Pope Funeral: Where Were The Viewers?

Joann wonders via e-mail: “I kept hearing estimates that the Pope’s funeral attracted about 2 Billion people worldwide, and that it garnered the most viewers in all of TV history. If true, then the estimate of only 9 million who watched here in the U.S. is pretty paltry. It sounds like most Americans were pretty interested in watching the events of last week, but didn’t feel like getting up in the middle of the night, or early in the morning, to watch this most historic event. I am actually pretty surprised at that low turnout, as I thought people seemed so obsessed with everything related to the Pope and his death.”