Don't Believe The Nielsen Ratings

Having first hand taken part...well sort of the Nielsen ratings for a week I can tell you personally how flawed the system is. They have to have other ways to determine ratings or the ratings we hear are compete and utter crap. The Contessa agreed to be a Nielsen family for the week. The pay was two new one dollar bills. They give you a diary each for every TV you own and they ask you to write down everything you watch in 15 minute increments. You had to do this for a week. I kept track for one day and even then I lied. I would write that I watched something like a football game for 3 1/2 hours when I watched 15 minutes of it and turned the channel. Now don't get me wrong I am sure many people who agree to do this are honest about it but I believe most are like ours, or me, and after a day of having to write down everything I watch (and it's more of a pain in the ass than it might seem) I would bet most do what I did and say screw it. DON'T TRUST THE RATINGS!