Virtual Yule Log burns up TV ratings in NYC

The "Yule Log Christmas Special"– a Christmas morning broadcast on an NYC TV station–kicked Ebenezer Scrooge's butt in viewer ratings stats. The show is a two-hour, nonstop shot of a burning log in a fireplace. The TV tradition began in 1966 as sort of a media stand-in for real fireplaces, something many viewers in New York City don't have.

Wednesday's showing, from 9 a.m. to 11 a.m., boasted 284,012 viewing households, a 26 percent boost in viewership compared with last year, WPIX Channel 11 said. It smoked the 1 p.m. airing of the 1951 classic film version of Charles Dickens' "A Christmas Carol," starring Alistair Sim as Ebenezer Scrooge, by 29,000 households. For its triumphant return, the Yule Log tape was digitally remastered, but the soundtrack, including "Joy to the World" and "Winter Wonderland," was left unchanged.

See the Yule Log here. Discuss