"GH" beats "Days" in
young women
"General Hospital" has
done something that no soap has done in almost 10 years: beat "Days Of
Our Lives" in women 18-34. On the week that the popular Brenda left, the
show recorded a 2.7/15 in the demo, slightly above "Days" scores. Now that
"GH" is number on in women 18-49 & women 18-34, look out top rated
households show "Y&R," you're next. (February 28)
"Trace" hits more series highs
Even though a repeat
"CSI" aired right before it, it didn't have any competition from "ER,"
and "Without A Trace" took great advantage of that. It drew a series high
13.3/20 in the overnights, which translated into 18.7mil viewers, only
2.5mil below "ER"s average for the month of February. The show also hit
a high of 6.4/17 in adults 18-49, topping its previous high set last week.
It also held a spectacular 82% of "CSI"s audience (22.8mil). The renewal
of this series is a give-in, but will CBS keep it in the same slot? One
would think so, given the fact that "Big Apple" & "The Agency" have
bombed in thsi slot, but CBS will have an itchy trigger finger- this si
just the kind of show it could use on Wednesdays or Fridays, or even Sundays
if "Greek" doesn't work. Earlier in the night, "Survivor" surged to 22.4mil
viewers, though it lost in the 8pm half hour to "Friends" in adults.
NBC was a solid
second one the night with repeats of its sitcoms. "Friends" (17.1mil),
"Scrubs" (13.5mil), "W&G" (13.1mil), a solid "Good Morning Miami" (12.3mil),
"Friends" (14.2mil) and "W&G" (11.1mil) all did average numbers for
repeats, save "Scrubs" and "GMM," which were new because they were gone
for most of sweeps. Fox was third on the night with a repeat "American
Idol"
(9.7mil) and "The Pulse" (7.7mil), which obviously doesn't have for-sure
viewers, it's last episode drew only 2.7mil. ABC would have had an okay
night were it not for "Stories From The Front Lines," which slid to 6.3mil
at 8pm, followed by lows for "Are You Hot" (8.7mil) and "Celebrity" (7.5mil).
Some people aren't giving "Hot" the props it deserves- its more than doubled
what ABC was drawing in the slot last fall. "WWE Smackdown" was fifth with
5.8mil, while the WB's relocated "Sabrina" enlivened this timeslot (but
barely) with 3.1mil. "Family Affair: came back the the schedule with just
2.5mil, while "JKX" drew its best numbers of the season and 3.6mil and
3.4mil at 9:30pm.
As for the
top rated show on the week, unless there's some great rush to a series,
"MY Big Fat Greek Life" will be the top rated series on the week, which
is the first time I can remember a sitcom debuting at the top fo the charts.
(February 28)
NBC takes Wednesday
On the last night of sweeps,
NBC and "The West Wing" rebounded from last weeks deluge and took the night
by a comfortable margin. "Ed" (10.1mil), "WW" (14.3mil) and "Law &
Order" (19.9mil) combined for a win on the night, although only "L&O"
won its timeslot. Fox won at 8pm with "That 70s Show" (11.2mil) and "American
Idol" (17.0mil), followed by a strong edition of "Star Search" (13.0mil)
and ABC's "MWK" (11.1mil) and "George Lopez Show" (10.2mil). The WB got
some very strong numbers out of the movie "The Lone Ranger" (5.3mil), while
"Enterprise" (4.7mil) languishes in dead last.
NBC didn't win
at 9pm, either. "60 Minutes" took a season high 16.0mil with a Sadaam Hussein
interview, while NBC took second. Fox was third with "Bernie Mack" (11.9mil)
and "Cedric" (9.6mil), while ABC's "Celebrity" booted Robin Leech and came
up with 9.3mil (it's obviously not "The Bachelor/ette"). The UPn was last,
though "The Twilight Zone" (3.0mil) is doing better that it has in a while.
And finally, NBC
did win at 10pm. "L&O" more than broke the competition, which consisted
of heavily hyped interviews on "20/20" (11.4mil) and "48 Hours" (9.7mil).
