"Dog Eat Dog": regular season series?
     The question running through my mind lately is whether NBC is going to make "Dog Eat Dog" a regular season series. Last nigh it won its timeslot with 11.3mil viewers, tying its best performance yet. Though NBC says it only airs programs like "Dog Eat Dog" during the summer months, I have to beg to differ. "Fear Factor," anyone? The show would make a great addition to NBC"s weak Saturday night line-up, or how about leading off Sunday nights? The irony would be perfect were it to air Tuesdays at 8pm. See, Kelsey Grammer, back in the days when his show was being kicked around by "Millionaire," said that he wished "reality" would just go away. But her didn't seem to mind it when a special "Fear Factor" at 8pm last fall helped his show to some of its best numbers of the season. But that's neither here nor there.
     Yeah, so anyway, "Dog" did win at 9pm, though "Raymond" (11.8mil) won from 9-9:30pm, "Becker" (10.4mil) lost out as usual. ABC's special "Battle At Bighorn" drew 8.5mil viewers for the night, but that number could change when national numbers come in. In fourth in the hour, it was "The Parkers" (3.3mil) and "Girlfriends" (3.2mil). Back to back new episodes of "Titus" on Fox were a complete flop (3.2mil; 3.1mil), while "Smallville" (3.1mil) was just a hair behind.
      At 8pm, CBS took the hour with the usuals (8.8mil; 9.3mil), while "Fear Factor" was second (8.8mil). ABC took third, while Fox won fourth by a very thin margin with "Boston Public" (3.8mil) beating out "7th Heaven" (3.6mil). "The Hughleys" (2.9mil) and "One On One" (3.2mil) were sixth in the hour. 
      At 10pm, "48 Hours" had a big outing with 11.9mil viewers, followed by ABC and NBC's "Crossing Jordan" (7.5mil). (July 30)

Reality, Austin Powers score on Wednesday
     It was a Wednesdau where every single big of reality programming seemed to work. And with 5.5 hours of it on the night, ratings were on the upswing. Starting out at 8pm, "60 Minutes II" (9.3mil) was bigger than usual, bit won by a smaler margin thanks to "Meet My Folks" (8.7mil). The show was down about 2.3mil viewers from Monday, but understandable considering the timeslot. "My Wife & Kids" scored nice numbers in back to back airings (7.5mil; 8.7mil), while Fox's reality programming "30 Seconds To Fame" (7.4mil) and "Meet The Marks" (5.6mil) were each down about a million viewers from last week, but solid nonetheless. In fifth, the WB aired the original "Austin Powers" at just the right time, and came up with a huge 5.0mil from 8-10pm. "Enterprise" was a deep sixth with a normal 2.3mil viewers.
     At 9pm, "Big Brother" won (10.1mil) with its best scores yet, with viewers probably tuning in to see the latest controversy- the contestant who missed her DUI hearing in order to be on the show. But Fox won at 9:30pm with "American Idol" taking a huge 11.2mil, tying its best score to date. "Bernie Mack" drew a solid 7.6mil at 9pm. Over on NBC, "The West Wing" used its improved lead in to draw 9.2mil viewers, its best summer score so far. ABC got stuck with the movie "The Shining," just about the only thing on the night that didn't work, averaging 6.2mil viewers from 9-11pm. The WB was fifth while "Buffy" (1.5mil) was a deep sixth. At 10pm, "Law & Order" (12.5mil) had the best scores (its best tally of the summer), while "48 Hours" (8.5mil) was a solid second. ABC was third.
      When compared to last season, the nets had their best nights in recent memory. Seriously. The only losers where the UPN (down 9%) and ABC (down 6%). Then there were the winners. CBS was up only 8%, NBC jumped 26%, Fox was up 51%, while the WB rocketed an amazing 250% over last years repeats of "Dawsons Creek" and "Buffy." In total, the nets averaged 41.1mil viewers, up an amazing 24% from last year's 33.2mil. (July 25)

