"Raymond" soars to record Monday
    "Everybody Loves Raymond" started it's tenure of tv's number one sitcom in record fashion- it leaped to a 22.1/37 on Monday, adding 100,000 viewers onto it's previous record ser during premiere week. That will likely put it in a tie with "Friends" in the season to date ratings. That show will, without a doubt, fall down the ratings list this week with the onslaught of "Survivor II," which premiered on Sunday to 44 million viewers.
    "Raymond"s performance brought soaring ratings to CBS in it's other slots too. "King of Queens"
(15.9/28) set a record at 8pm, followed by a strong "Yes, Dear," (14.3/25) at 8:30. "Becker" rounded out the sitcom block with a high 18.7/31. The only stumbling block? "Family Law" at 10pm, which could only muster a 11.7/24, losing almost 38 percent of it's lead-in.
    CBS's gain didn't necessarily mean loses for the other net's though. "7th Heaven" ended January off right with a 9.4/16, beating "Mysterious Ways" (8.6/15) & a repeat "Boston Pulic" (8.6/15).
But the WB's seems to have the same 9pm problem that CBS has at 10pm. "Roswell" lost 51% of it's lead-in to fall to a 4.5/8. With both nets having a relatively good season, those shows aren't looking good to make it into the next. (January 30)

Will CBS be #1?
    With "Survivor II" boosting the net's lowest rated night, only one question remains, will it be enough to make CBS the number one network? The net is currently tied with NBC for second with 12.3 million viewers, almost a million behind ABC (13.1). But without Thursday night, CBS's average jumps to 13.0 million, and NBC's falls to 10.8 million.
    If one estimates that CBS's Thursday block of "Survivor," "CSI" & "48 Hours" will average 17.0 million viewers and NBC's Thursday average will fall from 20.6 to about 17.9, the season averages will stand at 13.4 million for CBS and 12.0 million for NBC. That will leave CBS in first.
    Finally, here's our estimates for the first Thursday night match-up. "Survivor" 26.0 million, "Friends" 16.1. Only 3 days to go... (January 30)

"Survivor" takes off
    The premiere of "Survivor II" took off Sunday night, reaching a huge 46.0/60. Granted, it's lead-in was the Super Bowl (75.7/79; Post Game-56.8/74), but that's almost tripled what the series debuted to last June. The series moves to Thursdays this week, where "Friends" will likely be slaughtered. One can only hope....
    The other nets pretty much laid down and died on Sunday night, and the ratings showed it. NBC aired two movies, the first "Good Burger" fel to a disgusting 3.0/3, while the second doubled that at a 6.0/6. The WB saw season lows with "The PJs" (1.6/2) & "Hype (1.7/2), while Fox couldn't do much better. "Futurama" kicked off the night to an anemic 3.9/4. It peaked with "Malcolm In The Middle" at a 7.3/8.
    The only net with relative success on the tought night was ABC. Thanks to it's family-friendly
line-up of "Babe" (6.8/7), "Millionaire" (12.4/12) & "The Practice" (11.2/15), the net managed to avoid total collapse. (January 29)

Debb's gone
    And the first person voted off the outback was... Debb. Can't say we didn't see it coming. She was grating through the entire episode, a Susan Hawk without the brains. Only one question remains: who will be the first bitter cast-off? If it were me, I'd run across the bridge, then set it on fire. Or I'd push host Jeff Probst over the edge of the waterfalls. Oh, the inhumanity.

