Sunday TV's Biggest Winner, Besides Kate Winslet and the Pittsburgh Steelers: NBC's Golden Globes telecast averaged 14.7 million viewers, Nielsen estimates showed—tops for a show that didn't sling footballs or air after a football game.
Looking Pretty Golden Themselves: Fox's 24 (12.5 million) scored a solid season-eight premiere; ABC's Desperate Housewives (13.8 million) was the No. 1 nonfootball show in the 18-49 demo.
But, Hey, Wasn't 24 Down 20 Percent From Its Season-Six Premiere? Would that be the season-six premiere that aired two years ago, back when people still watched TV on TV, and not on Hulu, which wasn't launched yet, and where, by the way, you can now watch last night's episode?
But, C'mon, Weren't the Globe Ratings Historically Lousy, Too? To restate the above point, TV ratings ain't what they used to be, anywhere for any show—the Globes included.
Excluding the no-frills press conference that passed for last year's Globes, Sunday's was, yes, the least-watched since NBC began televising the ceremony in 1996.
But Sunday's show doesn't have to compete with shows that aired in 1996. It only has to compete with shows that aired last week. And when the latest rankings come out Tuesday, it'll go down as a top 10 show.
Putting Jack Bauer in Perspective: Given 24's long layoff between seasons, Fox understandably focused on comparing last night's premiere to last November's prequel, 24: Redemption. As luck would have it, when judged against the TV movie, Sunday's 24 was up 3 percent in viewers.
Oh, Yes, Football…: Runover from CBS' late-afternoon NFL playoff game (29.7 million) scored the night's biggest audience, followed by CBS' playoff-boosted 60 Minutes (15.6 million).
Also-Rans: ABC's Brothers & Sisters (9.1 million) and CBS' The Unit (10.4 million) hung in there against the last hour of the Globes.
What a Nuclear Winter Must Look Like: At 7 p.m., the CW's weekly Jericho sacrifice (776,500) scored a zero rating—that's 0.0—among teen boys.