Cheers to Tom Brokaw for proving a "steady hand at the tiller" during the second presidential debate. Despite the candidates' refusal to abide by time limits, the NBC anchor emeritus expertly kept the conversation on course.
Brokaw chastised the contenders for ignoring the rules, yet was flexible enough to allow for rebuttals when both Senators requested them. And despite accusations of bias leveled at his network's cable cousin MSNBC, the moderator came across as truly fair and balanced. Somewhere, Tim Russert must be smiling.
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Not much to report on this Tuesday's tallies, seeing as Presidential Debate 2: The Maverick Vs. That One filled much of the night, delivering 63.23 million viewers on broadcast and cable networks. That's larger than the audience for McCain and Obama's Sept. 26 face-off, yet well shy of the 70 mil who showed up for last week's vice-presidential tete-a-tete.
Elsewhere.... NCIS took the 8 o'clock hour, drawing 15.7 million viewers (down 1.5 mil week-to-week) to Dancing with the Stars' 13.45 mil (slipping 11 percent). Placing third, The Biggest Loser (7.49 mil) gained a pound or two.
The CW's 90210 did a typical-ish 3.06 mil, while lead-out Privileged enjoyed a 24 percent increase ─ to 2.33 mil, mind you ─ likely due to debate fatigue.
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