Ratings Torch Burned Dimly for Opening

Viewership for Friday night’s U.S. Olympic Festival opening ceremony at Dodger Stadium was hardly Olympian. According to figures released Monday by the A.C. Nielsen Co., it trailed the three independent stations.

Channel 11’s coverage from 8:15-10:30 p.m. drew a 3.1 rating locally, meaning it was seen in about 155,000 households. By comparison, “Flashdance” on Channel 13 had a 6.1 rating (306,000 households) from 8-10 p.m.; the New York Yankees’ 2-1, 10-inning victory over the Angels on Channel 5 from 7:30-10:30 p.m. drew a 3.2 (160,000 households) and newscasts on Channel 9 averaged 3.5 (175,000 households) from 8-11 p.m. Each rating point is equivalent to 50,263 households.

The opening ceremony, the only Festival event to air on broadcast television, was also behind the programming on three major network stations, getting about a quarter of the audience Channel 7 had for various situation comedy reruns and less than half of what Channel 4 drew for a rerun of “Chameleons,” a made-for-TV movie.