Case Study: Wednesday
Three examples of how to respond to the terrorist
attacks and three examples of how not to played themselves out in the ratings
Wednesday night, witht he how to scoring big and the how not to falling
flat.
The best example was "The West Wing." 24.5 million
viewers tuned in to ask the same question the show tried to answer, "Why
do some people hate America so much?" The episode gave the show its best
ratings since last season's premiere, when it was fresh off of winning
a slew of emmy awards. With "Wing" expected the clean up again this Sunday,
how many viewers will tune in next week? The 9pm drama was surrounded by
two newsmagazines, "60 Minutes II" (13.5mil), and "20/20" (11.5mil), both
of which performed very weel for their respective networks.
And then there's the downside. How not to deal with
the terrorist attacks? Air pretentious reality shows that now seem so much
less entertaining. "Lost" (6.8mil) flaied for NBC at 8pm, "The Amazing
Race" (7.8mil) for CBS at 9pm, and "Wolf Lake" (6.0mil) for CBS at 10pm.
Okay, so we know the latter isn't a reality show... use some creative liscense.
Elsewhere on Wednesday, there were quite a few success
stories. "Law & Order," one week after recording its best premiere
ever at 20.7mil, gives its highest viewer total ever with an amazing 22.7mil
tuning in. "My Wife & Kids" (12.3mil) stayed solid for ABC, and the
maligned new series "According To Jim" (12.5mil) actually built on that.
UPN's "star Trek: Enterprise" (8.3mil) declined significantly from its
premiere, but still came in third in its hour. At 9pm, "Special Unit 2"
(4.5mil) kicked its second season off with a bang.
So far this week, NBC is out in front with 14.5mil,
CBS is second with 13.3mil, and ABC is third with 12.3mil. The race for
fourth is acutally interesting this weke, with Fox (7.1mil) only having
a slight advantage over the UPN (6.1mil). The WB is deep in sixth with
4.4mil.
Buffy bows big
"Buffy
The Vampire Slayer" has done what no other show has done for the UPN: brought
a hit on Tuesday night. The drama, which the UPN picked up for $2.5 million
an episode last May, bowed with 7.7 million viewers over its two hour span
on Tuesday. That's "Buffy"s second highest premiere total ever, and the
UPN's highest Tuesday ratings ever. with Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday
nights now rocking, has the UPN locked up 5th spot for good?
Maybe higher if ABC &
Fox don´t pull their acts together. Both suffered heavy ratings losses
on Tuesday, with ABC coming up with its worst in season Tuesday ratings
ever. "Dharma & Greg" started off the night with a lowly 10.0mil, its
lowest regular season non-repeat numbers ever, followed by the even weaker
premiere of "What About Joan?" (8.8mil). CBS won the hour with an amazing
strong "JAG" (17.3mil), Fox was somewhere in the middle with "That 70s
Show" (10.7mil) and "Undeclared"
(8.4mil), while NBC struck out with "Emeril"
(8.1mil) and "Three Sisters" (8.3mil).
At 9pm, it didn't get any
better for ABC. The new show "Bob Patterson" sunk to only 10.1mil, certainly
not encouraging for a show that was not well reviewed and also features
a former Seinfeld alum. "Spin City" built only that, but only to 11.0mil.
"Frasier" dominated the hour (17.3mil), and "Scrubs"
(14.6mil) also got off to a good start. CBS's "The Guardian" (12.9mil)
took a significant dip from last week, but Fox's "Love Cruise" (7.4mil)
was still there to mop up the mess at the bottom of the Nielson ladder.
Another show in trouble on
ABC is the 10pm entry "Philly." It took a steep decline from last week's
uninteresting premiere, sinking to 10.5mil. It got slammed by both "Dateline
NBC" & "Judging Amy" (both 15.5mil). Maybe ABC will reconsider throwing
8 year Tuesday at 10pm owner "NYPD Blue" up against "Law & Order".....
(October 4)
"Alias" over "Law & Order:
CI"
ABC hasn't had much to celebrate
this premiere week, particularly after its Friday night line-up bombed,
and NBC has had so much ("Friends," "Law & Order," "Fraser," "Crossing
Jordan".... ad nasuem). But that changed on Sunday night as ABC's anticipated
"Alias" beat the sure-thing "Law & Order: Criminal Intent." Though
the margin of victory wasn't that big, 14.2mil to 13.4mil, it gives ABC
some hope that at every night isn't going to collapse this season.
Its started the night off strong with the movie "A Bug's Life" (11.4mil),
leading into "Alias" and then to an even stronger than last weeks "The
Practice" (18.7mil).
That gave the alphabet a weak win on the night
with an average of 14.0mil.