(February 27)
ABC renews its line-up
Of course, ABC didn't
renew every show that for next season, but it came pretty damn close, announcing
10 reneweals yesterday. Amond the winners were the solid "America's Funniest
Videos," "8 Simple Rules," "Jim" "My Wife 7 Kids," "George Lopez" and "NYPD
Blue." Among the more questionable renewals were the shaky "Alias," "Life
With Bonnie" and "Less Than Perfect" (which makes me really happy, because
it's the most enjoyable sitcom I've seen in a while). As already announced,
ABC will bring back "Drew Carey" next fall, but ti will be on hiatus for
the rest of the season, returning to Wednesdays at 9pm over the summer.
(February 27)
"Smallville" breaks 10mil
In yet another milestone
for the WB network, "Smallville" broke 10mil viewers with its heavily promoted
Christopher Reeves episode, coming up with 10.1mil viewers and a very solid
fourth place finish in the hour. That could change however, as I'm only
using the overnight numbers to calculate "Smallville"s audience. The show
drew a 7.2 rating in the overnights, ranking as high as third at 9:30pm.
"Smallville" also tends to skew better nationally that other WB series
(save "7th Heaven," and has broken 9.5mil viewers of a not so bad 6.7 overnight
ratings. So wait and see. "Gilmore Girls" drew a solid 6.6mil at 8pm.
But regardless, CBS
did win Tuesday night with season (or near) high numbers for every one
of its series. "JAG" was second at 8pm with 15.6mil, "The Guardian" drew
a season high 14.7mil to win 9pm, and "Judging Amy" won 10pm with 15.3mil.
That gave CBS an average of 15.2mil viewers on the night, its highest Tuesdaytotal
of the season. After declining rapidly from last season, CBS has seemingly
found its Tuesday footing once again. The night's other winner was Fox,
whose "American Idol" (20.4mil) and "24" (12.3mil) were first and third
in their slots, and won the night in total viewers and adults.
In the mix for third
place were both ABC & NBC, whose Tuesday line-ups of late are nothing
to brag about. NBC won out of 8pm with "Most Outrageous Gameshow Moments"
(10.4mil), though "8 Simple Rules" (10.4mil) & "Jim" (9.7mil)
took it in adults. At 9pm, "Frasier" (13.3mil) and "AUSA" (10.2mil) both
benefitted from ABC's lack of comedy competition, and so did ABC. "I'm
A Celebrity..." finally stated to look okay in its 7th night with 9.0mil
viewers, up 15% from ABC's performance in the slot last week. But at 10pm,
ABC and "NYPD Blue" pulled away with 12.3mil, while "Dateline" slipped
to 9.0mil.
In the only other network
left, the true loser was found in "Buffy" (4.1mil), "Abby" (1.6mil) and
"One On One: (1.7mil) (February 26)
WB, UPN, Fox movements
To end months of speculation,
Sarah Michelle Gellar is expected to announce that she will not return
to "Buffy" for another season. This will probably spell and end to the
series, and the UPN's entire Tuesday night line-up.
On the other hand, "Buffy"
producer Josh Whedon may just be wishing that he would have given a little
in negotiations with the WB two years ago. That net, which is showing major
growth, announced the start dates for two news series, likely the final
two of the season. Thursdays at 9:30pm will become the home of "Ont The
Spot," an improvisational comedy staring Tim Conway. It will premiere March
20th. And the anticipated new drama "The Black Sash" will air, probably
appropriately, Sundays right after "Charmed." It will debut on March 30th.