Something happens to ABC on Tuesday
     Something odd happened to ABC's Tuesday night line-up last night. It came in second. Huh? You might me asking. After a whole summer of nothing seeming to work, is something finally started to click? Well, maybe. "According To Jim" drew 6.6mil and 7.8mil for backt o back episodes at 8pm, appearing to have finally settles into the slot, and rather nicely. It won in adults. AT 9pm, "The Mole 2" shrugged off competition from "American Idol" (10.2mil) to draw its best numbers to date, 7.4mil. And at 10pm, "Houston Medical" held most of that, bringing in 7.0mil, it's best numbers yet. So what happened? Who knows, but I do know one thing. On ABC, this won't last.
     CBS won the night in viewers, thanks to "JAG" (8.6mil) at 8pm. ABC was second, NBC third with two episodes of "Spy TV" (6.2mil; 6.8mil), while Fox drew a usual 5.5mil for "That 70s Show," with "Grounded For Life" (5.0mil) holding onto most of that. "Gilmore Girls" (3.4mil) were fifth, while "Buffy" (1.9mil) drew the same amount of viewers she's drawn all summer.
     At 9pm, Fox won, overwealmingly, CBS was second with "The Guardian" (7.8mil), while ABC was third. NBC's repeat combo of "Frasier" (6.9mil) and "Scrubs" (5.3mil) are slippling down the toilet, probably because of saturation. I love "Scrubs" and all, but in the last month it's aired 12 times. "Smallville" (3.4mil) towed the "Gilmore" line, while "The Hughleys" (1.3mil) and "One On One" (1.5mil) flopped in the UPN's doomed timeslot. at 10pm, "Dateline" won (8.2mil); "Judging Amy" (7.7mil) was second leaving ABC in third.
     On the night, CBS won with an average of 8.0mil, ABC and Fox tied for second with 7.2mil, while NBC was close behind in fourth with 7.0mil. The WB drew 3.4mil to the UPN's 1.7mil. In adults, CBS wasn't so lucky. Fox won with a 4.0 rating, ABC drew a 3.1, NBC a 2.8 and CBS a 2.0. I estimate the WB drew about a 1.4, leaving the UPN with a measly 0.6. (July 24)

NBC, ABC set dates for final original series
     Exactely half way through the summer season (the regular season ended on May 23rd, the regular season starts on SEptember 22nd), NBC and ABC have set date for the final original summer fare. ABC is going with the series "The Dating Experiment." In it, randomly selected people will couple up, drop what they're doing and go on an adventure. For two weeks, they simply follow what cards tell them to do. After the two week period, they can decide whether to go their separate ways, or to stay together. The series aims to see if extraordinary circumstances can make a couple fall in love. The Hector Elizondo narrated series starts on Tuesday, August 13th at 9pm with back to back episodes. No word on how long it will run.
      Over on NBC, "The Rerun Show" will debut on Thursday, August 1st at 9:30pm, then move to Tuesday nights following "SpyTV" the first week, and from then on airing back to back episodes until August 20th. Series that will get the ReRun treatment are: "The Facts Of Life" (with Gary Coleman in the "Shoplifting" ep); "The Jeffersons" (with Marla Gibbs, Todd Bridges and Aries Spears in the "Bedtime Story" ep); "Married... With Children" (with David Faustino and Erik Estrada in the "Dance Show" and "Weenie Tot Lovers and Other People" episodes); "The Partridge Family" (with Danny Bonaduce in the "Keith and Lauriebelle" episode); "Saved By The Bell" (with Dustin Diamond and Dennis Haskins in the "Miss Bayside" episode) and "What's Happening!" (with Fred Berry and Alfonso Ribeiro in the "Rerun Gets Married" episode). 
      Also on NBC, the new series "Love Shack" will debut on Monday, August 26th with a special "sneak preview," then move into its regular timeslot Tuesday at 8pm the next night. Will Kirby, from "Big Brother 2," will host. (July 23)

NBC, Fox set premiere dates
     NBC and Fox have both set their premiere dates, with both seeming to go more for the compact rather than the laid out. NBC will debut almost all of its series the week of Monday, September 23rd to Sunday, September 29th. "Fear Factor" and "Crossing Jordan" start out with 90 minute premieres, bumping "Third Watch" back to September 30rd, "The West Wing" does the usual two hour premiere, knocking "Law & Order" to October 2nd, while "Providence" waits until October 4th to start its 5th season.
     Fox is less laid out than NBC, but is still tight compared to previous seasons. Some of its schedule will debut a week ahead of time, hopefully getting the jump on the other networks. The Saturday night schedule starts on September 14th, "That 70s Show" and "Grounded For Life" premiere on September 17th; while the Wednesday night slate premiere the next night. The new Friday night line-up of "Firefly" and "John Doe" start on Friday, September 20th. The next premiere comes a month later when the Monday night schedule starts on October 21st, while "24" premieres on October 29th. The Sunday night lineup, as usual, will be the last to premiere. "The Simpsons," King of the Hill" and "Malcolm In The Middle" all start on November 3rd, while "Futurama and "The Grubbs" go a week later. "Oliver Beene," which is scheduled for the 7:30pm timeslot, will probably wait until January.
the only networks who have no yet announced their premiere dates are ABC and the WB. (July 23)

