On Sat, Jun 11, 2022 at 4:49 PM PGage <[email protected]> wrote: > Right, comparisons to past Hearings are not valid, for same reason not > really helpful to compare Oscar ratings this year to 30 years ago. I think > it helps to compare to most recent big audience political event, and most > popular regular TV program. > > I stayed home from school to watch the Wategate hearings, even before Alex > Butterrfield (? That’s from memory, I think it was his name) revealed the > tapes. I was on my Honeymoon when Oliver North was testifying in > Iran-Contra, and am happy to report that I was otherwise engaged. >
I was a kid in Oklahoma at a KOA campground run by my sister’s godparents during Iran-Contra. As a child I found Oklahoma so boring that I watched nearly every minute of Oliver North. I also discovered Le Tour De France on TV that year. That boring summer shaped my viewing habits and my politics. > I would be interested in seeing Ratings for those Hearings compared to the > State of The Union speech that year, and the most popular regular show. > > On Sat, 11 Jun 2022 at 3:31 PM Tom Wolper <[email protected]> wrote: > >> I agree with that. I just don’t want to set up a comparison to earlier >> televised Congressional hearings because of the fracturing of the audience >> and the fact that people know they can quickly get recaps instead of >> sitting through the hearings. >> >> The first televised hearings in the fifties, the Kefauver organized crime >> hearings and the Army McCarthy hearings, were apparently blockbusters. The >> Watergate hearings, as I recall, didn’t become compelling until it came out >> that Nixon was recording Oval Office conversations. I can’t comment about >> Iran Contra because I wasn’t in the US at the time. >> >> On Sat, Jun 11, 2022 at 5:29 PM PGage <[email protected]> wrote: >> >>> Agreed. The Hearings are not a TV show and are not primarily evaluated >>> in terms of ratings. >>> >>> But the ratings, albeit imperfectly, are an indication of public >>> interest. My take is that, contrary to the claims of Trump collaborators >>> that the American people no longer care about the 1/6 Attack, the ratings, >>> at least on the first night, indicate a high level of interest; Americans >>> were at least as interested in learning more about the Attacks as they are >>> in watching prime time football. >>> >>> I feel like the Hearing over performed reasonable expectations in the >>> ratings, and in substance. >>> >>> On Sat, 11 Jun 2022 at 1:16 PM Tom Wolper <[email protected]> wrote: >>> >>>> Summer TV numbers have always been relatively low and more and more >>>> people don’t think of the networks when they choose what to watch in the >>>> evening (Eastern time zone). >>>> >>>> For me the purpose of the hearings is to get all of this information >>>> and evidence into the public record in the most accessible way and to make >>>> the DOJ more aggressive in prosecuting those responsible. Neither of those >>>> requires big ratings. >>>> >>>> On Fri, Jun 10, 2022 at 5:29 PM PGage <[email protected]> wrote: >>>> >>>>> I wish I had thought to ask this in advance, but I am interested in if >>>>> folks here think this is a high, low or expected number of viewers for >>>>> last >>>>> night. For context, 19 M is less than the State of the Union (38M) and >>>>> about the same as Sunday Night Football, which is the highest rated >>>>> regular >>>>> TV program. >>>>> >>>>> I got home at 6:25 from work, and watched the recording I had kind of >>>>> randomly made from NBC News. The NYT reports the following breakdown: >>>>> >>>>> ABC: 4.8 M >>>>> NBC: 3M+ >>>>> CBS: 3M+ >>>>> MSNBC: 4.2M (4X their normal audience) >>>>> CNN: 2.6M >>>>> >>>>> Fox “News” got its usual 3M viewers, so I guess that really does mean >>>>> that almost no regular FN viewer watched the Hearing. >>>>> >>>>> I watched the events of 1/6/21 live in horror and often literally in >>>>> tears. I dug in pretty deeply over the weeks that followed on any >>>>> available >>>>> information, and I feel like about 90% of what the Committee is reporting >>>>> was known before the end of January last year. Still, I have been >>>>> impressed >>>>> with the work of the Committee, and thought they did an effective job last >>>>> night, consistent with finding that most people who tuned in at the start >>>>> stayed with the whole two hours. >>>>> >>>>> I can also report the unsurprising news that Chuck Todd continues to >>>>> be an incompetent twit. >>>>> >>>>> >>>>> https://www.nytimes.com/2022/06/10/business/media/jan-6-hearing-ratings.html?referringSource=articleShare >>>>> >>>>> -- >>>>> Sent from Gmail Mobile >>>>> >>>>> -- >>>>> You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google >>>>> Groups "TVorNotTV" group. >>>>> To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send >>>>> an email to [email protected]. >>>>> To view this discussion on the web visit >>>>> https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/tvornottv/CAKGtkYKALpiLXaYuiWxbG4n%2BOV4b_bXfH_Z7TH0kWwK_2Umj%2BA%40mail.gmail.com >>>>> <https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/tvornottv/CAKGtkYKALpiLXaYuiWxbG4n%2BOV4b_bXfH_Z7TH0kWwK_2Umj%2BA%40mail.gmail.com?utm_medium=email&utm_source=footer> >>>>> . >>>>> >>>> -- >>>> You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google >>>> Groups "TVorNotTV" group. >>>> To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send >>>> an email to [email protected]. >>>> >>> To view this discussion on the web visit >>>> https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/tvornottv/CAJE-FiFcgqgqehemvafPJWAsuyhndB-h9RHi6%2B8cdV4BOQ6O9g%40mail.gmail.com >>>> <https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/tvornottv/CAJE-FiFcgqgqehemvafPJWAsuyhndB-h9RHi6%2B8cdV4BOQ6O9g%40mail.gmail.com?utm_medium=email&utm_source=footer> >>>> . >>>> >>> -- >>> Sent from Gmail Mobile >>> >>> -- >>> You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google >>> Groups "TVorNotTV" group. >>> To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send >>> an email to [email protected]. >>> >> To view this discussion on the web visit >>> https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/tvornottv/CAKGtkYKwFH%2BKpkL5UaUVR0xH7MX-hMyhx%3Dv2OPgZc9yRM61bkw%40mail.gmail.com >>> <https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/tvornottv/CAKGtkYKwFH%2BKpkL5UaUVR0xH7MX-hMyhx%3Dv2OPgZc9yRM61bkw%40mail.gmail.com?utm_medium=email&utm_source=footer> >>> . >>> >> -- >> You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups >> "TVorNotTV" group. >> To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an >> email to [email protected]. >> To view this discussion on the web visit >> https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/tvornottv/CAJE-FiEez81w4DxoORDVBbwYL_vPgDPxd5LuO3KS7naH5zdbaw%40mail.gmail.com >> <https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/tvornottv/CAJE-FiEez81w4DxoORDVBbwYL_vPgDPxd5LuO3KS7naH5zdbaw%40mail.gmail.com?utm_medium=email&utm_source=footer> >> . >> > -- > Sent from Gmail Mobile > > -- > You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups > "TVorNotTV" group. > To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an > email to [email protected]. > To view this discussion on the web visit > https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/tvornottv/CAKGtkYJpB02bwiAycxwX2BknVYRg4ymZz0qLJOViOiUCGekHMw%40mail.gmail.com > <https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/tvornottv/CAKGtkYJpB02bwiAycxwX2BknVYRg4ymZz0qLJOViOiUCGekHMw%40mail.gmail.com?utm_medium=email&utm_source=footer> > . > -- Kevin M. 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