What’s More Interesting Than An Astros Game?
This article about how no one’s been watching the Yankees this season offers this fun factoid:
On Sept. 22, a Sunday afternoon Astros-Indians game on Comcast SportsNet Houston attracted no viewers, at least according to the way Nielsen measures such things.
Of course, this just means that of the 581 Nielsen families that were surveyed, none were tuning into the Astros. What else were they watching during the game? The crack NotGraphs research squad has been unable to find complete Nielsen listings for the Houston area, but I’ve conjured up my own list:
560 families: The Houston Texans football game
10 families: Here Comes Honey Boo Boo
2 families: The episode of The Golden Girls where the ladies buy tickets to an Astros game but ultimately decide not to go because the Astros are so terrible
2 families: The Real Housewives of Dallas
2 families: The Real Housewives of Austin
1 family: The Real Housewives of Corpus Christi
1 family: Sesame Street, with Chris Carter counting strikeouts for an hour, and still not counting all of them.
1 family: Lucas Harrell and Kate Hudson, starring in “How To Lose A Game in 10 Minutes.”
1 family: The Static Channel
1 family: Would have been credited with watching the Astros game, because it was on their TV, but it turned out they were all dead.
Jeremy Blachman is the author of Anonymous Lawyer, a satirical novel that should make people who didn't go to law school feel good about their life choices. Read more at McSweeney's or elsewhere. He likes e-mail.
It is my understanding (correct me, readers?) that many/most Houston area residents do not even get the network on which Astros games are aired, so many/most Houston residents cannot even watch the games if they want to.