"Meet My Folks" slimes it way to number 2
     NBC can't do wrong with summer reality series this year. First "SpyTV." Then "Dog Eat Dog." Then "Criminal Intent." And now "Meet My Folks." The show debuted to a huge 11.0mil viewers on Monday night, winning its slot with a whopping 5.6/16 rating in adults. And I say whopping because this makes it the highest rated new series on any network this summer. An hour earlier on NBC, "Dog Eat Dog" (11.3mil) set a summer record of its own, while a repeat "Fear Factor" (9.7mil) set a record for a repeat episode in viewers and adults. NBC's got to be smiling, but critics are not. "Meet My Folks" has been described as a show so vile that Jerry Springer himself would be embarased to have his name attached. The first installment involved a man with a fetish for spanking, and an on air demonstration. Yuck.
     CBS also had some luck on the night, bringing in its highest ratings in weeks. "King" and "Yes, Dear" (8.8mil) were second at 8pm, "Raymond" (13.0mil) and "Becker" (11.0mil) were first at 9pm, while "48 Hours" (10.4mil) didn't trail by much at 10pm, at least in total viewers. Over on the UPN, the usuals drew 3.3mil; 3.1mil; 2.9mil and 2.9mil, respecitively, marking the first time ever that "The Hughleys" has led the night in viewers. Did the UPN pull the plug too soon? The WB trailed slightly with "7th Heaven" (3.4mil) and "Smallville" (2.3mil).
     So why did I leave Fox and ABC for dead last? Because that's where they deserve to be. ABC started the night with the special "Signs of Fear," bringing in only 5.1mil viewers, while part 2 of the 6 year old flick "The Shining" dipped to just 4.8mil. Over on Fox, the network proved once and for all that "Grounded For Life" can't stand on its own two feet. A marathon of the show to a pathetic 3.6mil at 8pm, and slid to a 3.5mil at 8:30pm, eventually landing at 3.3mil from 9-10pm. And why did this get renewed again? (July 23)

Emmy noms boost ratings
    It seems like somebody actually cares about the emmy nominations- ratings on Thursday were up across the board, probably thanks to the nominations themselves. Starting out at 8pm, "Big Brother 3" (8.8mil) won overall, though the 11 nominee "Friends" (9.5mil) won 8pm, while "Scrubs," with 2 nods, took 8.0mil. Over on ABC, the movie "The Phantom" (6.3mil) scored amazingly well, while "Beyond Belief" had 5.8mil believers for Fox. "WWE Smackdown!" (4.5mil) was fifth in the hour, followed by "Reba" (3.0mil) and "Jamie Kennedy" (2.2mil).
     At 9pm, "CSI," with 6 nods, took home 15.5mil viewers, far outweighing "Will & Grace" (9.0mil; 13 noms) and "Just Shoot Me" (8.2mil; 1 nom), ABC was third, the UPN fourth. "The Phantom" averaged 7.6mil viewers over the night, while "Smackdown!" drew 5.4mil. Fox fell into fifth at 9pm with "The Pulse" (4.4mil), who slowed 15% from last week. Over on the WB, "JKX" (2.6mil) may have done well, but "Off Centre" (1.8mil) did not. At 10pm, "PrimeTime" (9.3mil) barely beat out "The Agency" (9.0mil), while "ER" (7.6mil) sunk below the competition. (July 19)

Cristina Miller leaves "Drew Carey"
     And the cast discintegration begins.... Cristina Miller, Kate on "Drew Carey," is leaving the show after 7 seasons. She will appear in the first two episodes, then be married off, never to be seen again, except when she needs a cheque. It's sad that she wants to spend more time with her family. It's unclear whether she'll continue her recurring role on "Scrubs."
     Drew Carey also announced big changes for the show. Kate's leaving sends Drew on a mission to find his soul mate, which lasts most of the season. Also, Winfred-Lauder is gone, to be replaced with an e-commerce company.
    E-commerce? "Drew," it's not 1998 anymore. I just wish you'd realize that and get off the air. (July 19)