Repeat CSI, Millionaire rule Friday
    Moving "CSI" to right after "Survivor II" on Thursday is starting to look like a better and better idea: the series recorded is third stright episode over 15.0 million viewers, despite all three being a repeat. The show drew a 15.1/35 on Friday, above it's seaosn average of 14.9 million viewers. If the series draws this high for repeats on a Friday, one can only imagine what it will draw with new episodes after "Survivor"
    The only other winner on the weak Friday was ABC's "Millionaire" (17.7/27), which crushed it's repeat comeptition of "The Fugitive" (8.8/18), "Providence" (7.8/16) & "Wildest Police Videos"
(7.0/15). The momentum was competely lost at 9pm, however, where "Two Guys & A Girl"
& "Norm" dived to a 7.2/17 & 5.8/13, repsectively. Those shows will not likely make it into sweeps. With "Millionaire" providing a very strong lead-in and the top-rated "CSI" departing, a likely candidates for the Friday at 9pm slot are "Dharma & Greg" or "The Geena Davis Show, both of which are having trouble on Tuesdays.
    The 10pm title was "Law & Order: SVU"s once again. That series drew some of it's highest ratings so far this season at a 14.6/27. (January 27)

Good-bye "3rd Rock?"
    Variety.com reported on Friday that "3rd Rock" could very well be history. Case in point: the last episode the cast filmed they treated as they finale. Producers Carey-Werner haven't recieved word from NBC that there will be a contract renewal, and the hard facts point against one. The series is currently averaging 8.2 million viewers in it's Tuesday 8pm timeslot, falling into a deep 4th. It has also declined in viewers during each of it's six seasons.
    In the final episode, the four aliens left earth just as they arrived- in a convertable. John Lithgow told the audience that they could "be very well experiencing history."
    Farewell.

Show notes- Super "Will & Grace"
    Because NBC thinks "super-sizing" episodes of "Friends" was such a good idea, it's going to do the same for "Will & Grace" & "Just Shoot Me." The desparate ratings bid will take place on February 22nd. "Friends" will air until 8:40. "Will & Grace" until 9:20, then "Just Shoot Me" taking up the remainder.
    Meanwhile, the "Friends" vs. "Survivor" battle in Canada won't be. That's because the same network airs both programs, Global. Instead, the net will air "Friends" at 7:20pm, then "Survivor"
in it's normal 8pm slot. And the competition? They're crying. (January 27)

Weekly race tight after Wednesday
    Never this season has the weekly ratings race been so tight, and never with Fox as the unlikely spolier. After Wednesday's strong numbers, NBC leads the pack with 12.4 million viewers followed by ABC & Fox with 12.3 million apiece. CBS lags the rest with a season worst (excluding Christmas) 9.9 million.
    Wednesday nigth brought good numbers for each of the top 3 nets. NBC grabbed some of it's highest numbers yet for "Ed" (12.4/22), which came in second in it's slot to "Millionaire" (19.6/35).
Fox was also in the hunt, thanks to new hit "Grounded For Life" (11.1/20). "The West Wing" and "Temptation Island" met head to head at 9pm, but "Wing" came out the victor 18.1/29 to 16.8/27.
ABC was a non-factor with "The Drew Carey Show" (13.4/22) & "Spin City" (10.6/17). The 10pm crown belong to "Law & Order" (18.7/35) by a huge margin over "Once & Again" (8.7/17).
    But CBS, who flamed out on Wednesday with "Bette" (6.5/11), will surely win the week. Sunday night it airs the Super Bowl, and more importantly, this season's most anticipated premiere- "Survivor II" (January 25)

ABC takes a weak Tuesday
    If January is supposed to be the highest rated month of the year, last Tuesday certainly was no indication: ABC managed a small win despite combined ratings that fell to 52.2 million viewers- the lowest of the season outside of the Christmas holidays.
    The evening started out with a small win for "The Mole" (12.6/24) over CBS's "JAG" (11.8/23) & Fox's "That 70s Show" (10.9/21), both of which were in repeats. Over on the WB, "Buffy The Vampire Slayer" (5.5 mil) took advantage of the weak competition, drawing it's highest net share of the season at 11. The 9pm hour didn't get much better for the nets, either. "Frasier" (13.9/27) was the highest rated show by far, crushing ABC's fading "Dharma & Greg" (10.9/21) & 'The Geena Davis Show" (9.8/19). That sho was also stomped on by "Three Sisters" (12.8/25), which is looking like the mid-seasons only for sure hit.
    But ABC managed to take back the crown at 10pm with a new "NYPD Blue." That show celebrated a huge victory of CBS's "Judging Amy" (15.2/28 to 9.7/18), which won the slot last week. (January 24)