CBS came in second, but slid
the entire night. "60 Minutes" started off strong with 17.5mil, but "The
education of Max Bickford" backed down to 15.7mil, and the movie "Three
Blind Mice" fell even further to 10.4mil, leaving the eye with 13.5mil
on the night. NBC was third, and ratings pretty much hovered around the
10mil mark all night from "Dateline NBC" at 7pm (10.2mil) to "The Weakest
Link" (10.8mil) to the premiere of "UC: Undercover" (10.4mil) at 10pm.
Fox was a close fouth with the movie "Jerry Maguire" (10.1mil) (October
1)
Weak week-end leaves many in
dust
Things seemed to be flying
all week for the networks (well, all except for Fox), but they hit the
wall on the week-end. NBC was the only network with Friday bragging rights.
"Providence" won the 8pm hour (11.6mil), "Dateline NBC" the 9pm hour (13.4mil)
and "Law & Order: SVU" the 10pm hour (15.2mil). But other than that,
it was a race to last place. ABC sunk with the premiere of "The Mole: II"
(5.3mil) at 8pm, getting beat out by weak performances from "Dark Angel"
(6.5mil), "The Ellen Show" (7.3mil) and even "Danny" (5.9mil). 9pm saw
ABC climb into second with "Thieves" (9.0mil), and the rest fight for the
dumpster. Fox took it, thanks to the premiere of "Pasadena" (4.5mil), inarguably
the worst Fox Friday bomb yet. CBS's "That's Life" was no slouch though,
scrambling for the 6.5mil it captured. 10pm was equally horrific, with
"48 Hours" (8.4mil) taking second to ABC's dead-in-the-water "Once &
Again" (7.3mil)
Things only got marginally
better on Saturday, but this time the losers were upended. Friday winner
NBC started the night with the Thursday comedy "Inside Schwartz." Only
2.5mil bothered to tune in. The movie "Twister" doubled that at 8:30pm
(5.0mil), but it certainly wasn't overwealming to say the least. ABC won
the night with "Forrest Gump" (10.0mil), while CBS saw the premieres of
"Touched By An Angel" (9.4mil) and "Citizen Baines" (10.0mil) get flushed
down the toilet. It did perk uo at 10pm with "The District" (12.6mil),
but even that was 20% off last seasons premiere. (October 1)
"Friends," "CSI" bust out
Who
knew that after 8 seasons a show could capture its biggest premiere audience
yet. "Friends" did just that on Thursday, roping in 31.3 million viewers
and a mind boggling 15.4/42 rating in adults 18-49. The competition, at
least that which caters to a younger audience, simply buckled under the
weight of the sextet. "Whose Line Is It Anyway?" sunk to 5.9mil at 8pm,
rebounding to 7.6mil at 8:30pm when a much less potent "Inside Schwartz"
(21.5mil) premiered. The WB sunk to 2.7mil viewers in the hour with the
movie "The Craft," eventually averaging 3.5mil for the night. "WWF Smackdown!"
recovered slightly from last week to 5.7mil, but it was still about 2 million
viewers off last years comparable performance. Fox? It was a victim of
its own stupidity. Nobody watched the special "Who Wants To Be A Princess?"
on Monday night, so why would anybody want to watch it on Thursday?
Only 3.6mil bothered to tune in, leaving the net a deep 5th, almost 6th,
on the night.
The only show that had any traction against "Friends"
was a repeat of "CSI" on CBS" It came up with a decent 14.0mil.
At 9pm, another show busted
out, this time "CSI." All by itself, with any "Survivor" help, it came
up with 23.0mil, winning the slot by more than 2 million viewers. "Will
& Grace" was second with 20.7mil, though "Just Shoot Me" (18.5mil)
slipped up at 9:30pm. Third, and wayyy down the list was "Who Wants To
Be A Millionaire?" The declining ABC quizzer managed only 10.4mil under
the weight of intense competition. At 10pm, "ER" (30.1mil) had no problem
beat out the premiere of "The Agency" (12.0mil) and ABC's "PrimeTime Thursday"
(11.0mil).
Compared to the comparable
week last season, the only network which posted any gains was CBS. Fox
was down 41%, the UPN 26%, ABC 23%, the WB and NBC each 4%. CBS almost
made up for that, posting a 77% jump. All totalled, the nets drew in 63.9mil,
down 2.5% from last season. (September 28)
Behold the Wednesday bombs
Not on single network, okay
save the UPN, came up unscathed on Wednesday as series new and old went
down the toilet. Every hour had its own story, each with a a bomb or three.
At 8pm, CBS won quite handily with "60 Minutes II" (13.1mil), which is
so far showing solid ratings increased over last season. ABC managed a
second place finish with an hour of "my wife & Kids" (12.0mil, but
thats pretty much where it all ended. Fox slipped down with "That 70s Show"
(9.0mil) and 2Grounded For Life" (7.8mil) while NBC got really, really
"Lost" (6.0mil).
