Golden Globes, "24" soft in ratings
LOS ANGELES (Hollywood Reporter) - The Golden Globes and "24," two programs derailed by last year's writers strike, returned Sunday to considerably smaller ratings than when they were last seen in 2007.
Still, the performances were not out of line with how most shows are performing compared with two years ago. Awards shows, in particular are suffering, with last year's Oscars (32 million) hitting their lowest level since Nielsen began collecting viewership data in 1974.
The 66th annual Globes averaged 14.6 million viewers across its three hours on NBC, off 27% from the 20 million who tuned in back in 2007 (last year's brief awards news conference is not considered comparable). It marks the lowest-rated Globes since NBC took over the telecast in 1996. Viewership peaked at 26.8 million in 2004.
On Fox, "24" averaged 12.5 million viewers in its 8-10 p.m. slot. That was up a little from November's prequel TV movie "Redemption" (12.1 million), but down 21% from the program's 2007 series premiere.
Despite all the high-profile premieres, CBS won the night propelled by a high-rated NFL playoff overrun. The network also had "60 Minutes" (15.6 million), "Cold Case" (12.4 million) and "The Unit" (10.4 million).
NBC was second with the Globes. ABC was third with "Extreme Makeover" (10.3 million), "Desperate Housewives" (13.8 million) and "Brothers & Sisters" (9.1 million). Fox was close behind with "24" and repeats.
Reuters/Hollywood Reporter