Show notes: more "Sisters"
    Despite critical pans everywhere, NBC had ordered more of "Three Sisters."  The series is averaging 15.2 million viewers of three episodes, keep a health 89% of "Frasier"s audience. The current order will take the show through to the end of the season.
    On the flip side, CBS has officially benched "Welcome To New York." The sitcom will be replaced by repeats of "King of Queens" until the eye can come up with something better to air.
The series has not been cancelled, however. But averaging only 7.3 million viewers, that step isn't far behind. (January 24)

Fox wins again on Monday
    Fox's David Kelly duo of "Boston Public" & "Ally McBeal" are looking unstoppable- at least when the competition are in repeats. New hit "Boston" drew a 13.6/24 at 8pm on Monday, it's third highest tally of the season. It beat out repeat competition "King of Queens" (12.4/22) & NBC's
flunking "Mysterious Ways" (7.7/14) by a wide margin, also raking in a huge victory in 18-49's.
The winning continued at 9pm where "Ally McBeal" (13.7/25) benefited from Robert Downey Jr.s Golden Globe win. It was second in the slot only to CBS's red-hot "Everybody Loves Raymond"
(15.5/28), which was a repeat. Combined, the two series gave Fox is highest Monday night numbers in two years.
    Not to be outdone, other nets had some luck on the night, WB scored nice numbers for it's first non-repeat "7th Heaven" (7.2/13) in over a month, while ABC kept afloat with the premiere of "Hope Floats" (11.6/21). At 10pm, three dramas duked it out, with "Third Watch" (12.6/29) coming out the big winner, followed by ABC's rising "Gideon's Crossing" (8.5/20) & CBS's flailing "Family Law" (8.2/19). (January 23)

ABC's Friday paradox
    ABC is going through a renaissance on Friday nights this Janurary- at 8 & 10pm. "Who Wants To Be A Millionaire?" climbed again in it's third outing on it's new night, reaching a 18.8/41. In comparison, the edition averaged 20.2 million viewers in it's previous Tuesday slot, but it's has increase on it's Friday slot by an amazing 161%. All that is lost at 9pm though, where "Two Guys & A Girl" & "Norm" take over. The comedies drew an 8.0/18 and a 6.3/14, respectively, losing more than half of their huge lead-in. The numbers for "Norm" are particularly dismal: "Madigan Men" averaged 6.7 million viewers in that slot last fall. Some of that decline can be attributed to the rise of CBS's "CSI," which drew a 16.0/36, even though it was a repeat episode.
    Those numbers are picking up at 10pm though, as "20/20" is growing once again. The newsmag drew a 12.1/23 on Friday, coming in second to "Law & Order: SVU" (13.5/25). (January 20)

Wednesday high for "Once & Again"
    Moving the struggling critical darling "Once & Again" to Wednesdays may not have been such a bad move on the part of ABC after all: in it's second airing, it scored it's highest numbers of the season (10.0/17), beating out CBS's movie "Breakdown" (9.3/16). Both were crushed by "Law & Order" (19.3/33), however, something to be expected.
    There were few other highlights on the weak Wednesday night. "Welcome To New York" fell to a brand new low, reaching a paltry 5.1/9, losing a bit off a weak "Bette" (6.7/12). "Temptation
Island" (16.0/26) failed to grow over last week's surprize performance, but it did manage to
beat out a repeat "West Wing" (15.8/26). (January 18)

