Well it looks like Eric Boehlert was right about the XFL. The first week, its NBC Saturday night broadcasts notched a 10.3 rating (it started higher but declined throughout the evening). The second week, they were down to 5.1 which, at least, was still above the 4.5 guaranteed to advertisers. But the overnights for Week Three came in at 3.8 and are expected to drop to around a 3.5 when the final, national ratings are tallied — disaster by any measure.
Meanwhile, the games themselves are becoming something of a laughingstock. Best line I've heard so far was uttered by Bob Costas on NBC's own Late Night with Conan O'Brien. It was something to the effect of, "I recall musing years ago that what TV needed was to take really mediocre high school football and combine it with the atmosphere of a tawdry strip club." With so many in the biz eager to see both Vince McMahon and NBC exec Dick Ebersol cut down a few notches, it's all probably heading for the record books as a big, costly fumble.
Today's New York Times has a good article about Dan DeCarlo and his dispute with Archie Comics. Here's the link but (a) you have to register to access the Times website, which you oughta do, anyway and (b) this will probably expire soon. Needless to say, I am solidly in Dan's corner on this one.