• October 4, 2000

ABC's coverage of the presidential debate carried Tuesday primetime; however, Fox's two-hour debut of "Dark Angel" beat out the Al Gore-George Bush battle on CBS. ABC scored an average 13 rating, 19 share, while Fox hit a 9.8/14 and CBS a 9.2/13 in Nielsen overnight numbers. NBC's mixed carriage of Gore v. Bush and the New York Yankees v. Oakland A's in the first game of that American League divisional series pulled a 7.5/11.

"Dark Angel" rose in the ratings during its two-hours, moving from a 10.9/15 in its first half-hour at 9 p.m. to an 11.4/18 in its final half-hour. Meanwhile, ABC's ratings for the debate remained fairly constant, from a 13.4/19 to 13.1/19, while CBS's number rose slightly from a 9.3/13 to a 9.8/14. NBC's ratings peaked at an 8.1/12 at 10-10:30, up from a 7.7/11 at 9 p.m.