NBC, Fox reach zenith of summer newness
     NBC and Fox have both reached what seems to be the zenith of original summer programming. Coming just a few summers after the summer was an afterthought (until "Survivor" changed all that), it's somewhat surprizing. 
     Staring out on Fox, it zenith will be this week. On Tuesday, the network aired a 90 minute edition of "American Idol," on Wednesday the new series "30 Mintues to Fame," "Meet The Marks" and "American Idol," on Thursday Beyond Belief" and the newmag "The Pulse," on Friday an hourlong "Invasion of The Hidden Camera," and on Saturday two new "Cops" and an "Americas Most Wanted." That leaves the net with 57% new programming on the week, and all of it will likely do well in the ratings, at least for Fox.
      Over on the peacock, it's zenith will come the week of July 29th to Augist 4th. On Monday it airs "Dog Eat Dog,"on Tuesday two new episodes of "Spy TV" and "Dateline," on Wednesday "Meet My Folks," on Thursday it debuts "The ReRun Show," and Friday it has a two hour long "Dateline," on Saturday it debuts "She Spies," and on Sunday it has a two hour long "Dateline" and "Crime & Punishment." That equals 48% new programmig./ And given NBC's summer track record so far, all will turn to gold. (July 17)

CBS has a real premiere week
     Following sister net "UPN"s lead, CBS will have a real premiere week, also. But this is nothing out of the ordinary, it usually does. Almost all of its shows will debut on the week of Monday, September 23th to Sunday, September 29th. But there are a few exceptions. "Survivor V: Thailand" will get the jump on "Friends" (maybe) by debuting on Thursday, September 19th, "Judging Amy" keeps her mouth shut until Tuesday, October 1st, and "The Amazing Race 3" starts its adventures the very next night. (July 17)

Nothing original on Tuesday
     Despite the sheer number of original series airing on Tuesday night, there was nothing original about the ratings. It was the same shows drawing the same amount of viewers, pretty much holding the line from previous weeks.
     So, starting out at the boring 8pm hour, the winner overall was "JAG" (7.4mil), though Fox's combo of "That 70s Show" (5.5mil) and "American Idol" (8.5mil) were a close second. Third was NBC's double "Spy TV" (6.5mil; 7.2mil), while ABC rated third with back to back episodes of "According To Jim" (5.5mil; 6.2mil). "Gilmore Girls" (2.8mil) was fifth, followed by "Buffy" (2.0mil).
     At 9pm, Fox moved into the lead with "Idol" (9.7mil). CBS was a distant second with "The Guardian" (7.7mil), while "Frasier" (7.0mil) and "Scrubs" (6.7mil) were third. The good news for "Scrubs"- this week it held onto pretty much all of "Frasier"s audience and outdrew it in adults. Last Thursday, though it fell behind "Friends" by more than a million viewers, in adults, it drew a 3.0/10, close to "Friends" (3.3/12). Fourth in the hour was a "Mole" (6.4mil), while "Smallville" (3.5mil) drew more than double what "Under One Roof" (1.5mil) did. At 10pm, "Dateline" (10.1mil) was the winner, followed by "Judging Amy" (7.0mil) and "Houston Medical" (6.0mil).
      Compared to last season, it was still the same old boring thing. Fox was up 50%, the WB 23%. NBC was flat, the UPN dropped 5%, CBS was down 12% while ABC lost a usual 36%. In total, the nets drew 34.7mil viewers on the night, down a normal 3% compared to last year's 35.8mil. (July 17)