Fox, meanwhile,
has yet another reality series up its sleeve with "Mr. Personality." The
dating show will debut on Monday, April 21st at 9pm, right after "Married
By America" wraps. (February 26)
My Big Fat Ratings blockbuster
"Joe Millionaire" finale
it wasn't, but "My Big Fat Greek Life" burst onto the scene in style on
Monday. The show captured 22.7mil viewers on the week before it moves to
Sundays, CBS's highest performing non "Raymond" episode in that slot in
at least 7 years. "Raymond" also benefited, coming up with 22.0mil viewers,
its second highest tally of the season. But Fox won the hour strong in
adults with "Joe Millionaire: The Aftermath" (10.2/23 in adults, 19.5mil
overall). What else was there in the hour? "Third Watch" (11.0mil) came
up with near season low scores, while ABC's repeat of "The Bachelorette"
finale was dead in the water with just 6.3mil viewers. "Everwood" took
5.4mil, while the UPN sitcoms hit 4.4mil and 3.8mil, some of their strongest
numbers since November. CBS won again at 10pm as "CSI Miami" came up with
19.1mil viewers and one of its top 5 scores on the season. "Crossing Jordan"
held up with a respectable 11.1mil.
But CBS didn't
win the entire night. 8pm belonged to NBC and "Fear Factor," which rebounded
from last week's anomily and drew 15.5mil viewers. CBS sitcoms were a close
second at 15.0mil and 15.3mil, while "Boston Public" hit a near season
high of 10.7mil. ABC's "I'm A Celebrity" entered night 6 and matched that
number in viewers at just 6.6mil. "7th Heaven" (7.4mil) skipped above that
for forth, while the UPN drew a solid 3.6mil and 4.2mil for its sitcoms.
(February 26)
Must See Thursday in trouble...
again
This headline was common
two seasons ago, but then "Friends" had a renaissance. But now, NBC's troubles
are back yet again. It all started with "Friends" at 8pm, which can't seem
to take the heat of increased competition. The show drew a season low 19.8mil
at 8pm and dipped to 18.3mil at 8:30pm for a repeat. It lost out in the
hour to "Survivor" in viewers (20.2mil), but probably took the aduts crown
by a slim margin. At 9pm, "Will & Grace" did an okay 16.0mil, but "Scrubs"
dipped to 13.2mil, less than half of CBS's "CSI," (28.2mil), which wont
he hour in viewers and most important demos. NBC was actually third in
the hour, behind "Michael Jackson: Take Two" (14.7mil) on Fox, which averaged
more than 16mil viewers in the hour. At 10pm, though "ER" jumped back up
to 22.0mil viewers, "Without A Trace" drew 17.2mil, just 22% behind the
one killer medical drama. That also sets a record high for the "CSI" like
drama, which is looking like it will have a long life in the timeslot.
Besides NBC, CBS
and Fox, did any other nets have success on the night? Well, yes. ABC opened
up with "The Bachelor: Aaron & Helene Tell All" to 13.7mil viewers,
ABC's season best results of the season in the timeslot in viewers and
adults. "Are You Hot?" followed with a solid 10.2mil, but "I'm A Celebrity"
dipped to 8.5mil at 10pm, obvioudly stung by the competition. Still, those
numbers represent ABC's second best Thursday of the season, right behind
two weeks ago when MJ took over the night. "WWE Smackdown" took a very
solid 5.9mil, while the WB was left out. The series finale of "The Surreal
House" (2.2mil) was the peak of the night (geez, what happened to that
series? Did well for a few weeks, then plunged), surrounded by weak numbers
for "High School Reunion" (1.6mil) and "JKX" (2.0mil)
On Tuesday,
right after "Joe Millionaire"s ratings came in, I was projecting a Fox
victory on the week. But with the Grammy's coming up on Sunday, now I'm
not so sure. So far, the nets are having the best week of the season. Fox
is averaging 20.7mil, CBS 15.3mil, NBC 13.8mil, ABC 12.0mil, the WB 5.0mil
and the UPN 4.2mil. With a slew of stunt and replacement programming airing
over the weekend, this is what I'm projecting the final weekly ratings
will look like on Monday: Fox 15.3mil, CBS 14.7mil, NBC 11.6mil, ABC 10.7mil,
WB 4.2mil, UPN 3.9mil. If the ratings do turn out like so, it would be
the second highest rated week of the season.
