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"Drew Carey" goes black
    For a series that's known for making comments on society and tv (take last season's hilarious finale "A Very Special Drew"), Wednesday night's episode took it a step further. It didn't come until the last two scenes, but it was enough to nearly blow this viewer away. In the second last scene of the annual April Fool's Episode, all of the title characters were replaced by black actors, most notably
"The Facts of Life"s Kim's Fields as Kate. But the funniest line of all came from "Gimme a Break"s Nell Carter, who played Mimi. After delivering a catch-phrase, she looked straight into the camera
and said "Is that what she says? I don't even watch this show." Words never rang so true- the top 30 show isn't even in the top 50 among black viewers.
    And the closing scene? A minister, a priest and a rabbi discussed moral aspects the episode, on a show often viewed as being one of the most crude on tv. In an age where the "moral majority" often laments the lack of morals on the small screen, it was a golden moment scene of an emmy. (March 30)

NBC Sunday movie gone
    A network staple for the last 20+ years, NBC's Sunday Night Movie has been cancelled. To those who follow ratings, the move came as no big surprize. The franchise has sharply declined from 16.6 million viewers in 1997/1998 to 14.1 to 12.1 million last season and again to 9.7 million viewers this season. But its performance in recent week has been downright deadly. Last Sunday's repeat movie "Homicide" drew just 4.4 million viewers.
    The net will likely replace the movie with 2 dramas. And what does this mean for its competitors?
Probably nothing for ABC, which has viewers locked in thanks to "Millionaire" & "The Practice," but CBS's movie could end up picking up the slack. It's down 20% so far this season, averaging 12.4 million viewers. (March 30)

"Kids," "Camp" open huge
    Wednesday night saw the premire of two new shows, and surprizingly, two new hits. ABC got the ball rolling at 8pm by airing two new episodes of "My Wife & Kids" The first installment didn't perform spectacularly, but it did draw a nice 12.6/26. It got beaten out by a new "Ed" (12.6/26) on NBC, but it did take the sophmore drama in adults, drawing a 5.8 rating in 18-49's. The real goodies for the alphabet came at 8:30 where "Kids" drew a huge 14.8/31 (6.8 rating in adults), winning the half-hour by 17%. That performance makes the show ABC's second new hit of the season, right behind "What About Joan?" which premiered to 14.9 million viewers on Tuesday. Even better for the alphabet, the show increased hugely in viewers from its first half hour to its second, up 17% in total viewers and up 16% in adults. The show also won the hour in younger viewers, winning slightly over Fox's duo of "That 70s Show" (9.4/19) & "Grounded For Life" (8.9/18). The winning back-to-back strategy was so successful that ABC will do the same thing next week, probably in an effort to build a loyal fan base for the series before its May hiatus.
    The 9pm hour brought another hit into the mix, where Fox's "Boot Camp" apparently picked up where the slightly more smutty  predicecor "Temptation Island" left off. The show won its hour in both viewers (15.8/28) & adults (7.8/19), dragging it's network into second place for the night. Equally surprizing in the hour was the weak performance of "The Drew Carey Show." Airing its annual (and very funny) April Fools episode. The episode drew a 12.0/22, the shows second worst performance of the week, especially bad considering the strong lead-in it picked up from "My Wife & Kids." "The West Wing" was second in the hour with a 13.3/24.
    A repeat "Law & Order" (15.6/33) won the 10pm hour as usually, although "Once & Again" (8.0/17) was up over last week's abyssmal performance. (March 30)