NBC scores on the weekend
    Since the weekend officially starts for me on Thrusday evening (don't ask), I guess I'll start here. The headline of this story doesn't really apply for NBC on Thursday, as CBS owned the night, as usual. Starting out at 8pm, "Big Brother 3" settled into its Thursday slot with a winning (but crummy) 8.2mil viewers, while "Friends" (8.5mil) and "Scrubs" (6.9mil) averaged out a second place finish. Fox was third in the hour with "Beyond Belief" (5.1mil), while ABC started out slow with the movie "First Contact" (5.5mil overall). That gave the UPN fourth in the hour with "Smackdown!" (5.9mil overall), featuring the return of "The Rock" (remember the horrible movie "The Scorpion King" ? To us nom-wrestling fans, that was The Rock). "Reba" was a strong 3.0mil for the WB at 8pm, though "Jamie Kennedy" slipped a bit (2.3mil) at 8:30pm. 
     At 9pm, "CSI" (13.5mil) was the big winner, as usual, while NBC took a low 7.2mil for "Will & Grace" and an even lower 6.7mil for "Just Shoot It." (typo? I think not). The UPN was third, ABC fourth, while Fox debuted the new newsmag "The Pulse" to a high 5.2mil. I say high because, compared to what Fox has aired in this slot, this is one of its strongest telecasts dating back to "Temptation Island 2." Over on the WB, "Jamie Kennedy" (2.4mil) and "Off Centre" (2.0mil) were a very distant 5th. At 10pm, ABC won, while "The Agency" (7.6mil) beat out "ER" (6.6mil) for second.
     Compared to last season, every single network but Fox was down, leading the nets to average 35.7mil, off a steep 15% from last year's 42.0mil.
     On Friday night, it was much the same news. CBS won the 8pm hour with "48 Hours" (7.0mil), while ABC was second thanks to "Americas Funniest Videos" (6.0mil). Dateline was third (6.4mil from 8-10pm), while the special "Invasion of the Hidden Cameras" over on Fox dropped off the screen (3.7mil). At 9pm, "The Price Is Right" moved to a new night, with a loss of over 2mil viewers, this time around bringing in 7.7mil, still strong for Friday. "Dateline" was second, while back to back "Whose Line Is It Anyway"s over om ABC (4.2mil; 4.7mil) were a distant third. On Fox, "The X-Files" got completely lost in the mix, drawing a series low 2.2mil viewers, which will rank it within the bottom 10 shows on the week. How sad. At 10pm, "SVU" had a strong outing with 9.0mil, "20/20" was a middling 7.3mil, while CBS's music special featuring Mark Anthony drew three times as many viewers as records he's ever sold, 4.0mil.
      Compared to last season,  CBS was up solidly, NBC was flat, ABC won down convincingly, while Fox lost almost half it's audience. In total, the nets drew 22.4mil viewers, down 11% from last year's 25.2mil.
      Now on Saturday, NBC really scored. Though it did start out slow with a repeat "Dog Eat Dog" (3.4mil), the movie "Men In Black" drew an extremely high 8.7mil from 9-11pm, giving NBC a far and away win on the night. As for the rest, a special "Cops" (5.8mil) won at 8pm, while "Big Brother 3" (5.5mil) disappointed in second. At 9pm, after NBC, Fox was second with a solid "Americas Most Wanted" (7.0mil), while "The District" (5.4mil) should start arresting people and making them watch. At 10pm, "The Agency" had an even rougher time of it, attracting only 4.6mil to its new timeslot. But not as rough as ABC. Thanks to the movie "You Only Live Twice," it drew only 4.0mil on the night.
      On the night, the four nets actually outdrew Friday's weak numbers, 22.5mil to 22.4mil, a rarity. But compared to last season, the only network up was Fox, and it was a very small gain. CBS and NBC were both almost down a million viewers, while ABC shed a fraction of its audience. This led the nets to a 7% loss on the night. 
      Now, onto counting original programming from last week- so far. The WB is still stuck at 0%, while the UPN outdid itself at 20%. Thanks to "Big Brother," CBS stands at an even 50%, while ABC has slipped beind at 38%, much thanks to "The Horse Whisperer," which drew huge numbers on Monday. NBC stands at a tiny 16%, while Fox leads the pack with an amazing 69%.
Hey, that's an average sweeps month for them, taking out the repeat episodes of "That 70s Show" plastered everywhere... (July 15)

UPN has a real premiere week
     As opposed to previous seasons where the UPN has extended its premiere from late August (it's Monday night lineup) to early October (its new dramas), this season it's going with one, single week. All its series will premiere between September 23rd and 27th. Most will be cancelled between September 30th and October 4th. (July 15)

