Not Even Sunday Night Football Can Stop Jethro Gibbs: Last Week's TV Ratings, In Context

A weekly feature wherein we contextualize TV ratings for national sports broadcasts. Data via Nielsen and Sports Business Journal's John Ourand. Viewership numbers represent approximate number of persons tuned to a given program; ratings share refers to the percentage of all households using a television who are turned into that program.

Monday, Oct. 1: Monday Night Football; Chicago Bears at Dallas Cowboys (ESPN): 16.6 million viewers Dancing With the Stars (ABC): 12.4 million viewers

Tuesday, Oct. 2: No highly rated sporting events.

Wednesday, Oct. 3: No highly rated sporting events.

Thursday, Oct. 4: Thursday Night Football; Arizona Cardinals at St. Louis Rams (NFL Network): 6.4 million viewers The Big Bang Theory (CBS): 15.1 million viewers

Friday, Oct. 5: MLB Wild Card game; Baltimore Orioles at Texas Rangers (TBS): 5.3 million viewers MLB Wild Card game; St. Louis Cardinals at Atlanta Braves (TBS): 4.0 million viewers Made in Jersey (CBS): 6.8 million viewers

Saturday, Oct. 6: NCAA football; West Virginia at Texas (FOX): 5.6 million viewers NCAA football; Nebraska at Ohio State (ABC): 5.2 million viewers NCAA football; Georgia at South Carolina (ESPN): 4.0 million viewers NCAA football; Notre Dame vs. Miami [game in Chicago] (NBC): 3.7 million viewers Abducted: The Carlina White Story (Lifetime): 4.0 million viewers MLS soccer; Real Salt Lake at LA Galaxy (NBCSN): 82,000 viewers Face Off, en espanol (Telemundo): 827,000 viewers

Sunday, Oct. 7: Sunday Night Football; San Diego Chargers at New Orleans Saints (NBC): 18.3 million viewers [Note: Tuesday's episode of NCIS drew 18.9 million viewers, the first time this season that SNF was not the most watched program on television.] NASCAR Sprint Cup Series at Talladega (ESPN): 5.1 million viewers Steel Magnolias (Lifetime): 6.5 million viewers [Note: This is the 2012 made-for-TV remake with an all-black cast.] ALDS Game 1; New York Yankees at Baltimore Orioles (TBS): 3.9 million viewers MLS soccer; Portland Timbers at Seattle Sounders (ESPN): 290,000 viewers