ABC Tuesday sinks
    ABC's Tuesday fortunes became a little more grim last night, as all of it's series sunk to lows
in viewership. "The Mole" (11.6/21) started the night off on a bad note, losing two million viewers
from it's premiere. It got hammered by a surging "JAG" (15.6/29), which is benefitting greatly from the loss of "Millionaire." It also lost younger viewers to "That 70s Show" (12.6/23), which saw it's highest numbers since it's first season in the post "Simpsons" slot. NBC even managed to siphon off viewers, thanks to the comfortable mix of "3rd Rock" (8.6/16) & "DAG" (9.1/17)
    At 9pm, it didn't get much better as "Dharma & Greg" (11.6/20) sunk to it's lowest numbers since "Frasier"s second week in it's new Tuesday slot. While the series actually grew on it's lead-in for the first time in a year, (11.62mil vs 11.60), it got hammered by the unbeatable "Frasier" (18.0/32), and lost young viewers to "Dark Angel" (10.8/19). That series also hit "The Geena Davis Show" (9.0/16), which also lost out to potential hit "Three Sisters" (16.1/28), hard.
    "NYPD Blue" (14.0/23) couldn't reverse the trend at 10pm, dropping to it's lowest numbers ever for a new January episode. It got spanked by "Judging Amy" (15.5/26), which appears to have taken "Blue"s flame. (January 17)
 
A new slot for "Welcome?"
    Just when all things appeared hopeless for the rookie "Welcome To New York," along comes a golden oppertunity to shine- and it did. CBS tried it out in the post "King of Queens" slot on Monday, where it drew a 13.3/23, holding most of its repeat lead-in (13.7/24). Last week the series to dropped to it's worst yet 6.2 million viewers in its Wednesday slot, but could Monday be it's savior? Regular slot holder "Yes, Dear" has a very strong start to the season, but dipped off in recent weeks. CBS appears to be high on "Welcome:" it hasn't been yanked despite record low numbers.
    Even though "Welcome" surged, it wasn't enough to win the 8pm hour as Fox's equally surging "Boston Public" (14.0/24) took that honour. The series also set a record in viewers, beating it's series premiere by 200 000. Another good performance in the hour was had on the UPN, where "The Parkers" (4.8/8) hit it's best numbers since it's early September premiere when it reached 6 million eyes.
    The predicitons on ABC's drama shuffle were wrong. It was "Gideon's Crossing," not "Once & Again" that suffered from it's timeslot move. While "O&A" grew in it's new Wednesday slot, "Gideons" sunk to a 7.3/15 Monday at 10pm, crushed by NBC's "Third Watch" (13.0/27).
(January 16)

WB grows on Friday, Freaky doesn't
    The WB was in need of a non-"Sabrina" show to shore up it's Friday at 8:30 timeslot- and it's looks like it finally got one. "Popstars" premiered to a 4.9/9 on Friday, building on a strong "Sabrina"
(4.5/8) & helping lead-out "Popular" (3.7/8) toit's best numbers of the season. All three series appear to be a good fit- they're all aimed at young females. While those numbers couldn't lift WB past 5th (4.2 million viewers) on the night, it did put it well over UPN (1.7 mil).
    On the big-boys, a different winner every hour was the case once again. "Millionaire" (15.5/30)
stagnated from last Friday, while both "Providence" (13.5/26) & "The Fugitive" (7.3/14) stayed in place. At 9pm, soon to be Thursday nighter "CSI" (15.2/34) won a big victory over "Dateline" (11.8/26) and ABC weaklings "Two Guys" (8.9/20) & "Norm" (7.5/17). On Fox, "Freakylinks" (4.9/11) saw growth over last week, but that probably won't be enough to keep it on the air much longer.
    The 10pm race was all "Law & Order: SVU," as that series pulled a 14.1/25 vs. "Nash Bridges" & "20/20"s 12.0/21 each. (January 13)
 
"Whose Line" builds on Thursday
    "Whose Line Is It Anyway?" once again built on it's Thursday numbers, averaging a 12.9/22 for it's 8:30 airing. Despite it being a repeat, the performance put it only 20 percent behind NBC's underperforming "The Weber Show," which drew a shoddy 16.1/27. That was well behind "Friends" (22.8/38), which appears to be building steam despite the prospect of "Survivor II" premiering opposite it next month. Alos shining in the 8pm hour was "Diagnosis Murder," (11.1/19), which drew it's highest ratings of the season. Over three airings, the series is averaging 10.6 million viewers in the early slot, well above the 8.3 million is averaged in the late 10pm hour.
    "Will & Grace" (19.9/31) was the star performer at 9pm, beating "Who Wants To Be a Millionaire?" (18.1/28) by a comfortable margin, leaving lead-out "Just Shoot Me" (18.1/28) to tie to strong quizzer. Over on the UPN, "Gary & Mike" may have had a strong lead-in with "WWF Smackdown!" (7.8/13), but that couldn't lift it over a 5.4/8, behind the WB's "Charmed" (5.7/9).
(January 12)

