RATINGS: PALIN WAS A BIGGER DRAW THAN RYAN

Sarah Palin was a bigger draw than Paul Ryan. That is the inescapable conclusion to be drawn from overnight Nielsen ratings for Thursday night’s vice presidential debate. With Congressman Ryan seated opposite Vice President Joe Biden, the debate drew 51.4 million viewers across 12 networks. When Biden faced Palin in the 2008 debate 69.4 million […]

RADDATZ BECOMES DEBATE’S LIGHTNING ROD

Most political commentators called Thursday night’s vice-presidential debate essentially a draw. But while both Congressman Paul Ryan and Vice President Joe Biden received mostly high marks, the pundits divided widely over the performance of Martha Raddatz as moderator. Britain’s Guardian newspaper commented, “She was calm, articulate and relentless — and unlike the two candidates, moderator […]

NOT MANY WATCHED DEBATE ONLINE

A snap survey by the Pew Research Center has indicated that most Americans — 56 percent –watched last week’s first presidential debate between Mitt Romney and Barack Obama on television live. Of those, 10 percent were two-screen viewers, watching the coverage on a computer or mobile device while the debate was being broadcast. “This would […]

PUNDITS (AND EVERYONE ELSE): ROMNEY WON FIRST TV DEBATE

In the televised presidential debates — going back to the first ones between John Kennedy and Richard Nixon — it’s not so much what a candidate says but how they appear when they say it. And — forget about party affiliations — by that measure Mitt Romney was the John Kennedy of Wednesday night’s debate […]

CNN BEATS FOX NEWS (THANKS TO THE GOP)

Wednesday night’s debate between the GOP presidential candidates in Arizona gave CNN a rare win over Fox News during primetime — despite the fact that it was the lowest-rated debate on cable TV since a Nov. 22 debate, also on CNN, that attracted 3.60 million viewers. Wednesday’s debate averaged 4.75 million viewers in primetime between […]

NEXT GOP DEBATE: WILL TRUMP FIRE THEM ALL?

With some commentators noting that it bears a striking resemblance to The Apprentice, the next Republican presidential primary debate will be moderated by Donald Trump and air on ION Television on December 27. Many of the contenders have been courting Trump for an endorsement, and it was not clear whether the debate would wind up […]

SATURDAY NIGHT COMES ALIVE ON TV

Once again, ratings for Saturday night — a night virtually abandoned by all the broadcast networks on the theory that most people are out doing something else, rather than watching TV, on that night — demonstrated that viewers will tune in if they’re given something appealing to watch. ABC’s NCAA football game between Oregon and […]

PERRY’S ON-CAMERA GAFFE MAY DOOM HIS CANDIDACY

Once again television has played a crucial role in a presidential candidacy. Just as sweating on camera during his debate with John F. Kennedy may have cost Richard Nixon the presidency in 1960, a memory freeze that made former Republican frontrunner Rick Perry look foolish during Wednesday’s Republican debate would seem to have doomed his […]