"What About Joan?" debuts big
    ABC may not have gotten it's mid-season surprize in the much hyped "The Job," but it sure did take the cake 13 days later with Joan Cusack's new sitcom "What About Joan?" The show accomplished a few feats for the network. Drawing a 15.3/28 at 9:30, it became the first ABC series in two seasons to build on its "Dharma & Greg" (13.4/24) lead-in, it became the highest rated alphabet show in the Tuesday at 9:30 slot in 3 seasons, it led the net to beat NBC on the half hour
for the first time since December and it finally provided a decent lead-in for "NYPD Blue" (15.0/28), which drew it best numbers since its third outing in January. That drove the network to an average of
15.9 million viewers on the night, its best peformance since season premiere week back in October.
    The only show that managed to get a foothold on ABC during the enitre night was NBC's sparkling "Frasier" (15.5/28), which drew some low numbers, but still beat ABC's struggling "Dharma & Greg" by over 2 million viewers. It couldn't hold that lead at 9:30, however, where "Three Sisters" (10.4/19) fell to its worst retention rate yet- just 67%. It fared even worse in adults 18-49. But there were other good performances on the night. "That 70s Show" (11.3/20) drew its highest ratings in weeks, while time-slot competitor "The Fighting Fitzgeralds" (9.2/16) did come in 4th in its slot, but still manage to become the nets 3rd highest rated original broadcast in the slot this season.
    But, one again, the real winner on the night was ABC. If "Joan" holds up, it'll be a shoe-in for fall renewal considering ABC is desperate for scripted hit comedies. As for "The Geena Davis Show?"
Thank you, Joan Cusack, for driving the nail in that coffin. (March 28)
Peacock bombs again on Monday
    In what is becoming a familiar head-line, NBC's line-up once again fell apart, this time on Monday night. The crux of the failure was the faltering 9pm drama "First Years," which dived to an average just slightly better than WB's "7th Heaven." The show drew a useless 5.2/9 at 9pm, drawing an even lower 2.3/5 in adults 18-49. Those numbers will easily add up to the worst 9pm in-season performance on the net ever, beating out the prevous low set a few weeks ago by the bomb mini-series "Lost Empire."
    That peformance dragged the enitre night into a spiral for thenet, staring with "Crocodile Hunter"
(8.4/15) at 8pm and ending with "Third Watch" (8.0/15) at 10pm. All totalled, the net averaged a piddly 7.8 million viewers on the night. But, tellingly enough, that was enough to bring its average from the last three days up to an amazing 5.6 million viewers. Way to go, NBC! Oh, by the way, the aforementioned "7th Heaven" drew a 5.0/9 for an 8pm repeat.
    But on net's loss was more than one's gain, ad Monday proved. ABC's much hyped "South Pacific" didn't quite live up to expectations, but it did draw a 15.8/28 from 8-11pm. That gave the alphabet its best Monday performance since December. "Everybody Loves Raymond" (17.0/30) led the charge for repeat CBS, followed up by "Becker" (14.4/25), "King of Queens" & "Yes, Dear,"
(both 12.3/22). "48 Hours" topped off the night for the net, drawing an okay 12.0/22.
    Fox even got in on the action, although it put in one of its worst Monday performances of the season for all new episodes. "Boston Public" (11.6/21) won its hour in adults and younger viewers, while "Ally McBeal" (12.6/22) was second for Fox. (March 27)

NBC's week-end is dead
    After faltering last week-end, NBC proved this week-end it could do worse. Its Saturday & Sunday programming, compromising 31.8% of its entire schedule, averaged a piddly 3.8 million viewers this past week, a number that even the WB would see as mediocre.
    After Saturday night's flame-out with the "XFL" (3.0/8), the peacock just couldn't counter programme the "Academy Awards" (44.3/58) on ABC. It got off on a bad not at 7pm with NBA coverage, which drew an ugly 4.2/7 to 9pm. It got killed during the 2 hour span by both "Barbara Walter's Special" (17.5/34) & "The Academy Awards Pre-Show" (25.5/38). But the real salt in the injury came at 9pm, when the net repeated the highly touted "Homicide: Life on the Streets" movie.
The flick just a miserly 4.6/6 to 11pm, making it NBC's worst ever performing Sunday Night Movie,
excluding telecasts airing opposite the Superbowl. Combined, those pathetic performance dragged the net down to a 9.3 million viewer average on the week, locking it in a tie for third with Fox. Can things get much worse?
    Yes, they can. Fox managed to be the only network able to successfully counter-program the Oscars with the movie "True Lies" (12.9/20) from 7-10pm. And that performance is exactely what enabled the net to tie the peacock on the week. (March 26)