"Big Brother" vs. "American Idol"
    In the first battle between Fox's summer hopeful, "American Idol," and CBS's summer stalwart, "Big Brother," Fox's show came out on tp in viewers and aduts, though CBS wasn't far behind. "Idol" drew 10.0mil even from 9 to 10pm, almost a million viewers ahead of "Brother" (9.1mil), though the gap in adults was larger. Neither was the top rated series on the night however, that honour went, as usual, to "Law & Order" (11.3mil).
    The other big news on the night came to "State vs." It seems that word of mouth about the series is finally catching on, with the series raking up a high 7.4mil. It was second in the 10pm hour, behind NBC, but ahead of "48 Hours" (5.9mil) on CBS.
    Since the other ratings are quite boring, I'll start out at 8pm. CBS on the hour, as usual, with "60 Minutes II" (8.0mil), while ABC was with two repeats of "My Wife & Kids" (7.3mil; 8.1mil). NBC was third with the repeat special "Jay Leno's 10th Anniversary" (7.6mil), while Fox was a usual fourth with two episodes of "The Bernie Mack Show" (5.0mil; 5.8mil). Over on the WB, the movie "Three To Tango" took in 3.0mil viewers, beating out "Enterprise" (2.3mil) and "Buffy" (1.8mil) for fifth on the night.
    At 9pm, after the big battle, what was left were the scraps. "The West Wing" (7.7mil) picked up some of them, while two episodes of "The Drew Carey Show" took in just 5.5mil and 5.0mil.
    Compared to last season, it was very good indeed. The losers were CBS and the UPN, down 8% a piece. NBC was flat, and the rest of the increased were huge. ABC (yes, ABC) was up 33%, Fox 43% and the WB 58%. In total, the nets drew 36.4mil viewers on the night, up a very impressive 13% from last year's 32.1mil. The reason? Shows like "American Idol," "Big Brother"
and "State Vs." are apparently much more interesting than repeat fare like "Dawsons Creek" and "Ed." Just a thought... (July 11)

More new summer series for NBC
    NBC is apparently ready to kick it up a notch (and no, not with Emeril Legasse, they already tried that one), driving into the regular season with a slate of new series. In what NBC is already iiritatingly calling a hit (read the press release), "Love Shack" will debut on Monday, August 26th at 8pm, right before the summer's real hit "Dog Eat Dog." Talk about "American Idol" all you want, it's not drawing like "Dog" is. The next next, it settles into its new 8pm timeslot, hopefully giving a boost to the flailing night. The show's concept is basically "Temptation Island," except in a mansion in SoCal. 
     Debuting much closer to home is "Meet my Folks," to air next Monday at 10pm. Here's what NBC says "In the first episode, three eligible bachelors spend three days with their potential Miss Right -- and her family in their home. During the course of the long weekend, each contestant's character and intentions are put to the test through a series of revealing conversations and interactions the parents of their potential love match. The ultimate victor will enjoy a week in Hawaii with the woman of their dreams, with her family's blessings." Sounds fun. Lord only knows for how long this will air.
     Said to be coming in August is "The Rerun Show," which looks hilarious. Click here for a "Facts Of Life" picture that had me in giggles for seconds. Each week, the cast will act out a classic episode from a classic series. Seriously folks, this one looks like a keeper.
      And they all do, at least on NBC. Is there anything this network can do wrong with new reality summer series? Save "Lost," which bombed last early September, everything is gold over on NBC. (July 11)

Sans "Idol," shows see a boost
    The big draw on Tuesday night may have been Fox's "All Star Game" (16.5mil) with the pre game show drawing 13.2mil, but the real story was that a number of series saw a big boost without "American Idol" in the running. "The Mole" jumped to 6.7mil viewers at 9pm, its best performance since "Idol" came to be, while "Frasier" (8.5mil) and "Scrubs" (7.0mil) both saw a lift from recent weeks. "The Guardian" (7.2mil) pretty much held the line, while even "Smallville" (3.7mil) and the UPN's "Under One Roof" (1.2mil) got in on the act. 
     At 8pm, after Fox, "JAG" won second with an off 7.8mil, older viewers drawn by Fox. Double repeats of "Spy TV" (6.6mil; 7.1mil) was second, while "According To Jim" on ABC (5.7mil; 6.3mil) was up over "Spin City" from recent weeks by about a million and a half viewers. "Gilmore Girls" was solid yet again at 3.1mil, while "Buffy" struggled for the scraps with just 1.8mil viewers. At 10pm, After Fox, "Dateline" (9.1mil) was down from last week, while "Houston Medical" (6.4mil) held steady, leaving "Judging Amy" (7.5mil) sandwiched in the middle.
     Compared to last season, it was a pretty good night on the networks. NBC and the WB were both up 13%, while Fox registered a 5% gain. CBS was flat, the UPN was down 17%, while ABC plunged 28%. In total, 42.6mil viewers tuned into the networks on Tuesday, down slightly from 43.3mil last season. And I say a good night because lately, a loss so small is something to be celebrated. (July 10)

