Rachel Maddow gives Meet the Press another ratings bump, beats Fox easily

By GottaLaff

See, NBC, it goes a little something like this: Viewers like Rachel Maddow. Why? Because she's smart, witty, fair, classy, prepared, knowledgeable, and-- What's that word again? Oh yeah-- liberal.

Yes, NBC, America elected a bunch of Democrats, and we'd like to see them fairly represented on shows like Meet the Press:

The NBC Sunday morning program moderated by David Gregory averaged 4.162 million total viewers for first place. That's the show's highest total viewer delivery since March 22, 2009. [...]

Maddow's first appearance, in August, brought the show its highest numbers since April.

Wowzers, over 4 million, huh? Wonder how ClusterFox did:

"FOX News Sunday" averaged 1.208 million total viewers in its FOX broadcast.

Get the hint, NBC?

21 Million Watch President's Address to Congress on Big Three

Good numbers and probably a contributor to the uptick in his polls this am.

21.2 million Total Viewers watched President Obama's address to congress last night.

• 8.2M watched on NBC
• 7.4M watched on ABC
• 5.6M watched on CBS

FOX, the only broadcaster not to carry the president, drew 6.5M Total Viewers for the premiere of "So You Think You Can Dance?" during the 8pm hour.

The 21 million watching the president on the Big 3 nets last night tops the 19 million who watched his primetime news conference in April but nowhere near the 31 million who watched his second primetime news conference in March.

Obama's ratings slump? Please.

Yesterday I saw a couple stories about how Obama's viewership was down, and since they didn't include the cablers, I dismissed them. Now I find this, and I really like his take on it. Talk about taking on tasks no other President has had...

The fact is, Obama's ratings remain staggeringly high for any President jabbering about health care reform and bank bailouts -- in a time slot usually reserved for American Idol, no less. As the THR.com story mentions, Obama's March 22 interview on 60 Minutes pulled more than 17 million viewers, making it the fourth most watched show of the week, while his historic March 19 appearance on The Tonight Show (the first time a sitting President has done a late-night chat program) was seen in at least 8.9 million homes.

But never mind how you slant the numbers; what's interesting here is that Obama's ratings are being scrutinized in the Hollywood trades at all, right alongside those for shows like Dancing With the Stars and The Biggest Loser. The President has become such a gigantic, looming presence in the pop culture—even appearing on ESPN to share his bracket picks for the NCAA tournament—he's now as big a showbiz figure as Simon Cowell. Normal presidents get evaluated by polls and approval ratings. This one has moved up to a much higher plane—he's being judged by Nielsen shares.