XFL jumps a bit
    NBC's "XFL" coverage has finally jumped in the ratings after 6 weeks of sharp declines. Mond you, the jump wasn't all that big. The telecast drew a 3.0/8 from 8-11pm, up from 2.5 million viewers last week. It still got crushed by all it's competition and will rank as the peacock's second lowest rated Saturday night in history, right after last week.
    CBS won the night for the umpteenth consecutive time, thanks to its "NCAA Championship"
coverage (10.6/28) & a repeat "The District" (11.5/34). It did have some serious competition, however, from Fox. That network got some of its best results of the season with "Cops" (9.3/26),
"Cops II" (9.7/27) and "Americas Most Wanted" (10.3/26). That more than beat out ABC's figure skating coverage (8.2/22) in the race for third. (March 25)
 
"Lone Gunman" sinks again
    Despite its parent ("The X-Files"), Fox's new drama "Lone Gunman" is starting to look more and more like the drama it replaced- "Freakylinks." "Gunman" drew a lonely 4.7/9 at 9pm for Fox, 4th in its slot, 4.6 million viewers behind third place CBS. Although its lead-in wasn't mightly ("Police Videos"- 7.5/18), it did drop over a third of its audience. But the jury is still out on the rookie-
it's not doing well, but no Fox drama has in that slot for a number of season. It did average 10.5 million viewers during its 3 week run Sunday at 9pm.
    The winner of the night was clearly ABC. Thanks to an-hour-and-a-half "Millionaire" (16.4/35), the net average a season high 13.7 million viewers on the night. The net's only real problem continued to be in the 8pm slot, where a repeat "Norm" (6.9/16) drew nearly 10 million viewers behind its lead-out. That despite going up against mostly repeats in "Providence" (8.0/19), "Sabrina"
(3.7/9) & UPN's "The Parkers" (2.8/7). But, as telling an achievement this may be, it's 6.9 million viewers it its 4th best performance of the season.
    NBC got a surprize boost at 10pm, where a repeat "Law & Order: SVU" drew an amazing 14.5/27, its best repeat performance of the season. That was more than enough to push it over ABC's solid "20/20" (12.9/24) & CBS's NCAA Championship Series coverage (9.3/19).
(March 24)

ABC takes Thursday
    With "Survivor" moved to Wednesdays and "Must-See Thursday" in repeats, ABC did something on Thursday it hasn't been able to do since December- win the night. It started off the night well with "Whose Line Is It Anyway?" Though it couldn't beat "Friends" (18.0/33) & "The Weber Show"
(14.7/28), it did draw its best numbers since January. At 8pm it grabbed a 9.1/17 & a 10.7/20 at 8:30pm.
    "Millionaire" did the deed yet again at 9pm. Thanks to a classic-TV version of the gammer, it threw up its second best numbers of the season- a 20.5/33. That came within a million viewers of it's best performance of the season- its celeb edition in November, and beat that edition in adults. It certainly got a boost thanks to weak repeats of "Will & Grace" (14.4/23) & "Just Shoot Me" (12.4/20), which still won the hour in 18-49's despite being beat out in viewers by 52% by the alphabet gammer.
    At 10pm, "PrimeTime Thursday" put up its fourth best performance (13.7/24) of the season, barely beating out "ER" (13.2/23) on NBC.
    But there was another winner on the night. One week after it tied its season best rating (5.0 million), WB's "Gilmore Girls" bested that with a 5.2/10. That makes it a lock for renewal, providing "Charmed" (5.7/9) with it's best lead-in ever. It also topped "Popular" year-over-year by almost 55%. Another network seeing significant growth was CBS. Its NCAA playoff coverage (11.2/19)
That best last-year's Thursday night coverage by 20%
    And where'd all those impressive performances leave UPN & Fox? Scrambling for viewers.
The UPN's "WWF Smackdown" (6.1/11) turned in its second worst performance of the season, while Fox's repeat movie "Spawn" slouched to 5th on the night with a 5.7/10. (March 23)