"Ally" dead last on Monday Night
    "Ally McBeal," the once big shows that apparently can't in repeats, skidded to yet another series low on Monday night, bringing in a paltry 2.4mil viewers. But ever worse than that, it was the lowest rated program on the six networks on Monday, even beating out stalwarts like "The Hughleys" (2.5mil) and "One On One" (2.7mil) for the infamous title. That left Fox with just 3.0mil viewers a on the night, tied with the WB for fourth, and just a hair above sixth place UPN. Oh, and another programming note- ABC won the night with 10.4mil tuning into the original broadcast of "The Horse Whisperer"- one of the few times ABC has convincingly won a night in a long, long time.
    Starting out at 8pm, "Fear Factor" was a winner, even in repeats, drawing 8.6mil viewers. CBS's combo was second with 8.3mil and 8.2mil, respectively. ABC was third, with "Boston Public" (3.5mil) a very distant fifth. "7th Heaven" wound up with 3.2mil, while the UPN's usual duo drew 2.5 and 2.7mil viewers, respectively.
    At 9pm, CBS won first place with "Raymond" (11.7mil) and "Becker" (10.4mil). But NBC's "Dog Eat Dog" could take it in the nationals- it drew about 10.7mil in the overnights. Talk about this summers real success story- it's outdrawn the much hyped "American Idol" in all but a few airings. ABC was third, while the UPN was fourth with the usuals, drawing 3.1mil and 3.0mil. The WB raked in a strong 2.8mil for "Smallville," while the aforementioned "Ally" was dead last in the hour. At 10pm, ABC moved into first, followed by "48 Hours" (9.5mil) and "Crossing Jordan" (7.5mil). (July 10)

Independence Day hits networks hard
    Apparently, this year viewers decided to start celebrating the 4th of July on the 3rd of July, and the party didn't end until the fifth. Network ratings were down across the board for those three nights, even "American Idol" was not immune. That show drew just 6.6mil viewers for its live Wednesday edition, by far it's lowest ratigns to date, though it did increase solidly on "The Bernie Mack Show" (4.7mil). That was good enough for third in the hour, though, led by "The West Wing" (6.8mil); "Mama Flora's Family" (6.6mil, 6.8mil overall). Two episodes of "Drew Carey" averaged just 4.3mil viewers for fourth. At 8pm, "^0 Minutes II" was the usual victor, raking up 8.1mil, while NBC's repeat Bob Hope special (6.0mil) was second. "My Wife & Kids" (5.7mil) and "According To Jim" (5.0mil) were off the mark in third, while two repeats of "Grounded For Life" (3.6mil; 4.4mil) barely registered. At 10pm, "Law & Order" (9.6mil) was on top, as usual, with CBS second and ABC's sinking "State Vs." (5.4mil) third.
     The next night, things got even worse. CBS was tops with an all repeat lineup of "The Price Is Right" (6.5mil), "CSI" (8.3mil) and "The Agency" (5.2mil), while NBC got mixed results with "Friends" (4.4mil); "Will & Grace" (4.2mil) and Macy's Annunal Fireworks special (7.4mil). ABC tanked into third thanks to "n Search Of America" (4.7mil), somthing that Sheryl Crow couldn't even save. Fox lied in fourth (probably fifth after national for the WB and UPN come into play) with two episodes of "Beyond Belief" (3.4mil).
      On Friday night, things got slightly better, but not by much. CBS barely won the night as 8.9mil viewers welcomed Jessica Fletcher back in the movie "Murder She Wrote." "48 Hours" starting out the evening with 5.9mil. Over on NBC, a two hour "Dateline" drew 7.2mil, while "SVU" was second at 10pm with a normal 8.4mil. On ABC, "Americas Funniest Videos" (5.2mil) and "Whose Line? (3.9mil) helped "20/20" to only 7.0mil viewers. Over on Fox, the net came in second with the movie "Blast From The Past" (4.6mil). 
       Over the three nights, CBS won with an average of 7.3mil, NBC was second with 7.1mil. ABC was a distant third with  just 5.1mil, while Fox was even further off the pace with only 4.2mil. With all the nights averaged, the bottom dwellers were also the biggest losers. CBS was actually up 4%, while NBC was off a tiny 3%. Fox lost a quarter of its audience, while ABC lost more than a third. In total, the four "big" nets averaged just 23.7mil viewers over the three nights, down a big 14% from last year's 27.6mil. (July 6)

