Speaking of hockey . . . A loyal reader wondered where the heck Pierre McGuire has been for NBC lately.
Turns out he was covering the world championships for TSN, in which Russia beat Canada in a thriller in the final.
Pierre will be back for the Stanley Cup finals, which could and should make a ratings comeback if the matchup is Detroit-Pittsburgh and if it lasts more than four or five games.
Let's hope so. I have a pro-hockey bias. Deal with it.
Comments (4)
I think the NHL is in a win win situation as far as ratings go now. If Dallas wins tonight they get a game 7 and as a bonus one of the teams (Dallas) gets a chance to come back from a 0-3 hole to win the series so I think that game will be a ratings winner. Then in the finals they already have Pitt going against either the Wings or the Stars a team that just came back from a 0-3 hole. Should be a ratings winner either way.
Bettman will get his dream Cup soon enough.
Pens/Wings ... and the flightless birdies win it.
The Untouchables ... Crosby and Malkin ...
Record ratings on NBC and the CBC ...
People still trying to find Versus ...
They mentioned some good numbers for NBC on NHL Live this afternoon. Something like 1.4 Saturday and 1.7 Sunday (in a blowout). The Pens game did something live a 25/46 in Pittsburgh.
I would assume that the NHL is thrilled with the numbers, which leads to the question-- would it be better for the Pens to win the Cup and have Crosby a Champion or for them to play a competitive series and fall just short? Hmmm.
Not only was the Sunday game a blowout but it was up against the Game 7 NBA playoff game on ABC. Neil would know this better than me but I think I read somewhere that the NHL is doing very well in that men 18-49 demographic which is their target audience.