JustTV News Archive: February 2003

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"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)
 

                                         January 2003 News

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