-usual performance from the struggling Oprah Winfrey Show, which uncommonly won at 4 p.m. in total viewers and tied NBC5's First at Four local newscast in the 25-to-54 demographic.