Not to be outdone, the 9pm
hour had its own share of misses. Hit- a repeat of "The West Wing" (13.1mil),
the only big 4 program to break 10mil in the hour. CBS sucked ass witht
he third installment of "The Amazing Race" (8.7mil), while Fox rated even
lower with an episode of "Love Cruise" (8.0mil). But the real loser was
ABC. Last spring, the alphabet renewed "The Drew Carey Show" for two more
years (on top on this season). Sure, ratings were slipping and the show
was getting stale, but it'll still draw decent numbers, or so they thought.
Well, the season premiere was all ABC needed to give itself a good kick
in the head. The show drew only 9.6mil, and slipped from 10.7mil at 9pm
to a jaw droppingly low 8.4mil at 9:30pm. Way to go ABC.
The 10pm hour did have one
bomb, a hit and an in between-ie. "Law & Order" (20.1mil) creamed the
competition as expected, "20/20" (11.3mil) drew what it usually does, and
CBS's "Wolf Lake" (6.0mil) all but confirmed that its headed for an expected
quick cancellation.
Oh yeah, and the premiere
of UPN's "Star Trek: Enterprie" drew 11.0mil, leading it to second place
on the night for the first time since the last Trek premiere. But whatever.
(September 27)
CBS wins big on Tuesday
CBS
looked like the only for sure winner on Tuesday and sure-to-be big premieres
flopped and new series didn't perform
so well. Veteran "JAG" won the 8pm hour with
16.7 million viewers, its best season premiere to date. It more than beat
out its next closest rival "Dharma & Greg" (13.1mil), which saw a huge
ratings decline over last year's 18.5mil debut. Third in the hour were
Fox's "That 70s Show" (11.7mil" and the disappointing debut of "Undeclared,"
which conjured up only 10.1mil onlookers.
NBC sunk to the bottom as expected with "Emeril"
(9.4mil), and "Three Sisters" (8.0mil) at 8:30pm made that even worse.
The 9pm hour was a triumph
for only CBS, once again. The new drama "The Guardian" came up with 15.1mil,
a very strong second in the slot. NBC's "Frasier" did win (19.5mil), but
it was down significantly over last season. ABC seemed to come up the shortest
in the slot. Michael J Fox's return to "Spin City" brought in only 13.2mil
viewers, almost 20 million less than watched him leave the series two seasons
ago. Fox sunk to the bottom of the barrell with "Love Cruise" (7.8mil).
At 10pm, the winner was...
CBS. Surprize. "Judging Amy" (16.8mil) came up with its best premiere yet
to overcome ABC's "Philly" (13.7mil) and "Dateline NBC" (12.6mil). (September
26)
Downers galore on Monday
The season officially started
with a whimper on Monday night, as only one network could declare any triumphs-
NBC.
The net started the night with "The Weakest Link"
as usual. But instead of getting squashed by ABC's "Millionaire" as it
has over the last few weeks, it came pretty close to winning: 11.6mil vs
11.8mil. IT did take a special appearance by the cast of "The Brady Bunch"
and viewers likely won't return next week, but hey, NBC has something to
brag about for now. That wasn't enough towin the hour. CBS had that honour
witht he premieres of "King of Queens" (15.1mil) and "Yes, Dear" (14.1mil),
which pretty much drew what they did last season. The WB managed 4th in
the hour with "7th Heaven" (8.7mil), much thanks to Fox airing the special
"Who Wants To Be A Princess?" (6.8mil).
At 9pm, CBS's "Everybody Loves
Raymond" was the overwhealming winner, drawing up 22.0mil, exactly what
it drew last season. But in a scary sign of things to come, lead-out "The
Ellen Show" lost 37% of that, siking to 13.9mil. That crippled lead-out
"Family Law," which just barely broke the 10 million viewer mark (10.1mil).
ABC was a strong second in the hour thanks to the resumption of football
(17.7mil), which NBC stuck in third with "Dateline" (13.1mil). The WB slipped
up with the premiere of "Angel." It was well off last seasons debut, coming
up with 4.7mil viewers.
The one for sure new series
winner on the night was "Crossing Jordan." It raked up 15.3mil at 10pm,
not quite winning, but driving some of the last nails in the coffin of
CBS's "Family Law." (September 26)
UPN has surpising results
Despite all the doom and gloom
of last week, at least on network had a ray of light: the UPN. Thanks to
most programming being dropping for single news coverage, it garnered some
of its highest ratings rakings ever. Its top rated show on the week was
"Girlfriends." Though it only drew 5.7 million viewers (a series record),
it wound up in 44th place on the week out of 71 shows. "The Parkers" (5.6mil)
was right on its heels in 45th. "WWF Smackdown!" (5.0mil) also broke the
top 50 in 49th.
The WB wasn't so lucky. Its
top show, "7th Heaven" (3.6mil) came in 55th, down 4 places from last seasons
high. the net averaged 3.0mil viewers on the week, one of its best summer
deliveries this year. The UPN was fifth with 3.3 mil, down slightly from
the previous week.
