The TV Zone

Yes, as suspected: No one cared much that "Mad Men" was the front-runner to take home the bacon last night.

The three-hour Emmy telecast was seen by a mere 12.2 million viewers.

You know you've got problems when "America's Got Talent" regularly scores considerably higher.

I don't know how this stacks up in the history of the awards telecasts, that once upon a time, easily drew more than twenty million viewers without breaking a sweat. But I'm going to stick my neck way out here and say: This was the lowest-viewed in history.

In fact, I'm told now that it IS the lowest ever by a HAIR. Last night's number was 12.241 million, and Fox's 1990 telecast was the previous record-holder at 12.303 million. Now this could all change, albeit slightly, when the nationals come in tomorrow, but right now, it looks like we've got a world record.

Meanwhile, ABC attached this modifier to the press release, which I submit for your own perusal. My only qualification to this: It's hard to imagine people rushing home tonight saying, "boy I gotta watch the Emmys! Heard the reality hosts were great!" In fact, the Live plus 7 number will be negligible, I imagine, also because this is premiere week.

"A note about increasing DVR penetration and year-to-year rating comparisons: Year-to-year rating comparisons based on the Live + Same Day data stream are distorted by the level of DVR penetration in the Nielsen sample, which has jumped up to 27% currently, from 19% at the same point in 2007. More viewers are watching shows on their own timetables, which may not be reflected in the overnight next day numbers. The only truly valid year-to-year comparison would be one based on the Live + 7 Day metric, once those stats are released by Nielsen."