In a world of nonstop prognostication, anticipation and second-guessing, some revolutions arrive unannounced. Among the more notable viewing trends of 2024 is the explosive growth in TV viewership for women’s basketball, both professional and collegiate.
Time was, the women’s version of March Madness was decidedly second tier, if that. This year’s women’s NCAA finals were more watched than the men’s version. To call that unprecedented is an understatement. It’s more like a ratings earthquake.
And now, some of the college players who attracted those huge audiences during the finals, including Caitlin Clark, Angel Reese and Cameron Brink, have joined the professional ranks.
As a result, ESPN audiences for its first five WNBA games of this season have more than doubled, exceeding 1 million in 2024, up from 400,000 just last year.
After “WNBA Countdown” (9 p.m., ESPN), the network will air the game between the Indiana Fever and the Los Vegas Aces (9:30 p.m.).
In a time of fractured audiences, when networks have devoted an ever-larger portion of their schedules to sporting events, this trend is bound to be felt.
So don’t be surprised that Fox’s New York City affiliate (WNYW) is broadcasting a WNBA basketball game (7 p.m.) tonight, pitting the Minnesota Lynx against New York Liberty live from the Barclays Center in Brooklyn.
That’s kind of a big deal, putting women’s sports on a level with local coverage of the Knicks and Nets, Yankees and Mets.
There was a time, not that long ago, when ridiculing WNBA and women’s basketball in general was a fixture of “morning zoo” radio shows and other media outlets where insecure guys found humor in saying rude things about women who didn’t know “their place.”
Male audiences seemed threatened and appalled by female jocks and considered them unfeminine. There was clearly a racial factor as well. So jokes about female basketball players offered such “comedians” a trifecta of bigotry, a hat trick of hate and a 3-point shot of misogyny, racism and homophobia.
Don Imus, a pioneer of morning radio who was later eclipsed by Howard Stern, spent decades trying to cultivate a tonier image by interviewing political figures and pundits. Despite that, he was so comfortable in the tropes of “guy comedy” that in 2007, his on-air description of members of the Rutgers’ women’s basketball team derailed his career, which never recovered.
Imus died in 2019, but such attitudes have endured. When Olympic gold medalist and WNBA star Brittney Griner was seized as a hostage by Russian agents at the outbreak of their war with Ukraine, certain quarters of the U.S. media seemed to go out of their way to criticize an American star and find a favorable view of Putin’s regime. For such people it was far easier to embrace a blood-stained dictator than sympathize with a Black, gay, powerful woman.
Such critics will no doubt find Fox’s broadcast of a WNBA game to be “woke.” But the numbers don’t lie. Ratings for women’s games have shown explosive growth.
— In other sports programming news, HBO introduces a new iteration of a popular franchise. “Hard Knocks: Offseason With the New York Giants” (9 p.m., TV-MA) offers a documentary look at a football organization during its downtime, from January to July. In this case, it’s also anticipating the franchise’s 100th season in 2025.
The traditional “Hard Knocks” will return on Aug. 6, following another legacy NFL franchise, the Chicago Bears.
TONIGHT’S OTHER HIGHLIGHTS
— Death in the red-light district on “FBI” (8 p.m., CBS, TV-14).
— Old grudges, fresh blood on “FBI: International” (9 p.m., CBS, TV-14).
— A kidnapper gets between drug dealers on “FBI: Most Wanted” (10 p.m., CBS, TV-14).
CULT CHOICE
Based on a story by John Steinbeck and directed by Alfred Hitchcock, the 1944 drama “Lifeboat” (8 p.m., TCM) takes place entirely on a rescue craft in the wake of a German U-boat attack. The cast includes Tallulah Bankhead and William Bendix, as well as Walter Slezak as the captain of the U-boat. Released in the depth of the war, the film received some criticism for “humanizing” the enemy officer.
SERIES NOTES
“America’s Got Talent” (8 p.m., NBC, TV-PG) … “Celebrity Wheel of Fortune” (8 p.m., ABC, TV-14) … “The Quiz With Balls” (9 p.m., Fox, r, TV-14) … “Celebrity Jeopardy!” (9 p.m. and 10 p.m., ABC, TV-14) … “Password” (10 p.m., NBC, TV-14).
LATE NIGHT
Jimmy Fallon welcomes Eddie Murphy, Matty Matheson and Diljit Dosanjh on “The Tonight Show” (11:35 p.m., NBC) … Julia Louis-Dreyfus and Theo James visit “Late Night With Seth Meyers” (12:35 a.m., NBC) … Taylor Tomlinson hosts “After Midnight” (12:37 a.m., CBS).