So far this
week, there are 18 series averaging more than 15mil viewers, and 40 series
drawing more than 10mil, which are very good early numbers for the two
important bellwethers. (February 21)
"Bachelorette" no "Bachelor"
Yes, "The Bachelorette"
did end with big numbers on Wednesday, though at 21.4mil viewers, it wasn't
as big as "The Bachelor 2," which ended in November with more than 26mil
viewers. Part of that might be due to "American Idol," which Fox expanded,
yet again, to blunt ABC's success. While the 8:30pm edition fell to a season
low 15.5mil viewers, a 9pm special edition called "The Best Of The Worst"
averaged a high 18.8mil viewers, likely taking some steam out of Trista
& co. 'That 70s Show" opened the night for Fox with a solid 12.3mil
viewers, while "I'm a Celebrity.... Get Me Out of Here" debuted at 10pm
on ABC with a disappointing 10.8ml viewers, losing 52% of its lead-in.
Only 14 more nights to go....
Elsewhere, there was
nothign spectacular to report, though there were some notes of interest.
"Star Search" returned to CBS with an okay 11.1mil, but considering the
competition, that's not too shabby. NBC's night was uplifted by a season
high for "Law & Order" (20.1mil), but was earlier marred by a season
low for "The West Wing" (12.7mil), which is about a million viewers away
from slipping into series low territory. The UPN got a boost from "The
Twilight Zone" (3.5mil), which featured two classic stories reenacted,
while the WB got stuck with the series final of "Bids of Prey," which came
up with only 3.5mil viewers. (February 20)
Season highs, lows abound on Tuesday
Depending on how you
look at it, Tuesday was either fantastic or horrid. For Fox, the winner,
it was super. "Idol' drew a "season low" 20.0mil viewers and a 9.2/23 rating
in adults at 8pm, outdrawing "JAG" (15.6mil) by 4.4mil viewers. Then at
9pm, "24" blew the competition out of the water with 13.2mil viewers and
a 6.5/15 rating in adults. Well, it won in adults, anyway. "The Guardian"
(13.7mil) took the viewers honour with its higest ratings of the season.
"Judging Amy" closed out the night for CBS with a near season high 15.0mil.
Over on the WB,
it was "Smallville" once again. The series hit a record in viewers (9.6mil)
and ranked second in it slot in adults at a 4.1/10. It won in some of the
more obscure demos. "Gilmore Girls" opened the night with a solid 6.2mil.
And that's where
the good news ended. ABC was third at 8pm with "Rules" & "Jim" (10.8mil
and 10.0mil), while NBC was a close fourth with the third installement
of the acutally amusing "Most Outrageous Game Show Moments" (10.3mil).
"Buffy" (4.5mil) was last. At 9pm, NBC had "Frasier" (12.5mil) ranking
second in adults (4.9/12) but third in viewers, but it did crush its increasingly
weak comedy competition "Life With Bonnie" (7.5mil). At 9:30, it was a
different story as "AUSA" shed 36% of its lead-in while the great "Less
Than Perfect" gained 10% to win 8.2mil vs. 8.0mil. But still, "Less" only
ranked 4th in the slot, leaving fifth to "AUSA." At 10pm, the (series)
finale of "Kingpin" (7.7mil) drowned under "NYPD Blue" (12.0mil) and CBS.
(February 20)
Update: "Joe Millionaire"
Just in case you haven't
heard, "Joe Millionaire" Monday gave Fox its best ever rating for an entertainmnet
programing. The 8pm special drew 29.3mil, which alone would have been enough
to give Fox a Monday record, but the 9pm finale drew a whopping 40mil viewers
and a gigantic 20.4/40 in adults. In some younger demos, it drew more than
half the avaliable audience. The only other forseeable entertainment programming
that will surely surpass this will be the series final of "Friends," which
will air in May of next year. Maybe.... (February 20)
"Millionaire" smashes Fox records
It's
so rare these days that one of the big four ever breaks a record that when
they do is shocking. But you have to hand it to Fox and "Joe Millionaire,"
they didn't just break a record, they smashed it to bits. The (wayyy) overlong
finale of "Joe Millionaire" drew an amazing 33.6mil viewers on Monday and
a whopping 17.6 rating in adults, which will make it the second highest
rated piece of programming of the year in that demo, and so far only puts
it behind the Super Bowl in total viewers. Now, with "Idol" and Tuesday
and Wednesday, Fox has officially won the week in both viewers and the
good demos.