"Once & Again" dead
    It's nearing official, "Once & Again" the superb drama that just can't find an audience, is dead. And with the deadly performance it put in on Wednesday, it's pretty much a done deal. Despite having weak competition, the drama fell to a series worst 7.1/15 at 10pm, off 28% from its "The Job" (9.7/20) lead-in. Its competition? A new "Law & Order" (17.9/36), which turned in its worst first-run numbers of the season, and a weak "48 Hours" (7.7/16) on CBS. It also fell to a series low 3.2 rating in adults 18-49. With renewal time coming up, don't look for "Once" to be pushed through again.
    Other than that, it was a weak Wednesday night, highlighted by a few programs. Fox's once rookie hit "Grounded For Life" slid to a 6.5/12, the lowest rated show of the week so far on the big 4 and off considerably from its "That 70s Show" lead-in (7.8/15). It got killed not only by CBS's "Survivor" recap (22.8/43), but also by NBC's "Ed" (8.8/16) & ABC's repeat "The Drew Carey Show" (8.1/15). Another big loser on the night was CBS's "Big Apple." That show is in the midst of competing with NBC's "XFL" coverage for worst new netowkr program performance. It's 8.4/17 last night was not only 4th in it slot, but off 63% from its "Survivor" lead-in. "CSI," which followed "Survivor" on Thursday, dropped off by only 21% during its last airing 2 weeks ago. (March 22)

Another NBC bomb: "First Years"
    NBC just can't seem to catch a break this month. A week after airing the lowest rated mini-series in history ("The Lost Empire" averaged just 7.2 million viewers on Sunday & Monday) & 2 days after its lowest Saturday numbers in history ("XFL" drew just 2.5 million viewers), the net has launched yet another bomb: "First Years." The drama seemingly got caught up amongst a swatch of new episodes, falling to a 7.1/13. That makes it NBC's worst drama premiere in years, and its third rookie drama flameout on the night this season (behind both "Titans" & "Deadline.")
    But that seemed to be the only bad spot on the night for the peacock. The 8pm repeat special
"Crocodile Hunter" drew an okay 10.3/19, second in its slot, and a 10pm repeat of "Third Watch"
(10.7/23) rebounded 75% week-over-week. On the night, NBC averaged 9.3 million viewers,
up an impressive 50% over last week.
    Other than NBC's mini-researgeance, the big winner on the night was CBS. It drew its best Monday ratings in over a month thanks to "King of Queens" (14.7/27), "Everybody Loves Raymond" (20.1/36) & "Becker" (17.3/31). WB also had some good news: a 9pm repeat of  "Gilmore Girls" (4.3/8) came closer than any series ever has to its lead-in "7th Heaven" (5.5/10).
Timeslot regular "Roswell" has frequently dropped half of its lead-in, regardless of being a repeat of not.
    The only sour note came on ABC. "Gideon's Crossing" fell back into deathworld with a measly
7.7/17, down 43% from last week when it aired a special cross-over episode with tv's number two drama "The Practice." Better cross quickly Gideon. Me thinks you don't have much time left.
(March 20)

NBC chokes on weekend
    It may have been St. Patrick's Day, but the luck of the Irish certainly was not with NBC on Saturday. Not only did its XFL coverage dive in the ratings once again, but it did so in grand fashion. The 3 hour telecast drew a mini-net weak 2.5/6, draging the peacock to an in-season historic low on the night. Not only was the loser-league off 37% from last week, but it's now down to just 16% of it's premiere number of 15.7 million viewers. It's also just floating above UPN's Sunday coverage of the league. That net drew a 1.6/3 on the day God rested, stable week-to-week and just 7 ratings spot behind its big-net sister's coverage. No matter, it was still the lowest rated progeam of the week.
    But there were some bright spots on the week-end, especially on ABC. Thanks to the movie "Bailey's Mistake" (13.0/25), "Millionaire" (21.2/40) & "The Practice" (19.8/37), it locked up the night in viewers and adults. Fox also had some bite with a repeat "The Simpsons" (14.3/26) & a new "Americas Most Wanted" (9.9/27). Other than that, the week-end was pretty bleak. CBS's movie "For the Love of Olivia" (9.8/18) drew an in-season low for the Sunday movie franchise, and "Touched Bt An Angel" (13.4/25) couldn't do much better. This season, the less-than-angelic series is off almost 20% in viewers. (March 19)