Practice 'till 2004; No Dharma?
    Despite sagging critical reviews, ABC announced Friday that it will pick up "The Practice" through
the 2003-2004 season. When it's current contract for $1.5 million an episode runs out, that will bumped up to 5 to 7 million dollars, one of the top rates on television. It's currently averaging 17.7 million viewers, and on some week has topped it's "Millionaire" lead-in. It's the only ABC to have accomplished that feat.
    Meanwhile, "Dharma & Greg" could be in dire straights before long if ABC & 20th Century Fox can't come up with an agreeement. The 4th year series is at the end of it's contract this season, and 20th wants the licensing fee bumped to 4 million an epsiode. ABC is offering $1.5 million. "Dharma" had grown in each of it's season until the current one, when it ran into "Frasier" on NBC. It's currently averaging 13.3 million viewers, off 10 percent from last season.
    In
"Temptation" irresistable
    Fox's new reality show "Temptation Island" turned out to be irresistable to viewers: it's premiere
brought in a season high 16.0/25. coming a close second in the slot to "The West Wing" (18.2/21) on NBC. It's strong premiere hurt a few, particularly ABC. "The Drew Carey Show" (13.6/21) had trouble holding "Millionaire"s (20.8/35) audience, while "Spin City" (11.5/18) fell to it's second lowest set of numbers of it's first-run season. "Jack & Jill" was equally hurt on the WB, coming back to a paltry 3.1/5, a million viewers less than "Felicity" averaged in that slot last fall.
    But there were other winners on the night. Fox's new sitcom "Grounded For Life" debuted to a big 12.7/21, builing on the audience of "That 70s Show" (11.7/20). All totaled, Fox had it's best Wednesday night performance in years, averaging 14.1 million viewers, behind NBC (16.7 mil),
but ahead of ABC (14.0) & CBS (10.5 mil). The other big winner of the night was "Law & Order"
(20.4/33), which had it's best Wednesday performance ever.
   The night also held it's far share of losers. "Welcome To New York" suffered what will like be it's last blow, averaging a 6.2/11, just floating above "Dawsons Creek" (4.7/8) and losing a big chunk of a measly "Bette" aud (8.2/14). 10pm yielded another loser, ABC's just moved "Once & Again." The show couldn't improve on it's Tuesday performance, staying at a low 8.7/14.
    So far, the week has been up for grabs. ABC (14.9 mil) has a nice lead, with CBS (13.2 mil) in second. NBC & Fox (12.4) are tied for second. In what's shaping up to be the higest rated week of the season, an incredible 12 series have already drawn at least 15 million viewers. (January 11)

Whole new Tuesday ballgame
    It was a whole new ball game on Tuesday night, as front-runner ABC fell to third, much thanks to a weak premiere for "The Mole." The series conjured up a 14.0/25 in the 8pm slot, settling for second behind a surging "JAG" (15.5/27). Without "Millionaire," that series saw it's highest numbers of the season. The weak new realty show drug down the rest of the night for ABC, pulling "Dharma & Greg" to a 12.0/22 & "The Geena Davis Show" to a 9.1/16. The real disappointment lay at 10pm for ABC, however. "NYPD Blue" (13.0/23) fell to it's lowest premiere numbers ever, off a third from last seasons premiere.
    But what one net loses, the others gain. NBC saw both "Frasier" (17.0/31) & the premiere of "Three Sisters" (16.0/29) do well, while "Judging Amy" (13.4/23) topped it's competition at 10pm.
Even the UPN saw a rise with the movie "Code Red" (3.7/7). With the weak Tuesday numbers, will there a quick move of "Millionaire" back to Tuesday nights? It's yet another wait and see.... (January 10)
 