So who lost out
on Monday night? Not anyone really. Sure, nobody picked up over last week,
but they weren't down as much as they could have been. CBS's regulars drew
solid numbers at 13.4mil, 12.4mil, 16.5mil and 12.4mil and 17.3mil, down
a bit over the last few weeks. NBC's "Fear Factor" (11.1mil) seemed to
take the biggest hit, down 38% after last week's record breaking ratings.
The peacock finished out the night with "Michael Jack: Unmasked," which
drew the net's best numbers of the season from 9-11pm with 13.7mil viewers.
ABC aired a night of repeats with "20/20" (10.0mil) and "Living With MJ"
(10.3mil), and did much better than it has in the past month.
The WB stuck with
with regular line-up for 7.3 and 5.5mil viewers, respectively, while the
UPN averged 3.8mil for its line-up, with totals ranging from 3.5mil for
"The Parkers" to 4.1mil for "Girlfriends"
One the night,
the nets drew a total of 81.6mil viewers to the night and a 58.4/77 combined
rating in the overnights. That, given regular programming, is one of the
highest totals I can remember. The highest came about three years ago on
a Thursday night during the big "Frasier" finale. "Millionaire" was still
at its peak, and I think CBS aired a "Murder She Wrote" movie. Either way,
during the 9pm hour, the 6 nets combined for a 96 share. This time the
nets combined for a still impressive 79 share.
Only one question
remains: what does Fox do now? (February 18)
CBS sweeps Thursday in viewers,
adults
Thanks to the
premiere of "Survivor: Amazon" and a 90 minute "CSI," CBS swept the competition
in viewers and adults, leaving NBC down across the board, recording many
season lows.
"Amazon" drew
23.3mil viewers at 8pm, but built to 26mil by 9pm. NBC got lost in the
mix. "Friends" hit a season low 20.9mil viewers, putting it below the pace
of even two years ago. A repeat superize "Friends" slipped to 19.5mil and
lost from 8:40 to 9:20 in adults as well as viewers. From 8:20 to 10pm,
"Will & Grace" drew an average 18.3mil viewers, putting it well back.
From 9:30 to 11pm, "CSI" (27.0mil) finally got ot beat "ER," which hit
a series low 20.6mil viewers. Amazingly "CSI" also beat "ER" in adults,
averaging a 10.5/25 to NBC's 10.1/24.
So what else was left?
ABC didn't do too badly with the most degrading series on earth, ever,
"Are You Hot?". Though an 8pm special drew only 7.3mil, the premiere at
9pm shot up to 10.1mil and a 4.5/11 in adults, and it will probably rank
as the youngest skewing show in the slot. "PrimeTime" sunk to 7.2mil at
10pm, ranking dead last.
In the race for 4th,
the UPN took it with 5.2mil, while Fox had one hell of a time. "Joe Millionaire"
drew a pathetic 5.5mil at 8pm, while "The Pulse" sunk to an almost 6th
place 2.7mil at 9pm. I call it cancelled within the week. On the WB, "High
School Reunion" (1.8mil), 'The Surreal Life" (2.2mil) and "JKX" (2.4mil)
were down from their normal levels. (February 14)
Tuesday "less than perfect"
After an impressive
Tuesday night last week, viewers repsonded by tuning out: almost every
single series was down over last week. It all started at 8pm, where "Idol"
drew a solid 19.5mil viewers, but down from last week. "JAG" (13.7mil),
"8 Simple Rules" (11.1mil), "According To Jim" (9.6mil) and "Gilmore Girls"
(6.0mil) were all down from last week. NBC did get a solid performance
from "Most Outrageous Game Show Moments" (10.5mil, and it actually was
funny), while the UPN's "Slayer" drew 4.5mil, certainly not great, but
a slight increase from last week.