ABC won the week on the strength
on "Monday Night Football" (21.8mil- 1st), coming up with 12.6mil viewers.
And though NBC's news coaverage beat the alphabet's on every night but
Friday, ABC could come away with some bragging rights. The first match
up between "Millionaire" and "The Weakest Link" was over before it started.
Regis drew 15.4mil in 5th place, while Ann sunk to by far her worst showing,
7.3mil in 33rd. But on Sunday, it was almost the opposite. ¨Link¨
drew 13.3mil at 8pm, while ¨Millionaire¨ sunk to 10.3mil at 9pm.
NBC was second on the week with 12.1mil.
CBS and Fox staying the middle
road, neither coming up with noteworthy results. The eye averaged 9.7mil,
led by "60 Minutes" (13.3mil- 10th), while Fox stuck with 6.5mil, peaking
on Sunday with the movie "Mrs. Doubtfire" (9.5mil- 24th) (September 17)
Condit delivers ABC win
ABC
seems to have all the luck when it comes to politicians embroiled in scandles.
First "20/20" interviews Monica Lewinsky and came up with 48 million viewers,
and now "PrimeTime Thursday" takes on Gary Condit and rakes up 23.6mil
spectators, slamming the Thursday competition and giving ABC something
to brag about. In fact, the next nearest competitor "ER" (7.2mil) was more
than 16 million viewers behind ABC's coup interview.
But the alphabet wasn't the
only net with luck on Thursday night. Thanks to CBS sacking its regular
line-up for pre-season football (6.2mil), NBC's sitcoms scored their best
numbers of the summer. "Friends" started the night off with 11.7mil, and
"Will & Grace" peaked at 9pm with 11.8mil. ABC did win at 9pm with
"Millionaire" (13.0mil), however, and also pulled in some strong numbers
with "Whose Line?" (7.0mil at 89pm, 8.4mil at 8:30pm).
The mini nets also has some
bragging rights. Thanks to weakened competition from CBS & Fox, it
pulled into third place thanks to "WWF Smackdown!" (6.6mil). The WB also
saw "Gilmore Girls" (2.7mil) take advantage of its Tuesday airings to pull
in some of its best Thursday numbers of the season.
Compared to last season, all
but two of the nets posted gains. The UPN was down 9% and CBS slipped 3%,
but ABC was up 9%, as was Fox, NBC increased 11% and the WB jumped 22%.
All totalled, the nets were up 8%. (August 24)
Murder in the dumpster
Things just keep getting tougher
and tought for Fox's "Murder In Small Town X." The show declined to 4.1mil
at 9pm, actually tying for 4th in the hour in the overnights with the premiere
of the WB's "Dead Last" (3.1mil). The show also declined a steep 20% in
adults, and has declined at least 10% in the demo in each of its airings.
Will Fox continue to air the show? We can only hope- it's the best summer
program out there.
CBS's "Big Brother" won the
hour with 8.6mil, although there were some other successes. "Frasier (8.2mil)
took "Dharma & Greg" (7.8mil) for only the second time this summer,
although 9:30pm entry "Spin City (7.1mil) done away with "Three Sisters"
(6.8mil).
An hour earlier, "Millionaire"
(13.0mil) ran away the hour, overcoming "JAG" (6.6mil), "Spy TV" (6.4mil),
"That 70s Show" (6.3mil), and the increasinly lame "The Downer Channel"
(4.4mil). Later, "Dateline NBC" (9.8mil) wailed all over both "Judging
Amy" (6.7mil) and "NYPD Blue" (6.4mil).
Year over year, only two nets
managed small gains. ABC slid 24%, Fox was off 21%, and NBC & the WB
were both off 4%. CBS was up a microscopic 3%, while the UPN jumped 10%.
All totalled the nets were down a disappointing 11%. (August 15)
Huge Monday ratings ellusive
Nobody scored big in Monday's
ratings, although a CBS "Raymond"-a-thon did help that show win the night.
The show didn't decisivly win any slot, actually losing at 8pm. The series
drew 8.6mil at 8pm and 9.4mil at 8:30pm, losing out a weak "Weakest Link"
(10.2mil). It did vault itself over "20/20 Downtown" (7.7mil) and flew
high over "Boston Public" (5.0mil), which barely beat the WB's "7th Heaven"
(3.7mil) in the overnight ratings.
"Raymond" did win the 9pm
hour with 11.5mil in both half-hours. It didn't have much competition,
slamming the comeback of NBC's "Third Watch" (6.0mil), ABC's movie "The
Newton Boys" (6.1mil) and "Ally McBeal" (4.6mil). At 10pm, NBC roared back
with "Dateline NBC" (10.3mil), beaching CBS's "Family Law" (7.6mil), although
that show did put in its best summer performance so far.
