Week 9 of the 1972-1973 season started on Monday, November 6th, 1972 and ended on Sunday, November 12th, 1972. The highest-rated program was the ABC Sunday Movie (True Grit) on ABC with a 38.9/63 Nielsen rating/share. Here are the 10 lowest-rated programs:
| ## | Program | Network | Rating |
|---|---|---|---|
| 53 | Mannix | CBS | 12.0/18 |
| 54 | Sixth Sense | ABC | 11.5/20 |
| 55 | The Man | ABC | 11.5/18 |
| 56 | ABC Election Coverage | ABC | 11.3/18 |
| 57 | Dick Van Dyke | CBS | 11.2/16 |
| 58 | “What Happened Last Night” | CBS | 10.7/19 |
| 59 | Nixon Political–Monday | NBC | 10.4/16 |
| 60 | Night Gallery | NBC | 8.4/13 |
| 61 | Amer. Independent Political–Monday | ABC | 7.3/11 |
| 62 | Nixon Political–Monday | ABC | 6.2/10 |
For the record, program titles are written exactly the way they were published in 1972.
Broadcasting‘s list for this week does not include network election night coverage. I’ve opted to use the list found in The Los Angeles Times, which does include election coverage.
Sources:
“‘True Grit’ Wins Top Nielsen Rating Spot” Los Angeles Times. 23 Nov. 1972: E38.
“Ratings in election week.” Broadcasting. 27 Nov. 1972: 44.
Until Roone Arledge became division president of ABC News in the late 1970’s, it was very common for ABC to finish a distant third among the networks in ratings for special event and breaking-news coverage that all there networks were covering.
During those years, ABC had a smaller news budget and fewer news people than it’s rivals; the only thing in the 1960’s and early 1970’s that ABC News did that was the equal of it’s rivals in effort and length of on-air coverage was space flights.
The CBS and NBC election-night broadcasts probably resided close to the top of the Nielsens that week.