The losing continued
at 9pm where "24," the winner at 13.0mil, was the only series up over last
week. "Frasier" (13.0mil) and "AUSA" (9.2mil) slid back after strong week-ago
numbers, while CBS "The Guardian" (12.4mil) held steady. ABC hit rock bottom
in the hour as "Life With Bonnie" slid to a series low 7.2mil viewers.
The great "Less Than Perfect" actually increased off of that to 8.0mil,
but still, its not impressive. "Smallville" (8.7mil) was actually 4th in
the hour, though down from last week. "Abby" (2.2mil) and a repeat "Girlfriends"
(2.1mil) were at the bottom of the heap.
At 10pm, the show
that was up the most over last week was "Judging Amy" (14.1mil). "Blue"
continued to sink at just 11.1mil, while "Kingpin," though compelling,
slipped further to 8.4mil. (February 12)
"Fear Factor," "Millionaire" hit
new heights on Monday
The little train
that could, reality programming, demontrated that it is certainly not on
the way out on Monday as both "Fear Factor" and "Joe Millionaire" hit new
records in viewers and demos. At 8pm, "Factor" led the way with an astonishing
17.9mil viewers, leaving the competition in the dust. CBS's regulars hit
a season low 13.5mil and 13.8mil for new episodes, while Fox's "Boston
Public" (10.5mil) was third in the hour. The WB finished in fourth for
the season straight week as "7th Heaven" racked up 9.3mil viewers. The
UPN should have been fifth with "The Parkers" (3.9mil) and "One On One"
(4.2mil), but ABC's "Vertias" (6.5mil) beat them out. I say they should
have been fifth given their solidarity in the hour, as compared to ABC's
drowning Monday drama slate.
At 9pm,
24.5mil viewers switched over to Fox and "Joe Millionaire," while the rest
of the competition were left fighting for the left-overs. "Raymond" (17.8mil)
drew its second lowest numbers of the season, while "Still Standing" was
knocked down to 13.7mil viewers. "Third Watch" was, appropriately, third
at 11.2mil, while ABC's "The Practice" drew a pathetic 8.0mil. "Everwood"
clocked in at 6.0mil, while the UPN's comedies drew 4.1mil and 3.8mil,
respectively.
In the late
hour, without reality in the mix, "CSI Miami" took top spot with 17.4mil,
leaving "Crossing Jordan" (10.6mil) and "Miracles" (6.6mil) reeling in
its wake.
On the night,
Fox took a big victory with CBS in second and NBC third. The WB actually
ranked fourth, beating out ABC's line-up by 10%. The UPN was last. (February
11)
"Dog" eats up primetime schedule
To
start, I have two questions for you. Ever wonder when NBC was going to
bring back "Dog Eat Dog" ? And 2) Ever wonder what NBC is going to do with
Tuesdays at 8pm? Well, I have an answer.
The summer hit
"Dog Eat Dog" will be coming back to the schedule on Monday, February 24th
for a special premiere before debuting on Tuesdays at 8pm. This begs more
questions. Will this solve NBC's Tuesday programming headaches? Will this
give a boost to the slipping "Frasier" ? Will snobby Kelsey Grammer have
to eat his words now that the reality programming that "he wishes would
just go away" is now helping his show? (Remember, that was back in the
day when "Millionaire" moved him back to Tuesdays). For all these answers
and more, it will be a very interesting spring. (Febuary 10)
Propping up the ratings
If you've checked on
the season to date numbers lately, you've probably noticed something: they
look to be getting higher. Not necessarily for individual shows, but say,
for instance, back in December, the number 30 show was drawing about 12.0mil
viewers, now "Star Search: Wednesday" is doing 13.2mil there.This is because
of all the short run reality series, like the aforementioned "Search."
Many of these series have been extremely successful, but they only last
a month or two. So a series like "Joe Millionaire," at 18.9mil viewers,
and which runs only 6 weeks, has knocked "Raymond," at 18.8mil viewers,
out of the number 7 spot, even though that show has 35 Mondays at 9pm to
fill up in one season.