Compared to last season, almost
all the nets were down. ABC slipped the most, off 23%. The UPN was down
19%, the WB 10% and NBC & Fox both 2%. CBS was the only net show a
gain, up a solid 10%. In total, the nets were off a manageable 6%. (August
14)
"Big Brother" finally a hit
Thanks to a 9pm move across
the board, CBS's "Big Brother" is becoming the Saturday hit the eye has
always wished it would be. The show drew 6.6mil at 9pm, its highest Saturday
total of the season and just a fraction behind a win in the hour. "Americas
Most Wanted" won the hour with 6.9mil, while ABC's movie "Big Bully" was
well behind (5.0mil), and NBC's movie "Blackout Effect" had the same results.
CBS did win the night, also
getting support from "The District" at 8pm (5.7mil) and 10pm (6.9mil).
Fox was second, getting some good results from "Cops" (5.2mil at 8pm, 5.9mil
at 8:30pm), while ABC's bright spot was the 10pm airing of "John Stossel
Goes To Washington" (6.0mil). The biggest loser on the night was NBC's
8pm telecast of the US Gymnastics Championships, which came up short with
just 4.4mil.
Year over year, the results
were pretty good. ABC was off 20% and NBC 8%, Fox was flat, while CBS almost
made up for all the losses with a 20% jump. In total, the nets were off
about 800,000 viewers. (August 12)
Double "Dateline" almost wins
Friday
NBC replaced "Mysterious Ways"
with a double dose of "Dateline NBC"- and it worked. The show won the 8pm
timeslot with 7.7mil, significantly above usual timeslot winner "Americas
Funniest Home Videos" (6.7mil). In the race for third, closer competitors
were CBS's "Family TV Award" (4.9mil) and Fox's "Wildest Police Videos"
(4.7mil). "Dateline" didn't manage to win the slot in adults- "AFHV" won
that award, while CBS's awards were dead last.
"Dateline" won the 9pm slot
also, coming up with 10.3mil versus "Millionaire"s 10.1mil. That's the
first time 2 network shows have drawn 10 million viewers in one timeslot
on Friday this summer. For third and fourth, you have to look all the way
down the list to find "That's Life" (4.2mil), and almost a million below
that was "Dark Angel" (3.4mil). Both shows are so far bombing in their
respective Friday runs, not boding well for either show's chances in the
regular season. Things may only get worse when "Once & Again" premieres
in the slot next week.
In the late hour, ABC took
it back from NBC, thanks to a strong "20/20" (10.5mil). "Law & Order:
SVU" also put in a strong showing, putting up its best results of the summer
at 9.1mil. Out of the race was "48 Hours" at 6.0mil.
Compared to last year, Fox
lost 38%, and CBS was down 19%. Other than that. the rest were winners.
NBC was up 6%, it's first Friday gain of the summer, thw WB was up 21%,
the UPN 25% while ABC jumped an incredible 47%. That was barely enough
to overcome the combined losses on the night. Total viewership was up 1%.
(August 11)
"Brother" looks better at 9pm
CBS has finally found a way
to revitalize the stagnant series "Big Brother"- move it to 9pm. It certainly
worked on Thursday where the show jumped to its best ratings yet this season-
10.0mil.
The show also won its hour in adults over NBC's
"Will & Grace" (7.8mil) & "Just Shoot Me" (7.7mil), but lost out
to "Millionaire" (11.1mil) in total viewers. The big, however, were all
interrupted
in the hour by a message from the president,
so final numbers could fluctuate signicantly.
Down at 8pm, "Friends" (10.0mil)
was the top rated show, beating out "Whose Line Is It Anyway?" (6.2mil)
by a comfortable margin. But seemingly running on a "Wayne Brady Show"
booster- "Whose Line?" nearly took out NBC in the 8:30pm slot. It drew
7.4mil versus' "Spy TV"s
7.6mil. "48 Hours" (8.5mil) came up the middle
and took second place, but was fourth in adults.
Some surprizing results- "CSI"
(9.3mil) beat out "ER" (8.1mil) in their first head-to-head summer competition.
"PrimeTime Thursday" (9.5) did win the hour, however. At 8pm, "Gilmore
Girls" (2.9mil) drew its best results of the summer, possibly benefiting
from an additional Tuesday airing. In the middle, Fox's "Night Visions"
(4.7mil) has actually been showing some solid ratings gains. Three weeks
ago, the show hit bottom with 3.9 million viewers, but has steadily increased
since then. Could a full season order be far behind? Don't count on it.
Year over year, things weren't
here nor there. ABC was down 31%, the UPN was down 15% and NBC 8%. Fox
showed a small 7% increased, the WB jumped 17%, while CBS was up an astounding
60%. In total, they were off only 4%. (August 10)
"Wayne Brady" the next Millionaire?
