Weird Thursday goes to NBC
    After weeks of repeats, NBC's Thursday night line-up returned with new episodes- to its lowest rated night of the year, by far. "Friends" started out the night to just 21.3mil viewers, up only 6% from a repeat last week. "Leap of Faith" sunk to 15.3mil viewers at 8:30, identical to its performance from the last three weeks. That gave "Survivor" an overall win in the hour, with 21.0mil viewers. for third place in the hour, you had to look at the way down to 5.7mil viewers for an hour of "Whose Line?" "Smackdown" wasn't too far behind that, with 5.3mil viewers, while Fox's special "Post Mortem" was dead, averaging only 4.8mil. "Gilmore Girls" took 3.1mil in sixth.
    At 9pm, "CSI" zoomed to 25.4mil, though it was down from the 28mil is was averaging before it took two weeks off. Ten million viewers later, "Will & Grace" (15.3mil) and "Just Shoot Me" (14.0mil) came into play, while "Millionaire" (8.0mil) hit a new Thursday low in third. "Smackdown" (7.3ml) was close behind in fourth, while Fox's special "O'Reiley Factor" (5.2mil) was a non-factor in fifth. "Charmed" rounded out the list with 4.4mil viewers. At 10pm, "ER" (24.5mil) took "The Agency" (11.2mil) and "PrimeTime" (9.3mil) without problems.
    Compared to last season, the winners and loser were split, but the losers lost big. Starting with the good, the WB was up 6%, NBC 3% and CBS 1%, all on comparable line-ups. But the Fox dropped  9%, the UPN 11%, while ABC plunged 35%. In total, the nets averaged 61.2mil viewers this season, down 7% from last season's marks. (March 29)

No more chances for "O&A"
   It's officially over. ABC cancelled third year drama "Once & Again" on Thursday, but gave the show enough warning so it could construct a proper series finale. The network says it's very proud of the series, and the producers of the series relaized that it had alot of chances, but just didn't click with audiences. They are happy that they will be given the chance to do a series finale. It will air Monday, April 15th. Which is in just three weeks. (March 29)

Mixed news from Wednesday premieres
    Three new series bowed on Wednesday, along with the 4 that were already airing there, but there were mixed results. First off, "Greg The Bunny" had a very solid premiere at 10.6mil viewers, building on "The Bernie Mack Show" (10.5mil). It thumped "Wednesday 9:30 (8:30 Central)," which managed only 7.6mil, a big drop from a weak "The Drew Carey Show (9.6mil). "The West Wing" still won the hour, but it was off, drawing only 17.0mil. "The Amazing Race 2" went into free-fall without "Survivor," landing at just 8.5mil viewers, down 38% from last week. The WB scored fifth place honours with a sliding "Felicity" (2.9mil), brining in its worst ever first run numbers, while the UPN lost its shirt with the CBS special "March To Madness" (1.5mil). With "The Amazing Race" tanking on Fridays and now this, you think CBS will dare to put anything else on the UPN? Have you heard of "Wolf Lake?"
    At 8pm, CBS won with "60 Minutes II" (11.2mil). ABC took second with "My Wife & Kids" and the middling premiere of "The George Lopez Show" (10.3mil), while NBC was close behind with the slumping "Ed" (9.8mil). Fox started the night out in fourth with the ever decreasing "That 80s Show " (6.3mil) and "Grounded For Life" (7.6mil). The UPN took fifth with "Enterprise" (5.7mil), while the WB got stuck with a repeat "Creek" (2.5mil).
   10pm saw "Law & Order" (19.8mil) fly high as usual, while "20/20 Downtown" and "48 Hours" (7.8mil each) were left to fight for the scraps. (March 28)

Two more for "Ellie"
    Thanks to a ratings reversal last Tuesday, NBC will be airing two more episode of "Watching Ellie." The show drew 9.8mil on Tuesday, up from 9.3mil the previous week. It was buoyed by a strong national performance, despite 9% decline in the overnights (which is why my ratings for yesterday were off). (March 28)

"The Court" nothing big
    ABC may have been pinning its mid-season new drama hopes on "The Court," but it proved to be nothing special, taking in only 11.4mil viewers at 10pm. That's about 1mil above what "Philly" has been averaging in the slot. It was second in the slot, beaten out by the lowest rated new "Judging Amy" (14.1mil) of the season, but winning out over "Dateline NBC" (10.2mil). Now there's somethnig to be excited about...
    In other new series news, "Watching Ellie" slipped to 8.8mil at 8:30pm, bringing its losses to 47% since its premiere. It did, however, hold most of its "Frasier" (9.2mil) lead-in. Over on Fox, "Andy Richter" fell to 8.4mil in its second outing, significantly of "That 70s Show" (10.1mil), and down 14% from last week. "JAG" won at 8pm (15.4mil), ABC's dud duo of "Dharma" (7.3mil) and "Spin" (7.6mil) were fourth, followed by repeats of "Gilmore" (4.2mil) and "Buffy" (2.9mil). 
    At 9pm, "The Guardian" (13.0mil) took top honours, but "NYPD Blue" (12.4mil) wasn't too far behind. "Frasier" (11.1mil) & "Scrubs" (8.8mil) were third, while "24" (9.4mil) was stable in fourth. "Smallville" (4.3mil) beat out "Under One Roof" (2.2mil). (March 27)