"Under One Roof" back on TV- thud
    Remember the UPN's last foray into reality television "Under One Roof?" Remember how quickly is plummetted in the ratings and was quickly axed? Apparently, you do. After the sho was canned, my message board recieved a flood of posts asking me to "renew" the show. Sorry, but I don't have that kind of power. If I did, "Murder In Small Town X" would be starting its second season right about now.
     But back to the point. "Under One Roof" returned to the airwaves on Tuesday night, brining the UPN some of its worst ratings ever. Just 900,000 viewers bothered to tune in. That's right- noy 1.9 not 1.1, just 0.9. That was behind fifth place "Smallville" by a margin of more than 3 to 1 (3.2mil) and half of what a weak "Buffy" (1.8mil) gave it. Will it be back for long? Probably not. So start the message board flooding!
     Starting out aty 8pm, the evening really wasn't that eventful. "JAG" took the hour with 7.7mil, followed by repeats of "Spy TV" (7.0mil; 7.1mil). "That 70s Show" logged a third place finish (5.4mil; 6.6mil), while "Spin City" was pretty much done with just about 5.0mil tuning in for two episodes. "Gilmore Girls" (3.0mil) was fifth while the UPN was sixth.
     Over at 9pm, the winner was "American Idol" (9.2mil), though ratings are starting to fall. "Frasier" (8.0mil) and "Scrubs" (6.6mil) averaged out to a second placed win, with "The Guardian" (7.0mil) very close behind. Over on ABC, "The Mole" (5.9mil) had another disappointing outing, while the WB was sixth and the UPN a very distant sixth. At 10pm, "Dateline" (11.1mil) had its best outing of the summer, followed by "Amy" (7.5mil) on CBS. On ABC, "Houston Medical" (5.7mil) lost about a million viewers from last week.
      Compared to last season, it was a night of ups and downs. The losers were ABC, down 37%, the UPN, down 27%, and CBS, down 4%. But the winners were up alot too. NBC was up 12%, the WB 15% and Fox 38%. In total, the nets averaged 33.3mil viewers this year down slightly from 33.8mil last year. (July 3)

"Ally" nearly sixth at 9pm
    Fox's Monday summer programming problems got even worse on Monday night as "Ally McBeal," traditionally a horrible repeat show, dipped to new lows at 9pm. The show drew a measly 3.0mil at 9pm, its second worst rated episode ever, right begin the Christmas Ever edition. That nearly put it in sixth in the slot. While it tied "The Parkers" (3.0mil) at 9pm, it managed to just pull ahead of "Girlfriends" (2.8mil) at 9pm. "7th Heaven" (3.2mil) was fourth in the slot, while ABC locked up third 7.0mil tuning into "Sling Blade." the movie drew 7.1mil overall. "Dog Eat Dog" put in another strong performance with 10.0mil in second, while "Raymond" (12.6mil) and "Becker" (10.7mil) combined for a first place win, for the umpteenth straight time.
     Earlier at 8pm, CBS won with "King of Queens" (8.6mil) and "Yes, Dear" (9.0mil), while "Fear Factor" (8.4mil) was second. ABC was third while "Boston Public" (3.9mil) was a distant fourth. "7th Heaven" was fifth (3.0mil), while "The Hughleys" (2.8mil) and "One On One" (3.1mil) put in a solid sixth place finish. At 10pm, "48 Hours" (10.3mil) threw "Crossing Jordan" (8.3mil) and Billy Bob Thorton out of the loop.
     Compared to last season, it was a draw. On the losers side, Fox slid 17%, ABC 11% and NBC 9%. On the upside, the UPN was up 7%, CBS 17% and WB 29%. In total, the nets drew 35.8mil viewers on Monday, identical to last season. (July 2)

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