Can "The Wayne Brady Show"
become the next "Who Wants To Be A Millionaire?" Only time will tell, but
ABC sure got some dynamite results from it's back-to-back premiere on Wednesday
night. The show drew 9.7mil at 8pm, and if that wasn't enough, it increased
to 10.9mil at 8:30pm. So viewers obviously liked what they seen. In comparison,
ABC's "You Don't Know Jack" premiered Wednesday at 8pm in June with oppsite
results. 7.4mil came out at 8pm, but that dived to 6.0 at 8:30pm. That
show was quickly cancelled.
"Brady" had no problems winnning
the 8pm hour. The next closest thing was "60 Minutes II" (8.7mil), but
you have to all the way down the list to 5.1mil to find NBC's "Ed," and
even further down to search out back-to-backs "Grounded For Life" (5.0mil
at 8pm, 5.2mil at 8:30pm).
ABC's phenominal 8pm performance
finally gave "The Drew Carey Show" a boost. The show increased to 8.0mil,
its best results since the regular season. That didn't carry over the 9:30pm
where "The Job" slipped to 5.4mil. "The West Wing" (9.4mil) won the hour
with its best results in a while, and CBS's movie "The Third Twin" (7.8mil)
wasn't too far behind. Fox got lost in the hour thanks to "Titus" (5.7mil)
and "The Family Guy" (6.1mil). On the mini-nets, viewers welcomed back
"Special Unit 2" (2.2mil), although the WB's movie "Mortal Kombat" (2.6mil)
beat it out for fifth. At 10pm, "Law & Order" (10.9mil) manhandled
the competition, including ABC's "20/20 Downtown" (8.0mil).
Compared to last season, things
were bad for a few. CBS lost a jaw dropping 56%, NBC was down 9% and the
UPN 8%. The other nets showed solid gains, but not enough. ABC was up 22%,
thw WB 24% and Fox 35%. All totalled, the nets were off 19%, or about 8
million viewers. (August 9)
"Brother" bites "Murder"
CBS's move of "Big Brother"
to 9pm on Tuesdays took a bit out of everybody, even though total ratings
were down signifcantly on the night. "Murder in Small Town X" was especially
hard hit. The show fell to 4.9mil, way behind "Brother"s 8.7mil. Interestingly
enough, the move to 9pm didn't boost the reality show's ratings that much.
It was up only 4% over last week. ABC & NBC also took a hit in the
hour. "Dharma & Greg" still beat out "Frasier" in the 9pm slot 8.0mil
to 6.7mil, some of "Frasier"s worst results of the entire summer. The gain
was even more apparently at 9:30pm where "Spin City" (6.7mil) left the
flailing "Three Sisters" (5.3mil) in the dust.
Other than that, it was a
pretty standard Tuesday for the networks. "Millionaire" (12.0mil) won 8pm
over "JAG" (6.9mil), Fox's "That 70s Show" (6.1mil) & "Titus" (5.7mil)
and NBC's lame duck duo of "Spy TV" (6.6mil) and "The Downer Channel" (4.7mil).
The WB's "Gilmore Girls" also moved into the hour. The show didn't see
much of a boost though, settling for 2.3mil, the same as what the show
drew last week on Tuesday. At 10pm, "Dateline NBC" (9.4mil) had no problem
taking out both "Judging Amy" (6.6mil) & "NYPD Blue" (6.2mil).
Year over year, there are
bad results, then there are these. ABC was down a third, the WB a quarter,
NBC 10% and CBS 5%. The UPN was flat while Fox was the only network to
post a gain, up 15%. All totalled, the nets were down by the same amount
on the night. (August 8)
Mysterious Ways diasppears again
NBC
has dumped "Mysterious Ways" for the third time- a feat accomplished by
few other shows. The move is effective immediately. While not doing any
ratings backflips on Friday nights, the show did increase over previous
slot holder- "Providence." But not enough for NBC. "Dateline NBC" will
move to 8pm on Fridays, and "Providence" will take up at 9pm.
Oh, and in case you care-
"Mysterious Ways'" will continue on PAX. And I hope you don't care.(August
7)
NBC drops...alot on Monday
NBC got a rude reality check
on Monday- one that came in the form of a drop of almost 5 million viewers
for "Fear Factor." The show dropped 30% week over week to just 10.8 million
viewers.
The show barely won its timeslot after blowing
away the competition last week. ABC's pre-season football game was a very
closer second (10.3mil), while CBS's "King of Queens" (8.7mil) & "Yes,
Dear" (8.3mil) came up significantly from last week, and even Fox's "Boston
Public" (5.0mil) showed a gain.
At 9pm, "The Weakest Link"
failed to win its timeslot for the first time in weeks. The show dropped
2 million viewers from last week to 11.4mil, coming in second to "Everybody
Loves Raymond" (12.5mil). The show did win out over "Becker" (10.4mil).
