Despite Buzz And Controversy (Road To 9/11 Bombs In Ratings)

[Mark E. Smith]

AP 9/12

ABC's "Path To 9/11" got a lot of pre-broadcast buzz for its controversial treatment of the Clinton administration,
but it managed only a third-place finish for the night.

In fact, the two controversial 911-related shows on Sunday night, ABC's drama and CBS' airing of documentary 9/11,
were beaten by Fox's animated lineup of The Simpsons, Family Guy and American Dad.

The ABC drama recorded a 3.5 rating.9 share in the Nielsen overnight ratings for the 18-49 demo, beaten by football
on NBC (6.6/17 to win the night) and partly by football on Fox (5.1/13 for second place).

http://www.ibcnews.com/articles/viewarticle.jsp?id=64184



Hey Karl! I got something for you to kiss!

[JAbuchan08]

1. That's still too many people watching a completely false

portrayal of the events of 9-11.

[cybildisobedience]

14. Plus, the fact that ABC ran it is the big issue....

[jdadd]

2. Kool aid drinkers

Were the only ones that watched EOM.

[gasperc]

3. their goal was to get thier message "out there"

not necessary score a big ratings win. Even if ABC decides not to release DVD's of the crapumentary, rest assured that Rove and company are furiously making bootleg copies to distribute nationally. This thing was meant to press the cromagnon neurons of the Republican Base and if they can peel off a few independents and democrats all the better.

[BeyondGeography]

4. Even if it was a great documentary

it still would have been spanked by football and cartoons. In fact, a live beheading of Osama Bin Laden would have only marginally outperformed Giants/Colts. Unless, of course, they did it at halftime.

[bluerum]

5. It was NOT a documentary! Docu-drama. Not documentary!

[BeyondGeography]

8. It wasn't a docu-drama, it was a mock-u-drama

[bluerum]

11. I stand corrected. nt

[JPZenger]

6. 2 Year Old CBS Documentary Did Just as Well

I heard on Air America that CBS on Sunday night aired a 2 year old documentary by French filmakers about firefighters on 9-11. Even though it had been aired before, and even though CBS paid almost nothing for it, it had a viewship equal to ABC's $40 million commercial free broadcast.

Randi Rhodes said that most of the viewership of Path to 9-11 was Democrats looking for errors in the movie.

Rhodes also said that one of the two books that Path to 9-11 was based upon was written by a guy who is now employed by the Bush Administration as a public relations person (I think in the Pentagon). That raises the question of whether the crapumentary was government-sponsored propaganda.

[madmusic]

12. The Cell

http://www.amazon.com/Cell-Inside-Plot-Failed-Stop/dp/0786869003

EDIT:

ABC's Path to 9/11 partly based on information from Bush administration PR official

Marc Platt, the executive producer of ABC's upcoming two-part miniseries set to air on September 10 and 11, titled The Path to 9/11, has said that "every scene" of the film "is based on information from either the 9/11 Report ... or the books The Cell (co-written by the former ABC News correspondent John Miller) and Relentless Pursuit, written by Samuel Katz." However, in addition to co-writing The Cell: Inside the 9/11 Plot, and Why the FBI and CIA Failed to Stop It, Miller is also a member of the Bush administration, serving as the assistant director of public affairs for the FBI, as blogger Digby has noted.

http://mediamatters.org/items/200609070004

[chapel hill dem]

7. I watched the cartoons because I have had too many emotional swings

over 9/11 and did not need to relive it again.

[Tarheel_Dem]

9. Hi Chapel Hill Dem.....

I'm right there with you. I can proudly say I never watched one milli-second of this 6 hour GOP advertisement. I hope this backfires big time, and I hope we find out if David Horowitz & Richard Mellon Scaife are the money behind this.

BTW, Welcome to DU. :hi:

[chapel hill dem]

15. Thanks for the welcome! I have actually been lurking here since 2002,

and registered in 2004. I just do not post that much, I guess.

[UTUSN]

10. K&R for hooray for FAUX???? (I can't believe I'm saying it) n/t

[damntexdem]

13. So ABC couldn't out Faux-News the original Fox.

And the NFL had both Sunday Night Football and a Monday Night Football doubleheader on opposite it. LOL!