NBC takes Thursday
    On the first "Survivor"-less Thursday night in almost two months, nearly all nets saw ratings take a jump. The biggest jump was on NBC, which won the night by a huge margin over ABC. "Friends"
(22.0/40) started the night off right, even if the return of "The Weber Show" (16.0/29) didn't fare as well. Both shows won their slots, although the competition was tough. ABC's "Whose Line Is It Anyway?" (10.4/19) took a huge leap up the ratings chart, and WB's "Gilmore Girls" (5.0/9) drew its highest ratings yet. That makes it a virtual lock for renewal next season. In comparison, it's up 50% over what "Popular" was drawing last season. The show even nearly topped it's lead-out "Charmed"
(5.3/8), which is the second highest rated show on the fog net.
    NBC may have taken the 8pm hour, but 9pm belong to ABC. "Who Wants To Be A Millionaire?" (17.9/29) drew its highest numbers in almost two months, toppling the combo of "Will & Grace" (18.3/29) & "Just Shoot Me" (16.4/26). The net did almost as well at 10pm, where "PrimeTime Live" (13.3/23) drew its highest numbers in three months up against a repeat of "ER" (16.1/28).
    The night's only loser? CBS. The net averaged a tiny 8.5/15, off 59% from its "Survivor" led previous week performance. (March 16)

"Gideon's" finally jumps
    Critics have been lauding this series since its October premiere, but it only took a cross-over with "The Practice" to get viewers to finally notice it. "Gideon's Crossing" leap-frogged in the ratings on Monday night, jumping to a 15.0/32, nearly double the amount of viewers it drew last week (7.9 million). It not only led ABC to victory on the night, but it crushed the competition in it's slot, nearly topping their combined totals (15.8 million). The alphabet took advantage of a swath of repeats on the night to record an average of 14.3 million viewers, its highest total since December
    CBS came in second on the night, getting good Neilson action from "King of Queens" (14.0/26),
"Yes, Dear" (14.1/26) & "Everybody Loves Raymond" (18.0/34). But it couldn't hold that advantage through the latter half of the night, falling with a special episode of "Some of My Best Friends" (13.0/25) & a weak "Family Law" (9.3/20). But that was still better than what Fox did with repeats of "Boston Public" (8.7/16) & "Ally McBeal" (8.5/16).
    NBC, meawhile, seemed like the unwanted child of the night. The second part of the mini "The Lost Kingdom" (7.2/13) fell even further from it's weak Sunday debut, dragging "Third Watch"
(6.6/14) to its lowest repeat numbers ever, including ratings for the summer months. That left the peacock with an average of just 7.0 million viewers on the night, its worst regular season Monday performance in history. (March 13)

"For Your Love" comes back easy
    It may have been out of the ratings race since October, but "For Your Love" got a very warm return on the WB on Sunday night. Airing at 8:30pm, the show drew a 3.7/7, beating out all of the WB's programming on the night. A 9:30 repeat packed some punch too: it drew a 2.8/5, the nets highest numbers in that slot since the fall.
    Elsewhere on Sunday, "The Practice" (19.1/37) came up big as usual, continuing to build on its "Millionaire" (18.2/34) lead-in. Despite those nice numbers, there were plenty of losers on Sunday. Fox's "Lone Gunman," a week after a 13.2 million viewers debut, dropped to a 9.0/17, depsite a strong lead-in from "Malcolm In The Middle" (15.0/29). NBC's movie "The Lost Empire" (8.1/16) was an even bigger dud than last weeks' "Women of Camelot," and the UPN came up short once again with sinking XFL coverage (1.6/3). For the fourth week in a row, it placed dead last in the network tv ratings. (March 12)

XFL moves up
    NBC's disasterous XFL Saturday Night coverage has finally moved up in the ratings, granted it wasn't much of a move. The telecast drew a very weak 4.0/11 from 8-11pm, up from 3.7 million viewers the previous week. But for the fourth week in a row it seems to have become the spolier for NBC's chances to win the week. Counting Saturday, NBC's weekly perfomance so far drops to 10.7 million viewers, down considerably from 12.1 million Monday to Friday. That puts it was behind CBS (12.4 million) & ABC (11.8) week to date. But the good news? There no way in hell Fox (8.1 million) will be able to catch the peacock in the race for third. If that can be called good news. (March 11)