ABC's football slipped to third in the hour, while Fox's "Ally McBeal"
(4.2mil) was almost 6 million viewers behind the rest of the competition.
The 10pm competition was tight, but "Dateline NBC" (11.2mil) took it over
ABC and CBS's "Family Law" (6.9mil)
Compared to last year, the
results were very good. The UPN was biggest loser, down only 9%. ABC was
off a piddly 2%, while Fox increased by the same amount. CBS was up 5%,
the WB 17% and NBC jumped 29%. In total, the nets added 3 million viewers
to their ranks, up 8%. (August 7)
Fear Factor kills on Sunday
It may only be in repeats,
but "Fear Factor" is killing the competition on Sunday. NBC bumped the
show up 8 & 9pm from last week's 7 & 8pm with even better results.
The show took 8.7mil at 8pm, building hugely from it's leadin ("Spy TV"-
5.3mil) and leaving the competition in the dust. Younger skewing "The Simpsons"
(8.1mil) seemed to be hit the hardest, but "Touched By An Angel" (8.1mil);
"Malcolm In The Middle" (7.1mil) and ABC's movie "Ed" (5.2mil) all were
down from last week.
At 9pm the show increased
to 9.5mil, second in the slot. A repeat "Millionaire" (11.4mil) was down
from last week, and CBS's movie "The Third Twin" (7.5mil) sunk down the
ratings charts. "Factor"s only competition in adults were back-to-back
episodes of "Malcolm In The Middle" (6.8mil at 9pm, 7.0mil at 9:30pm).
In the bookmark hours, "The Weakest Link" (9.6mil) took it at 10pm, blowing
away "The Practice" (7.9mil), while "60 Minutes" (11.4mil) manhandled everything
at 7pm.
Year over year, things were
pretty ugly. ABC slid 45%, the WB 22% and CBS 14%. Fox was flat. NBC did
increase an amazing 84%, but the nets were still down 12%, or 4.4mil. (August
6)
Big Brother winning Saturday
CBS's "Big Brother" is finally
starting to have an impact on the Saturday ratings for CBS- and nota negative
one. The show conjured up 6.0mil at 8pm, first in its timeslot and up from
5.5mil last week. It beat out Fox's "Cops" (5.2mil), but lost out to "Cops
II" (6.3mil). ABC's movie "Carpool" (4.0mil) was out of the equation, and
NBC special "The Making of Caddyshack" (3.5mil) was even further behind
that.
"Big Brother"s strong performance
led CBS for the rest of the night. Fox did win at 9pm with "Americas Most
Wanted" (7.4mil), but "The District" (7.9mil) went behind that at 10pm.
NBC's movie "Caddyshack" (5.3mil) performed merely okay, and ABC's 10pm
special "Hype" (4.6mil) simply had none.
Comaped to last year, the
results weren't so bad, even though they did not post a combined increased.
ABC slipped 30% and Fox 7%, but CBS & NBC were both up 16%. (August
5)
"Dark Angel" struggling
The move to Fridays has only
started 3 weeks ago, but Fox's "Dark Angel" is already struggling in its
new home. The show slipped to 4.1mil at 9pm. While that was up slightly
over last week, it was well off its "Wildest Police Videos" (5.7mil) lead-in
and 4th in its timeslot. This does not bode well for the show when it premieres
in the fall. The series is already too expensive to produce and ratings
last season were barely enough to justify the overrun. If they slip dramatically,
which they just might, "Angel" might be over before mid season.
But enough of the doom and
gloom. ABC won Friday night and every timeslot, just as it's done for the
past 3 weeks. "Amercias Funniest Home Videos" pulled 7.2mil at 8pm, down
over previous weeks, but good compared tot he competition. CBS's "Diagnosis
Murder" (6.3mil) came in second, while NBC's "Mysterious Ways" (5.3mil)
was a distant fourth. At 9pm, "Millionaire" (10.1mil) slipped downwards
from last week, but still put its competition to bed. "Dateline NBC" (6.5mil)
was second, while Fox's "Dark Angel" & CBS's "That's Life" (4.5mil)
were close competitors in the race for the bottom. "20/20" (9.1mil) capped
off the night for the alphabet, overrunning "Law & Order" SVU" (8.1mil)
& "48 Hours" (6.1mil).
Year over year, the nets once
again posted a gain, the fourth time this week they've accomplished that
feat. The only loseres were Fox (-22%) & CBS (-10%), while the WB was
flat. ABC was up 23%, the UPN 25%, while NBC jumped 38% over last year's
"10th Kingdom" movie fiasco.
Overall, the nets added almost 2 million viewers
to their ranks, up 6%. (August 4)
NBC mounts Thursday offensive
After
almost a month of being knocked down on Thursdays, NBC finally started
to move up the ratings charts on the night, capturing the 8pm hour and
putting in strong performances in the other hours. "Friends" climbed back
to 10.0mil at 8pm, and "Spy TV" (8.7mil) reversed its losing trend at 8:30pm.
