Pony Excess the Highest Rated ESPN Doc of ALL Time!

[ThadFilms]

final Nielsen numbers aren't in ... But the early returns indicate Pony Excess is the highest rated ESPN documentary (premire) of all time. Cool, huh?

Right now we are officially at a 1.79 ... The U was at 1.74 the Monday following. They shot up to a 1.8 by the time everything was tallied. ESPN expects the same kind of bump for us by the time is all said and done and "all of the pricincts" are reporting.

The U premiered after last year's Heisman. And!!! Heisman viewership was down 33% from last year!!!

Again, cool, huh? Wow.

[ponyscott]

Way to go Thad!! Greatness indeed.....Gary Cogill was raving bout you today at the lunch...

[PK]

Wow indeed. Actually I'm a little surprised that so many people were actually interested in knowing about the SMU DP. The film was greatness Thad. Thanks for putting us back in the national spotlight.

[Stallion]

Hey Thad who was that wild-eyed, egg-head Professor speaking on behalf of the Faculty. Nice Touch

[ThadFilms]

Hey Thad who was that wild-eyed, egg-head Professor speaking on behalf of the Faculty. Nice Touch

Loved reading that bit about your mother in the other thread. Very cool info. Yup when we stumbled across that piece of my dad from, I think it was the NBC nightly news, we knew it just HAD to be in the film.

Plus it shows that I wasn't raised by a homer... I mean beyond it just being a very cool moment in the film.

[ThadFilms]

What the f Dallas? We score a 2.9 here and a 4.0 in my current hometown, Austin! And how in the hell is Birmingham, Alabama the ratings winner with a 9.0 share? Is Auburn, Alabama that close to Bham? Haven't seen any scores for Auburn (the town) so I am guessing that has to be it.

Dallas got smacked in ratings by the likes of (beyond those mentioned) Columbus, Ohio, Louisville, Kentucky, Knoxville, Tennessee, Oklahoma City, And New Orleans... and maybe many more.

Though I will say that a 1.8 in Hotlanta is pretty darn respectable. Couldn't believe the fact that I was on two Hotlanta radio stations this past week. That was cool.

Speaking of I am going to be on a statewide Arkansas sports radio show tomorrow at 5:30 ... Pretty cool. The touch, the feel of polyester. The fabric of our lives.

(I'm really not hung up on these numbers ... it's just fun!)

[mrydel]

Which Arkansas station you going to be on? I listen to 103.7 the Buzz while I work out and I would think that is the one since they are the top in the state and the ESPN affiliate. If you talk to them at 103 please ask if they have ever lost a game that was not due to bad officiating.

[PonyKai]

Maybe we just need to move our school to one of those cities to solve our attendance woes! So THAT'S where our walk up crowd has been hiding!

Really liked seeing your Dad's clip in there, then again, really liked seeing all of it as well.

[CalallenStang]

And how in the hell is Birmingham, Alabama the ratings winner with a 9.0 share? Is Auburn, Alabama that close to Bham?

Why yes, yes it is. Not to mention that Tuscaloosa, who wants to bury Auburn, is just down the road as well.

Thaddeus, the doc was awesome. It deserved every viewer it got and more.

[Alaric]

Great work Thad!

[PonyTime]

So SEC country showed a strong interest. hmmm.

Pretty sure any market where there was a contender for the Heasman got a bump though from those who kept watching after the ceremony.

What were the ratings in Idaho?

[Harry0569]

What the f Dallas? We score a 2.9 here and a 4.0 in my current hometown, Austin! And how in the hell is Birmingham, Alabama the ratings winner with a 9.0 share? Is Auburn, Alabama that close to Bham? Haven't seen any scores for Auburn (the town) so I am guessing that has to be it.

Dallas got smacked in ratings by the likes of (beyond those mentioned) Columbus, Ohio, Louisville, Kentucky, Knoxville, Tennessee, Oklahoma City, And New Orleans... and maybe many more.

Though I will say that a 1.8 in Hotlanta is pretty darn respectable. Couldn't believe the fact that I was on two Hotlanta radio stations this past week. That was cool.

Speaking of I am going to be on a statewide Arkansas sports radio show tomorrow at 5:30 ... Pretty cool. The touch, the feel of polyester. The fabric of our lives.

(I'm really not hung up on these numbers ... it's just fun!)

A ton of my buddies came up to me Friday and Saturday to tell me that they heard you on the radio here in ATL. In fact, 790 was talking about Pony Excess Monday morning. Congrats thad!

[BUS]

Gary C. is very immpresse4d with your work Mr. Matula. Might hook up and do a project with him. He aslo reference maybe a Part II.

[Garret]

Congratulations Thad! The great thing about the solid ratings is that your documentary was worthy of all the hype and media attention leading up to the broadcast. Your 30/30 is the only one that I've seen and I was so impressed with it.

I was a freshman at a SWC school in 85 and of course followed the whole investigation and DP closely, but I learned a lot from your doc that I've never heard about or read before.

[Mitch McConnell]

Thad, Please accept my thanks for putting together a great film. I would imagine this was a labor of love for you given your loyalty to the school.

I share that loyalty. As I've mentioned, I grew up out West and didn't know much about what was going on at SMU.

The only thing I knew was that when I was accepted by the school and then the DP hit pretty close to each other in 1987, people would come up to me and say, "So are you going to SMU on a football scholarship?"

Needless to say, I got ticked off by that.

I started showing it to my girls last night. Had to field a ton of questions like "Wow, SMU was that good?''

Thanks for everything you did.