"Norm" jumps on Friday
    Cancellation looked like a forgone conclusion, but it seems that "Norm" may have drawn itself a reprieve. The series, which has become a critics darling of sorts (okay- really of sorts) drew a season high 7.6/24 at 8:30, building on its "Two Guys & A Girl (7.2/23) lead-in for the very first time. While those numbers may not sound very impressive, it was good enough for third in the slot, behind repeats of "Diagnosis Murder" (10.0/32) & "Providence" (8.1/26). The very high net shares on the hour reflect just how anemic viewership was from 8-9pm. Only 31.2 million viewers tuned into the big 6, setting a record low on the major nets. But that drop was to the advantage of "Popstars"
(4.1/13) on WB, which recorded its highest net-share yet. The same feat was accomplished by CBS's ages "Diagnosis Murder."
    Viewership picked up at 9pm, much thanks to "Millionaire" (15.6/36). The gammer slammed competition from "Dateline NBC" (11.0/26) & "The Fugitive" (7.2/17). "20/20" capped off the night for the alphabet, drawing a season high 13.3/26.
    But if there has to be one sure loser chosen on the night, it had to be Fox. Thanks to the "2001
NAACP Image Awards" (4.2/11), it fell to its second worsr Friday numbers of the season. (March 10)

Must-See collapse
    Thursday turned out to be the blackest day in the history of Must-See TV on NBC. Not only did the night get spanked by CBS, but, for the first time in decades it fell to third on the night behind a surging ABC.
    "Friends" (13.2/20) started the night on a high note for the network, even though the series fell to its worst regular season rerun numbers ever. Paired with "Just Shoot Me" (11.0/17), the hour ranked second among the big 4. CBS's "Survivor" once again ran away in total viewers (28.7/44), although its see-saw in viewership continued. NBC's weakness allowed ABC to become competitive in the hour for the first time in over a month as back-to-back "Whose Line"s (8.2/14 & 9.1/15) took their fair chunk of the viewership pie.
    The news got even worse for the peacock at 9pm where "Will & Grace" (12.3/18) merely equalled the numbers it was drawing last season on Tuesdays. Combined with yet another "Just Shoot Me" (10.5/15), the hour ranked a mere third for the net. "CSI" (23.5/34) took the cake for the eye, while "Millionaire" (17.7/25) raised ABC's fortunes. At 10pm, NBC finally won, with "ER"
(14.2/25) taking both "PrimeTime Thursday" (13.0/23) and a weak "Big Apple" (11.4/20).
    On the night, NBC fell into third with 12.6 million viewers. CBS (21.2) won, while ABC (13.1) took second prize. For the first time in a long, long time, Must-See Thursday is merely equaling the net's weekly average (12.6 mil), not increasing on it.
    Is Must-See really appropriate anymore? (March 9)

"Spin City" back for 6th
    Just a few days after series star Heather Locklear announced that she would be returning for a sixth season on the semi-hit sitcom, ABC has renewed the show for a sixth, and likely final, season.
The show premiered big back in 1996, but suffered through a string of timeslot shifts throughout it's run. It's been aired Tuesdays at 9:30, Wednesdays at 8, Tuesdays at 9, Tuesdays at 8pm, and for the last year and a half Wednesdays at 9:30. The show is averaging a mediocre 11.8 million viewers so far this season, even though it drew 32.8 for last seasons finale that saw the send-off of series star Michael J. Fox. In adults it draws a 5.2 rating, good enough for second in its slot behind "The West Wing."
    But with declining ratings and the uncertainty of Locklear, don't look for "Spin" to see a 7th season. If any of ABC's new spring comedies hits, the "Spin"-cycle may be coming to an end.
(March 9)