"Mysterious" vanishes
    The big story of Monday night wasn't the ho-hum performance of "The American Music Awards" (16.2/27), but the vanishing audience of the once-hit "Mysterious Ways." The show dropped to a 7.3/12 at 7pm, coming in a deep fourth in the slot. Last week the series premiered to a mediocre 10.1 million viewers, one million more than it averaged during it's summer run. The last episode of "Deadline," which was occupied the 9pm slot and was cancelled in November, drew 7.1 million viewers, just slightly behind "Mysterious." Could banishment to PAX be near?
    Elsewhere on Monday, "Boston Common" (13.6/23) got a big boost, beating it's "Ally McBeal"
(12.4/21) lead-out for only the second time. The last show to accomplish that feat was "Melrose Place" 4 seasons ago. "King of Queens" (15.5/26) also had a nice showing, bouying "Everybody Loves Raymond" (20.2/34) to average numbers despite it's awards competition. The loser? As usual, CBS's 10pm dud "Family Law." The show sunk to a 12.4/22, losing 28 percent of "Becker"s (17.0/28) audience despite airing opposite a repeat "Third Watch" (8.3/15). You'd think that with the second coming of "Survivor," CBS would try to get rid of it's garbage, not keep it on life support.
(January 9)

"CSI" LUCKY
    If you haven't heard by now, maybe it's time you did: "CSI" has been picked by CBS as the show to proceed "Survivor II" on Thursdays this spring. So what does this really mean for the show? Maybe not as much as you'd think. The show is already a hit, averaging 14.7 million viewers in its Friday slot this season. "Survivor" is likely to draw 25 million viewers plus, but "CSI" would be on against "Millionaire" & "Will & Grace," so it's possible that it won't pick up at all. Whatever the outcome, it will certainly represent a marked improvement over CBS's Thursday at 9pm performance last fall.
    Moving into the 9pm Friday slot will be "The Fugitive," which has been hovering near death at 8pm so far. This move will certainly bring it some of "CSI"s audience, and some of "Millionaire"s from ABC. The 8pm slot will be taken up by "Diagnosis Murder," which gives up its slot to "Survivor." That could be a mixed result: the audiences that watch "Murder" will likely be home on Friday nights, but they will like be watching "Millionaire" on ABC. It's a toss up. (January 9)

"Passions" hits record
    It was a very happy New Year's for the cast of NBC's soap "Passions:" the series hit a record high in viewers during the week ending December 29th.  In households, the show hit a 2.9, up from the previous weeks at 2.6, 2.4 and 2.1. The previous series high was set in July and matched last week at a 2.6.
    The holiday boom is a testament to the young viewership of this series: it consistantly drew an average of 2.5 during the summer, but fell to near 2.0 for the fall. Now it's back up when most teens are out of school.
    The holidays weren't so kind to the soaps on ABC. Despite it's Bianca/lesbian storyline, the show couldn't get past 7th, and "One Life To Live" sunk to 8th for the first time ever. CBS had the most luck, with perennial loser "Guiding Light" (4.0) leapfrogging to 6th, posting it's best numbers in two years. (January 9)

"The Simpsons" takes Sunday
    "The Simpsons," boosted by a huge football lead-in at 7:30, ran up it's highest viewer total (18.2/28) of the season on Sunday night, nearly equaling its tally (19.1 million) from last season this week. That was boosted by the premiere of "Malcolm In The Middle," which drew 22.5 million viewers then, but settled for a more realistic 16.2/25 this year. "King of The Hill" also got a nice boost on Fox, drawing it's highest numbers of the season (14.3/23) at 7:30.
    "The People's Choice Awards" (15.3/22) were popular, but certainly not the choice of the people as it ranked second to ABC at both 9pm & 10pm. "Millionaire" (19.5/28) brought in nice numbers at 9, while "The Practice" (19.2/29) capped off the night of a high note. The awards did beat out Fox & NBC, however. "The X-Files" (14.0/20) got caught in the middle off the big shows, losing viewers despite a strong lead-in, while NBC's movie "On Deadly Ground" was on just that, falling to a 9.3/13.
    The night's only other winner was "The PJ's" (2.7/4) on the WB. It bested it's "Jamie Foxx" (2.6/4) lead-in for the first time. That series comes to an end next Sunday. (January 8)