They won the hour, thanks in part to CBS's "Big Brother" inexplicably slipping
to 8.5mil.
ABC's "Whose Line?" also showed some growth,
coming up with 6.1mil at 8pm and 7.2mil at 8:30pm, some of its best numbers
of the summer. Fox was a deep fourth with "Guinness World Records" (5.5mil).
NBC still came in third in
the 9pm hour, even though it did make some inroads. "Will & Grace"
(9.0mil) & "Just Shoot Me" (8.0mil) both increased by about a million
viewers from last week, while CBS's "CSI" (10.8mil) & ABC's "Millionaire"
(11.7mil) both declined by a similar amount. Fox also saw some growth-
"Night Visions" used some mediocre profile cameos to increase to 4.5mil.
While that is not good by any means, it is up about 22% from last week.
The UPN was another network that has a good showing in the hour- "WWF Smackdown"
(6.3mil) did its best ratings in months. NBC was second at 10pm with "ER"
(9.1mil), behind "PrimeTime Thursday" (10.0mil), but ahead of "48 Hours"
(8.3mil).
Compared to last season, things
were good and bad. Fox and the WB were each down 28%, while the UPN &
ABC each took a 14% tumble. But NBC was up 23% and CBS increased an amazing
67%. In total, network viewership was up 1.0mil from this week last season.
(August 3)
Wednesday unspectacular
Wednesday
night was unspectacular for all of the nets, although some did have some
indiviual successes. It appears that ABC has rebuilt itself after the disaster
that was Wednesdays in July, this week climbing to an average of 7.3 million
viewers. "My Wife & Kids" got off to a good start, drawing 6.8mil at
8 & 8:30pm, coming in second to "60 Minutes II" (8.5mil) on CBS. Fox
had some luck with a special "The Simpsons" (6.6mil), but sunk once again
with "Grounded For Life" (5.6mil).
All, however, beat NBC's diamond in the rough
"Ed," which sunk to just 5.0mil.
ABC's resergence continued
at 9pm where "The Drew Carey Show" slimbed up to 7.0mil. That may not sounf
impressive, but for a show that slipped to just 3.6mil a few weeks ago,
it's gold. "Spin City" (6.3mil) lost a bit of it's lead-in, but both series
were third in their slots. "The West Wing" (8.9mil) came up on top again,
while CBS's movie "The Rockford Files" (7.9mil) placed second. Fox's only
savior in the hour came in the form of "The Family Guy," which not only
drew 6.1mil, but increased significantly on its lead-in "Titus" (5.3mil).
At 10pm, "Law & Order" (10.3mil) came out on top, though ABC's "20/20
Downtown" (8.6mil) gave the drama a run for its money in viewers and adults.
Year over year, there were
some good and bad results. First the bad: CBS lost 51% of last season's
"Survivor" fuelled audience and the UPN tumbled 16%. But the rest was good,
very good. NBC was up 3%, Fox increase 31%, ABC jumped 37% while the WB
leaped an amazing 59%. In total, the nets amazing increased their audience
by 1.5%, or 600,000 viewers. (August 2)
New shows sink on Tuesday
New shows didn't have much
luck on Tuesday- sunk from from respectable debuts. "The Downer Channel"
was the worst off, dropping to 4.9mil from last week's 5.8mil. Worse yet,
the show lost 2 million viewers from it's less than generous "Spy TV" (6.8mil)
lead-in. That crippled its lead-outs, "Frasier" slipped to 7.5mil and "Three
Sisters" sunk again to 6.8mil. So far "Sisters" haven't been doing badly
since it returned to Tuesday, much better than former slot holder "Kirsten"
performed.
At 9pm, "Murder In Small Town
X" could pull only 6.1mil, down from 7.5mil from last week. Thw show could
have been hurt by a week timeslot- "Titus" pulled in only 5.3mil, it lost
signifcantly from it's "That 70s Show" lead-in (6.1mil). It was further
hurt in the slot by a resergent ABC- the net put up episodes of "Dharma
& Greg" (8.9mil) and "Spin City" (8.0mil) to good numbers, good enough
to win the timeslot. "JAG" (6.6mil) got stuck somewhere in the middle.
In the bookmark hours, "Millionaire" (11.7mil) won at 8pm and "Dateline
NBC" (9.7mil) won at 10pm.
Compared to last season, surprizingly, most of the
nets posted a gain. The UPN posted the biggest gain, up 22%. CBS was up
7% and NBC 4% while the WB was flat. But it was the losers that drug the
nets down. Fox lost a tiny 2%, but ABC was down a whopping 24% from last
years "Millionaire" high. All together, that loss set the networks back
2 million viewers, or 5%. (August 1)