So the moral of this
story is.... if reality keeps on rolling, look for the season to date ratings
to rise even further, even though the nets a really down in viewers over
last season. (February 10)
"Idol" down, but "24" up
As the auditions for
"American Idol" ended, so did the ratings heights. Well, it's not that
21.7mil viewers is a bad total, its just not 26mil. But still, it
was by far the highest rated show on the night. It also gave a boost to
"24," but not by that much. That series drew 12.2mil viewers (and a first
place finish in adults at 9pm), up about 10% over its last airing.
Everybody, in fact,
seemed to be up over their last airing. Outside of the Fox realm, CBS was
second on the night with strong performances from "JAG" (14.4mil), "The
Guardian" (12.4mil) and "Judging Amy" (14.4mil). NBC was third with a "special"
"Fear Factor" (11.3mil) at 8pm, but when to first at 9pm with 15.2mil tuning
in for the return of Lilith to "Frasier." "AUSA" got started to a poor
11.3mil viewers at 9:30pm, certainly nothing to do cartwheels over. But
the bad news came at 10pm where the new drama "Kingpin" couldn't overcome
CBS nor a series low "NYPD Blue" (11.2mil) and came up with only 9.1mil
viewers.
Over on ABC, the four
regulars drew 11.7mil, 10.4mil, 9.3mil and 8.2mil, in their usual range,
while the WB aired the regulars to 5.8mil and 7.0mil, slightly below average.
Over on the UPN, "Buffy" (4.1mil) continues to struggle, while the 9pm
sitcom "Abby" (2.2mil) was up a tick from last week, but not by that much.
Hey, I wrote this update in 4 minutes. I think I'm going to start saying
"the regulars" more often....
"Dawsons Creek" runs dry
With ratings for this season
initially doing well, but now sagging severely, the WB has cancelled the
aging drama. While the show doesn't even rank in the net's top 5 now, it
was the WB's highest rated show even when it first started out 6 years
again on Thursday nights. It's a record in fact, that still holds today.
Thanks to the series, the WB found the audience it was looknig for: younger
women, and they initially tuned in in droves. The series has been declining
since though, and now its time to say goodbye. No word on what the WB will
replace the show with this fall, although it does have many options. (February
3)
Weekend ratings good for ABC, NBC,
Fox
ABC, NBC and Fox all got some
good ratings news over the weekend as some very old series and some very
new ones lifted the networks on what are usually dreary nights or timeslots.
Over on ABC, it was the ageless "Americas Funniest Videos" that did the
trick, averaging 11.1mil viewers at 8pm, but jumping to 14.5mil at 9pm.
ABC also won Friday in adults, the first time in three years NBC has not
won the night with an original line-up. "SVU" (16.1mil), as usual, led
the network on the night. ABC also got some good news on Sunday with "Alias"
(11.0mil) and "Dragnet" (13.3mil). The 9pm drama didn't quite keep all
those post Super Bowl viewers, but it did grab its second best ratings
of the season (not including post SB). "Dragnet," meanwhile, beat NBC's
"Kingpin" (13.0mil) in viewers, and came close in adults (4.8 vs 5.1 rating)
Over on Fox, Saturday
was the night as "Cops 2" (10.5mil) and "Most Wanted" (9.3mil) set season
highs in viewers and adults. A night later, the net sealed a weekly victory
with "The Simpsons" (15.0mil) and "Malcolm" (13.0mil) hitting high notes,
and their repeats (14.3mil; 10.4mil) doing well in the half hours. On Friday,
"Fastlane," though not a miracle in the slot, is picking up with a close
second in adults and 6.0mil viewers overall.
And then there
was NBC. It didn't exactely have much ot brag about, but "Kingpin" did
do nicely after "CI" (15.1mil). Comes back Wednesday for tis Tuesday ratings
to see if auds are turned off. My roommate really seems to like it... (February
3)