Ratings look-ahead w/e Jan 14
    This upcoming ratings week will be a very interesting one for one sole reason- the premiere of
"The Mole" on Tuesday. ABC is banking on this series to be it's first new hit since "Millionaire."
The producers of "Dharma & Greg" are banking in this series to keep it's fat out of the ratings fire.
But will it work?
    In the new age of network tv, you never know. Sure-fire hit "Bette" was a big flop, while under-the-radar "CSI" is in the top 25. Reality is equally as undeterminable. "Survivior" was huge, but "Big Brother" was not. Whatever the outcome on Thursday, the hyped "Mole" will determine if "Survivor" is the "Millionaire" of reality: a one of a kind.
    The race on Thursday will be overwealmingly NBC, but "Diagnosis Murder" is an interesting 8pm sidenote. The series failed at 10pm, but has rebounded in it's new 8pm timeslot. Will it continue to grow as people realize where it is? Will it do so well that CBS will movie "Survivor II" to Wednesday? Wait and see. (January 7)

Saturday goes to CBS
    CBS won as usual on Saturday night, beating out strenghtened competition on almost all the nets.
The nets was tops thanks to "The District" (14.0/30), which drew it's highest numbers in 6 weeks.
It also got some support in the 8pm hour where "That's Life" (8.3/19) gave it's best perfomance since premiere week.
    "The Rock" was a rock for ABC, helping that network to a 9.6/21, beating out NBC's "The Devil's Own" (8.0/18) by a large margin. (January 7)

Millionaire boosts ABC Friday
    ABC Friday, which has been in dire straights for most of this season, got a big boost from the transplant "Who Wants To Be A Millionaire?" which moved from it's over Tuesday home. The show wasn't a big as it usually is on Tuesdays, but it did draw a 16.8/32, more than double what "Two Guys & A Girl" drew at 8pm, and triple what the 8:30 offering has drawn so far this season.
That gave ABC a big win in the hour over "Providence" (13.4/26) & "Wildest Police Videos" (9.3/18), and all but euthanized "The Fugitive" (7.2/14). That show couldn't even double up on "Sabrina," which drew it's second highest 8pm ratings of the season with a 4.2/8.
    But 8pm's gain was 9pm's loss, as "Two Guys & A Girl" fell to an 8.8/20. That represented the shows highest ratings of the season, but it dropped a dreary 47% of "Millionaire"s audience. At 9:30, "Norm" fell into it's new timeslot on an even worse note, dropping to a 7.4/16. That was way behind "CSI" (14.6/33) & "Dateline NBC" (13.2/30), but considerably ahead of Fox's own horror story, "Freakylinks" (4.2/9). That series returned to the Friday line-up with it's second worst raitngs yet.
    The 10pm crown went to "Law & Order: SVU" (13.7/26), but the real winner was "20/20." Thanks to better timeslot support, the newsmag climbed to a 11.7/22, it's highest numbers in 12 weeks. (January 7).

"Murder" second at 8pm
    Week 2 of the return of "Diagnosis Murder" to it's 8pm timeslot brought even better results than expected: the series climed to second in it's timeslot, drawing an 11.3/20, a million viewers more than it drew last week. And it's 9pm airing packed nearly as much punch: the episode drew a 9.3/15. While those numbers may not sound spectacular, they're downright spectacular considering what the eye did in the fall season. The 8pm "Murder" is up 13 percent over "48 Hours," while the 9pm installment is up an astounding 26% over "City of Angels." While demo numbers for this show are among the lowest on tv, these ratings are almost enough for CBS to reconsider it's "Survivor II" scheduling at 8pm.
    On the other nets, NBC took the cake on Thursday, led by new episodes of all it's series. "Friends" took a 23.5/41 at 8pm, "Will & Grace" a 20.4/32 and "ER" a 29.0/40. That was more than enough, as the peacock to won the night over ABC 22.6 million viewers to 13.1. (January 5)

