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Letterman, Kimmel perform well in repeats

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In the final count, the first week of the writers strike helped ABC’s “Nightline” gain viewers, but not enough to pull past its late-night competition.

The live newsmagazine averaged 3.8 million viewers last week, a large boost over the average 3.5 million the program drew this season before the strike began, according to Nielsen Media Research. But even in repeats, NBC’s “The Tonight Show with Jay Leno” and CBS’ “Late Show with David Letterman” had more eyeballs –- 3.87 million viewers and 3.96 million viewers, respectively.

The big news: the perennially second-place Letterman beat Leno, who fell from a season average of nearly 5 million viewers. The CBS comedian even surpassed his own season average of 3.8 million viewers. (Note: Letterman’s ratings last Tuesday were excluded from his weekly average, because the show was preempted in part of the country for regional election coverage.)

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ABC’s “Jimmy Kimmel Live” also performed well in repeats, drawing an average of 1.93 million viewers last week, the show’s third-largest audience of the season.

Maybe these guys are just funnier the second time around?

More news on the strike

-- Matea Gold

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