By James Caldwell, Torch assistant editor

Last week's edition of TNA Impact on Thanksgiving Night featuring the #1 contender championship series averaged a 0.91 rating, which was down 18.8 percent compared to the previous week's 1.12 rating.

The 0.91 show rating was the lowest rating of 2009, beating out the recent "lowest ratings of the year" from October 15, September 10, and September 3.

Impact did air on a U.S. holiday, but the 2008 Thanksgiving edition of Impact averaged a 1.12 rating and actually increased 1.8 percent compared to the previous week's episode. Going back to 2007, the Thanksgiving episode on November 22, 2007 averaged a 0.99 rating and only decreased by 5.7 percent compared to the previous week's episode.

This year's Thanksgiving Impact averaged a 0.86 first hour rating, but that was boosted by a 1.00 quarter-hour rating for the final 15 minutes of the first hour. It was the only quarter-hour of the show to break the 1.00-ratings barrier.

The second hour averaged a 0.96 rating with the quarter-hour ratings steadily declining with each passing 15 minutes despite TNA booking a show-long tournament that built toward the semi-finals and finals in the final hour of the show.

Caldwell's Analysis: At least the ratings were stronger in the second hour than in the first hour, which was a disaster outside of the 1.00 quarter-hour rating in the fourth quarter-hour. However, more people tuned out as the second hour went on, which is not what you want with a tournament designed to determine a winner in the final hour of the show. It shows TNA didn't interest enough people to stick around for the end of the tournament or the characters in the final rounds of the tournament weren't strong enough hooks to keep people tuned in for the climax.

-- FOLLOW-UP STORY: Inside the quarter-hour ratings, including what drew the 1.00 quarter-hour

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