"Weber" put on hold, more "King"
    In a move that was widely expected, Variety is reporting today that NBC will shelve "The Weber Show" during February sweeps in the face of "Survivor" competition. The net is expected to replace the series with repeats of it's top series' like "Friends" or "Frasier." The show drew 16.2 million viewers last week, losing a third of "Friends" audience.
    Conversely, Fox has announced it's ordering more "King of The Hill" & "Futurama. "King" will be picked up for next season, through the end of it's sixth. Meanwhile "Futurama" has had an additional 18 episodes ordered. That will bring it's total 72. (January 5)

Alphabet doubles CBS & NBC
    In the first time this has happened since last year's Super  Bowl, ABC has virtually doubled the weekly raintgs of competitors CBS & NBC thanks to college football game. The highest rated yet came on Wednesday, with the "Orange Bowl" (24.8/38), lifting the net to a 20.9 million viewer average on the week so far. That will surely drop as the week progresses, but it almost guarantees the net a weekly win. And that average is nearly double CBS's and NBC's (10.7 million a piece).
    But those nets were no slouches on Wednesday, particularly CBS. "Bette" saw it's highest ratings in a month and a half, lifting itself to a 10.0/15. The Bette fest continued at 9pm, where the movie "First Wives Club" aired. That movie brought in a 10.5/15 over it's two hour span.
    Fox did well on the night too, drawing a 12.4/20 for the millionth rerun of "Mrs. Doubtfire." Those are Fox's highest Wednesday ratings on Wednesday by far this season, and could set the net up to break the 10 million viewers mark on the week. It last did that in November. (January 4)

"Whose Line," "Millionaire" drive ABC
    ABC won an akward week in grand fashion, racking up a 25% advantage over it's closest competitor with an 11.7 million viewer average. The week wasn't so kind to other other net who saw ratings dive, thanks to the week beginning on Christmas and ending on New Year's Eve, traditionally
very low-rated nights.
    Multi-editions of both "Whose Line Is It Anyway?" & "Who Wants To Be A Millionaire?" drove the aplabet, even though both were in repeats. The Tuesday edition of the gammer led the pack (1), followed by Wednesday (2), Thursday (5), & Sunday (10). "Whose Line?" didn't have that much
luck, but did record near season-high ratings in it's Tuesday (27) & Friday (59) slots. Other star performers for the net included "Monday Night Football" (4), "Dharma & Greg" (7),"The Drew Carey Show" (12), and the Saturday Night Movie "Jack" (15).
    CBS stayed in second with a weak average of 9.4 million viewers, led by "Everybody Loves Raymond (13). "60 Minutes" followed that in 14th. NBC almost fell to fourth, but pulled up an anemic win over Fox (8.9 million vs 8.6). That net had "Friends" (3) out in front, but fell on the back of Saturday coverge of the NBC (84). (January 4)

ABC bowls over "Ways," "Bette"
    ABC had no problem "bowl"ing over it's Monday competition, including a fotirfied line-up on NBC. The cream of the crop for the alphabet came at 8pm, where an over-run of the Rose Bowl scored a 20.4/36. That dwarfed competiton from "King of Queens" (12.8/23) & the summer-hit "Mysterious Ways" (10.1/18), which made it's season premiere in the slot.
    The Fiesta Bowl took over at 8:30, but the result was much the same: alphabet victories galore.
The bowl took a 17.0/31 from 8:30 to 11, winning over "Everybody Loves Raymond" (14.7/27) & "Dateline NBC" (10.8/20). But the kicker came at 9:30, where a special episode of "Bette" aired. The series drew only a 9.7/18, holding only two thirds of it's generous lead-in. That will be yet another nail in the coffin of the Divine Ms. M. The final spike should be driven on Wednesday.
(January 2)
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