Did NBC's pitch play hit promo paydirt?

Yesterday I poasted a rant about the lack of commercials for FRIDAY NIGHT LIGHTS on NBC's Super Bowl telecast. I also questioned NBC's decision to air THE OFFICE in the plum post-Super Bowl timeslot versus LIGHTS. The ratings are in and 22 million watched THE OFFICE. That's double its highest viewership but still much lower than other post-Super Bowl TV shows like HOUSE and GREY'S ANATOMY.

Today the Hollywood Reporter took an insightful look at how successful the NBC internal ads were during the game. It's an excellent piece outside the fact that don't mention FRIDAY NIGHT LIGHTS at all.

"It was interesting because they put most of their eggs into the Monday basket," said Robert Thompson, a Syracuse University professor of popular culture. "They made the assumption the public has a short memory, or they don't have a lot of confidence in the rest of their schedule." He added, though, that "some of the NBC ads were clever and among the better ads that aired during the game."

Check out the full article here.

CHUCK did score its best ratings of the season last night with a 4.9/7 but still finished in fourth place. HEROES also finished in fourth place, while MEDIUM came in second. NBC's much-promoted Monday night lineup also finished fourth for the night in the key adults 18-49 demo.