Out-Foxing NBC: TV drama draws a million more viewers than Obama
Well, it looks like Fox made the correct business call in opting not to broadcast President Obama's latest prime-time news conference last night. (Full transcript here, as usual.)
After 100 days and three prime-time news sessions, has the entertainment value drained out of the new guy talking for 55 minutes with no laugh track or applause? (Despite the "enchanted" president item.)
Overnight ratings show that Fox's ironically named drama "Lie to Me" easily beat NBC's coverage of Obama's Wednesday evening news conference, drawing nearly 8 million viewers to the Peacock's 6.7 million in second place.
On those broadcast networks, a little less than 19 million viewed the news conference.
Overall, about 28.8 million people watched the White House media session on 10 TV channels, a sharp 29% dropoff from the last session March 24. Nearly 50 million watched Obama's first news conference. Oh, and Fox News' Obama coverage won the ratings combat on the cable side.
"Lie to Me" is the story of a doctor (Tim Roth) who's, in effect, a living lie detector through his ability to read human expressions and nuances. We could maybe use him at some political events! Meanwhile, here's a sample.
We have a video excerpt below. Of the news conference, that is.
--Andrew Malcolm
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Photo: Ron Edmonds / Associated Press
Not coincidentally, Lie to Me was the lead-in to the American Idol results show, the real reason Fox did not want to carry Obama's presser. How ironic it would have been if some actual news was made!
Posted by: Miss Picky | April 30, 2009 at 04:16 PM
Whether you watched Fox or the press conference you were still watching Lie to Me.
Posted by: Cryos | May 01, 2009 at 12:10 PM
THE WORST 100 DAYS OF ANY PRESIDENT EVER BY FAR, NO WONDER FOX BEAT HIS FAN CLUB CHANNELS FOX IS THE LEADER AND STILL GROWING THAT MEANS SOMETHING THANK YOU PRESIDENT BUSH FOR KEEPING US SAFE YOU ARE MISSED
Posted by: don | May 02, 2009 at 10:47 PM
this will not be approved by The lib LATIMES IT WON'T BE LONG U WILL BE LOOKING FOR A JOB THIS IS NOT A NEWSPAPER ANYMORE THANK YOU G W BUSH A GREAT MAN GREAT FATHER GREAT LEADER YOU ARE VERY MUCH A GOOD PERSON
Posted by: don | May 02, 2009 at 10:54 PM