NBA Finals, ‘Swingtown’ Start Strong
June 6, 2008 11:37 AM
In the battle of the series premieres, CBS’ “Swingtown” topped NBC’s “Fear Itself,” but the first game of the NBA Finals stood as MVP in the ratings Thursday.
The first faceoff between the Los Angeles Lakers and the Boston Celtics brought in a tentative 4.0 rating/12 share in the 18- to 49-year-old demographic, according to preliminary Nielsen research. Because it’s a live event, those numbers are approximate.
Stacking up against last year’s NBA Finals’ Game One, which pitted the Cleveland Cavaliers against the San Antonio Spurs, this year’s series kickoff was up 8%. The game was preceded by a special “Jimmy Kimmel Live” (2.9/10) and “NBA Countdown” (3.4/11), sending ABC to a 3.7/11 for the night.
Fox’s (3.3/10) “So You Think You Can Dance?” dipped 8% from last week, but placed second for the night.
Leading in with reruns of “CSI,” CBS (2.3/7) premiered “Swingtown” (2.7/8) at 10 p.m. The racy drama was up 17% over the average in that time period last summer, when it was home to “Shark” and “Without a Trace” repeats.
NBC (2.1/6) also premiered “Fear Itself” (2.0/6) at 10 p.m., while “Last Comic Standing” (2.3/7) increased 21% over last week. Three weeks deep into this season, “Standing” is off 22% from last year’s average, when the show ran on Wednesday.
The CW (0.6/2) placed fifth with repeats.
Del.icio.us 
Digg 
Fark 
StumbleUpon 
Comments (5)
I wish Swingtown would disappear "Without A Trace" and get eaten by a "Shark".
The only saving grace would be if this show depicts how people's lives are/were devastated by leading this lifestyle. If it has a moral message, then it would be justified in becoming a success.
Since this is in the 70s, it would be appropriate if the series finale would show a lot of them coming down with AIDs in the early 80s...
Posted by Phil K | June 9, 2008 6:33 AM
I have never read such an inappropriate comment on this blog or on this site ever!
So where's your list of people who had sex outside their marriages in the 70s that got AIDS.
By the way, the final S is capitalized, too.
This isn't a forum for your religious views, it's a TV blog.
Go get ready for the rapture and leave the rest of us to live our lives in peace, will you?
Posted by Joe Bua | June 11, 2008 4:30 PM
@philK: This article is about the ratings of show this past week not the actual show. Im sure there is an article about the show, so go post there.
Also, AIDS spreads the most NOT thru marital swinging relationships but thru unsafe sex btwn
- men & prostitutes who then bring the disease home 2 their wives
-down lo men
-teens/young adults.
Posted by lilkunta | June 14, 2008 8:13 AM
And of course, IV drug use (sharing needles).
Thanks for the support, Lilkunta.
Posted by Joe Bua | June 16, 2008 11:19 AM
I am a swinger and can only speak for myself here..but I loved the show. I like the show for the most part because of the great music and all the great memories this show brings back. If I wasn't already a swinger I would still like "SWINGTOWN". Without starting some drama I would just like to say to all the "upright" christians out there that you have your views about this show and we have ours. Not one of the members of the lifestyle would ever want to take any right away from anyone that enjoys..say.. a good christian program. I hope I have at least tried to make a point here. The so-called christians have their programs...let us have ours...enough said!!
Posted by Regina | June 19, 2008 9:02 PM