"Bette" dead, "Once" thrives
    It seems that ones a show is cancelled, nothing can save it from a rapid decent in the ratings. That was proved by the recently canned "Bette" on Wednesday night. The show dropped to a mindboggingly low 6.0/12 at 8:30, even dropping of its weak "Some of My Best Friends" (6.9/14) lead-in. That show only dipped slightly from its premiere last week (7.0 million), but when a series draws numbes this low, calcellation is likely near. But there is a bright side to "Bette"s decent: it seems to be finally drawing it target audience: gay men. If about 5% of the national population are gay, that means that there are roughly 7 million gay men. It looks like "Bette" has that market cornered.
    But there was some good news on Wednesday night, and it couldn't have come at a better time for ABC's "Once & Again." With cancellation rumours swirling, the show drew a season high 9.8/19 at 10pm. Granted, it was up against a repeat "Law & Order" (14.8/29), but it did hold  96% of "Spin City"s (10.2/20) audiences, building in adults. This will almost certainly make ABC take a second look at the series' renewal for next season.
    Other winners on the night included "Millionaire," which climbed to a 21.1/41. That's its highest numbers since January. "Star Trek: Voyager" also saw a jump in ratings to a 5.7/11. That ties it for second best performance on the season with an episode that aired in October. (March 8)

UPN reorganizes
    The UPN is not giving up title to the 5th rated network without a fight, that in accordance with reorganization plans announced Thursday.
    Wednesdays at 8pm will go to "Special Unit 2," a new drama from parent-studio Paramount
that will take the place of "7 Days" until May sweeps. With top-rated "Star Trek: Voyager" ending this season, the net will need a strong partner for "7 Days" this fall. UPN's okay-performing Tuesday moving will move back to Fridays to make way for "Chains of Love" starting April 17th. The reality show will chain four people together for four days in hopes of making a love connection (read: extremely creepy). The new drama "All Souls" will follow "Chains."
    Until the Friday movie starts up again, UPN will air repeats of "The Hughleys" & "The Parkers" on Fridays, followed by back-to-back "Gary & Mike"s. The net has already made one chance to its lineup. Last Monday it switched "The Parkers" & "The Hughleys" on Mondays, only to see both take a rise in ratings. (March 8)

"Frasier" can be cocky
    Peacocky, that is. Not only has NBC locked up a deal to keep the show, but it has done it in grand style. The classic sitcom with not only be on the air for 3 more seasons (making the total 11, exactly how long predecessor "Cheers" lasted), but it will be rewarded handsomely. NBC will pay owner Paramount $5-5.5 million dollars an episode for the series, with at least 24 new episodes airing per season. The net also got the rights to air additional repeats of the show, which is occasionally used to cover some of the nets weaker slots.
    NBC currently pays $5.8 million an episode for "Friends," a show that it probably loses money on. When "Frasier"s run ends, Kelsey Grammar will have been portraying the Dr. Crane for a mind-boggling 19 straight years. I don't even have socks that old. (March 6)

CBS wins repeat Monday
    Monday offered up the usual post-sweeps slate of repeats, with CBS coming out top once again. It continued its streak in fine style: it hasn't lost a Monday night since ABC's Football coverage packed up in December.
    A repeat of "Everybody Loves Raymond" (17.9/31) provided CBS with the backbone it needed, propelling "King of Queens" (13.3/23) & "Yes, Dear" (12.3/21) to fine repeat performances. "Becker" (16.0/28) was the nets only new regular programming. But it was a special "48 Hours"
at 10pm that seemed to save the net: it drew a 12.5/27. That gave CBS an average of 14.1 million viewers on the night, actually up over last week's 13.9 when it aired all new programming.
    That was even despite increased sitcom competition. Fox ditched repeat Monday for some of its sitcoms. The result wasn't all that bad. "The Simpsons" (9.6/17) & "Malcolm In The Middle" (10.7/19) drove the net over what would have likely been a low rated night of repeats. Regular Monday owners "Boston Public" & "Ally McBeal" have been averaging less than 8 million viewers this season when they repeat.
    Over the the UPN the new was also good. Thanks to switching "The Hughleys" & "The Parkers,"
both the 8:30pm and 9pm timeslots showed an increase. "The Hughleys" drew a night high 4.7/8 at 8:30, while "The Parkers" gave a 4.5/8 a half-hour later. (March 6)

