Michael Jackson a Bigger Draw Dead Than Alive?
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What's the difference between a Michael Jackson appearance and a Michael Jackson tribute? What's about as rare as American Idol not finishing No. 1? Are two Disney Channel stars bigger than one?
The answers—and more questions—in this week's ratings quiz:
1. True or false: Michael Jackson is a bigger TV draw dead than he was alive? True.
And false.
Sunday's BET Awards broadcast is the best example of the true. The show, which became a Jackson memorial following the singer's sudden death, blew the roof off the Nielsen joint. Its audience of 10.7 million viewers was bigger than any cable show last week—a week that included the king-size Jon & Kate Plus 8 divorce episode (10.6 million viewers)—bigger than any cable show this year, and bigger than any previous BET Awards telecast, including 2003's, which featured an appearance by a very much alive Jackson.
For the BETs, there was no contest between the specter of the deceased Jackson and the presence of the living Jackson. Sunday's show outdrew the 2003 telecast by a whopping 95 percent.
As for the false part…
2. What's the biggest Jackson-related show on Nielsen record? That would be Super Bowl XXVII, which featured the alive Jackson, in perhaps his final shining moment several months before the first child-abuse allegations surfaced. Overall, the game, including the King of Pop's halftime show, averaged 91 million viewers, or a tad more than either the BETs or the 7.5 million who assembled for the week's single most-watched Jackson prime-time obituary special, as aired on CBS.
If you think the Super Bowl stat's a cheat—Jackson, after all, wasn't the game—then try this one on for size: 62.3 million for Oprah Winfrey's 1993 prime-time interview special with Jackson.
3. How did Michael Jackson help make history for American Idol? Last night's rebroadcast of March's Jackson-themed competition night was the franchise's first rerun of any kind since the third season. The show averaged an estimated 4.2 million viewers, the smallest audience posted by one of the big four broadcast networks from 8 to 10 p.m. And now you know why Idol doesn't do reruns more often.
4. Which cable network is the most trusted source of news and information for Michael Jackson fans? CNN, apparently, which climbed over Fox News to record the four most-watched hours of Jackson cable-news coverage.
5. Was Farrah Fawcett totally ignored? No. Barbara Walters' 20/20 special on the late Charlie's Angels star, which, as previously reported, registered 8.2 million viewers for ABC, finished the week as TV's No. 1 prime-time news show.
6. What happens when Disney teams up Selena Gomez and Demi Lovato? Cable's big week gets bigger. Friday's premiere of Gomez and Lovato's Disney TV-movie, Princess Protection Program, scored 8.5 million viewers, putting it just behind the BETs and Jon & Kate. In all, cable's three biggest shows were big enough to have finished among free-TV's top seven shows, per the latest Nielsen rankings. In the annals of Disney TV-movies, Princess Protection Program ranks alongside the Jonas Brothers' Camp Rock (8.9 million) and a bit further behind High School Musical 2 (17.2 million).
7. Was cable unbeatable last week? Nah. The premiere of America's Got Talent, as aired on old-fashioned NBC, found the biggest single audience of the summer so far: 11.5 million. The show's Wednesday follow-up was nearly as big, although, granted, not as big as either the BETs or the Gosselins: 10.4 million. A CBS rerun of NCIS (11.1 million) was the week's most-watched scripted show. An all-new episode of The Closer (6.4 million) claimed the latter honor for cable and, in the process, took its crown back from Royal Pains (5.9 million) and held off Burn Notice (5.3 million) and the second-season premiere of The Secret Life of the American Teenager (series-best 4.7 million). A Wizards of Waverly Place (6 million) aired after Princess Protection Program was cable's top comedy show.
8. Why was Samantha Who? No. 1? Because among the bevy of canceled broadcast network shows assigned to burn off previously unaired episodes last week, the Christina Applegate ABC comedy, which finished 76th overall, led the way with 3.4 million viewers. NBC's Kings (1.6 million) brought up the rear, in 112th place.




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