ABC's movie streak continues
    ABC strengthened it's stance on Sunday the only network thriving on movies this season. It's Oprah-backed flick "Amy & Isabelle" drew sweeps-worthy 18.5/31 from 9-11pm, crushing 2 movies airing on NBC & CBS. On the peacock it was the highly anticipated "Women of Camelot"
that got the kiss of death, averaging a low 12.0/20. That just beat out the umpteenth airing of "Eraser" on CBS (11.8/20). But even low numbers for a movie like "Camelot" have become acceptable for NBC: it's only averaging 10.0 million viewers for its Sunday flick this season.
    Fox also got some good ratings news on Sunday. Potential "X-Files" successor "Lone Gunman"
drew an okay 12.0/20 at 9pm, probably taking a hit due to the big movies airing on the other nets. Still, it fell considerably from it's dynamic duo lead-in of "The Simpsons" (16.6/27) & "Malcolm In The Middle" (16.2/26), which had to fend of competition from "Who Wants To Be A Millionaire"
(17.4/28). All though, took advantage of a weakening performance from the UPN. It's XFL coverage followed its Saturday NBC cousin, falling to a 1.9/3. (March 5)

XFL kills NBC
    It should have happened by now, but it hasn't: NBC still hasn't seen a bottom to the XFL ratings
freefall. The flailing football-wannabe fell to a miniscule 3.9/11 on Saturday night, just a quater of the ratings it debuted to only a month ago. That dragged NBC's weekly average down to 12.4 million viewers- a huge drop from the 14.1 it averaged over the week. Will ratings fall again next week? Will there even be a next week? Stay tuned. (March 5)

"Survivor" doubles "Friends"
    It was bound to happen sooner or later, it only turned out to be later- "Survivor" has doubled "Friends." The thriving gammer drew a 30.9/44, it's highest Thursday numbers yet, despite the fact that they didn't even get to kick anybody off the island. That was double "Friends" combined numbers on the hour, a 15.0/21 at 8pm & a 15.8/22 at 8:30 for the repeats. .
    There were a number of other winners on Thursday night outside of "Survivor." WB's "Gilmore Girls" came closer on closer to series high numbers despite airing in the 8 o'clock dead-zone. It drew a 4.4/6 at 8pm, coming within a half-a-million viewers of it's season premiere high. That virtually makes it a lock for renewal this spring. Another lock for renewal- CBS's "CSI." That series climbed to a 24.1/33, CBS's highest numbers for a drama since "Touched By An Angel" flew high in the fall of 1997. It more than defeated ABC's climbing "Who Wants To Be A Millionaire" (17.4/24) & NBC's "Will & Grace" (16.0/22).
    And finally, a bittersweet note for CBS. The premiere of its new drama "Big Apple" drew an okay 12.2/27, coming in second its slot to the lowest first run "ER" (25.5/35) ever. Though it did score better numbers than "48 Hours" has in the slot for the last few weeks, it still dropped an unacceptable 49% of "CSI"s audience. (March 3)
 
"Island" limps, "Mole" strong
    It was a night of high numbers for almost everybody, though some benefitted more than others.
It started off at 8pm where "The Mole" finally bowed out, drawing its highest numbers yet. The show grabbed a 15.6/29, drawing weel below what "Millionaire" averaged in that slot, but drawing almost 3 million more viewers than it did on Tuesday nights. It also won its slot handily over "Ed" (11.8/22)
& "Grounded For Life" (10.3/19). Not doing so well in the slot was CBS's new entry "Some of My Best Friends." The premiere of that show drew a weak 7.0/13, equaling its lead-out "Bette." "Dawsons Creek" (4.4/8) also faced some serious competition from UPN's usualyl quiet "7 Days."
That show drew a season high 4.0/8.
    The middle of primetime was even more competitive than usual, but no one show could claim a huge victory. Fox's "Temptation Island" limped out for its finale installment, drawing a 17.3/27. While those numbers will likely make it the networks highest rated show of the week, it's only the series 4th best numbers out of 8 tries. While it won the hour in younger viewers, "The West Wing" (18.2/29) won in total viewers. ABC didn't have as much luck on the hour as it's combo "The Drew Carey Show" (11.5/19) & "Spin City" (11.0/18) seem to be out of steam. CBS's movie "Sanctuary" (8.1/13) fared even worse, seeming to be in competition more with UPN's "Star Trek" Voyager" (5.5/9) than its big four cousins.
    "Who Wants To Be A Millionaire" aired at its latest time yet- 10pm, and didn't do too badly. Though the installment (14.6/23) didn't win the hour, it did take a bit out of NBC's "Law & Order"
(18.8/30). (March 3)