3, count'em, 3 more cancellations
   The WB brought out the big guns on tuesday, and used them to shoot most of its struggling series. Not seeing the light of day again will be "No Boundaries," "My Guide To Becoming A Rock Star" and "Glory Days." None of the cancellations are a surprise, last week the three series rated among the lowest on network tv. (March 27)

A fourth for "Once & Again?"
   The most interesting story to tell on Monday night's lately is not how low "The Colin Quinn Show" can go, but how high "Once & Again" can fly. Well, fly may not be the appropriate term, but it certainly is doing well lately. Last night it drew 8.0mil viewers, its second best marks of the season. It was still third in its slot, but not by much. CBS's flailing "Family Law" (9.6mil) was second, whuile a repeat "Crossing Jordan" (10.1mil) barely won the hour. Could a fourth season be in the works? Maybe, it the show can stay above 8mil.
    It certainly helped that "O&A" finally got a lead-in. ABC drew 10.9mil for the premiere of "The Bachelor," by far its best Monday marks in over almost two months. But it was CBS's hour to lose, and they didn't, held up by average performances from "Raymond" (20.7mil) and "Yes, Dear" (16.8mil). NBC was a deep third in the hour with "Just Shoot Me" (9.0mil) and the aforementioned "Colin" (6.5mil), while "The Embassy" sunk to 6.4mil in its third airing. The UPN was fifth with "The Parkers" and "Girlfriends" (3.7mil each), followed by the soon to be cancelled (2.5mil).
    At 8pm, "Fear Factor" was the big winner, taking in 15.8mil viewers. CBS was second with "King of Queens" (14.0mil) and the second episode of "Baby Bob" (14.3mil). A special episode of "Americas Funniest Videos" gave ABC third with 8.8mil, while a repeat "Boston Public" took in 7.5mil. "7th Heaven" was fifth with 5.2mil, while the UPN regulars rounded out the pack with 3.5mil and 3.5mil viewers.

3, count'em 3 cancellations
   In the past week 3 shows have met their unsurprizing fates. The UPN quietly cancelled "As If" and "The Random Years," while ABC did away with "The Wayne Brady Show." Maybe the three fans of those shows can start a support group. 
(March 24)

"Half Breed" is back
  Cher, that is. After appearing on the show earlier this season in an hilarious episode involving Jack's obsession with her, she's decided she wants to come back for what will likely be an hour long final. Yes, she decided. "W&G" did not call her, she called them... sounds like desparation to me....
   Anyways, NBC gladly took her on for what will likely be the highest rated night of regular tv in recent memory. This is what NBC has planned for Thursday, May 17th. 8pm- "Friends," Rachel gives birth. 9pm, "Will & Grace & Cher." And 10pm, Anthony Edwards leaves "ER." Ouch. (March 24)

"Ellie" hiatus
   As of April 9th, "Watching Ellie" is taking a little tip to hiatusville. NBC stresses that the show is not cancelled, it just wants to conserve episodes in the event that the show is picked up in the fall. Julia Louis Dreyfuss has said she'll only do 15 episodes a season, and if the show is picked up for 15 next season, the six unaired eps will make 21, an average order. the show will air its season final on April 2nd, with an episode at 8:30pm and another at 9:30pm. "Will & Grace" will take its place for a short while, followed by the burn-off of "Three Sisters."
    If the show is cancelled, the reaminging episodes will likely air this summer, probably on Thursday night. The show started strong with 16.7mil viewers a month ago, but slipped to 9.5mil this past week. (March 24)

NBC takes Friday, again
    In what is just becoming a non-story, NBC won Friday night again with its regular line-up intact. "Providence" came to the sched with 11.2mil, beating out "Americas Funniest Videos" (9.5mil) for first. The NCAA was third (9.0mil, 10.8mil overall), while Fox zoned out with "That 70s Show" (5.0mil) and "The Simpsons" (5.2mil). At 9pm, "Dateline" (12.0mil) won out over basketball (11.0mil) and another episode of "Americas Funniest" (9.0mil). "Dark Angel" (6.1mil) got a bump in the ratings, but was still way behind. At 10pm, a repeat "SVU" took a strong 13.8mil, with the NCAA coming in second (12.4mil) and "20/20" dead last (9.0mil).
    The losses compared to last season weren't so bad. ABC was down the most, a quarter, but Fox lost only 7%. NBC was up 12%, while CBS jumped 16%. In total, the four nets drew 38.0mil viewers on the night, down only slightly from lasy years 38.3mil. (March 24)

"Leap" slows erosion
    NBC's bubble show "Leap of Faith" finally slowed its erosion on Thursday night. drawing 15.2mil viewers, the same as it drew last week. Though that was a huge drop from "Friends" (19.9mil), it was still good for the show. And speaking of all these repeats, you'd think the peacock would air new episodes while CBS was going with the NCAA on Thursday. Wouldn't that make sense?
     Anyway, thenet had no trouble winning at 8pm. CBS was second with 10.2mil for the NCAA (12.2mil overall), while ABC sunk to just 7.0mil for the special "World Figure Skating." The UPN was back with 6.0mil for "WWF Smackdown!" while Fox suffered with "Celebrity Boxing" (4.8mil). The WB's aired two episodes of the soon-to-be-cancelled "My Guide To Becoming A Rock Star" (1.9mil overall).
    At 9pm, NBC took the hour easily with "Will & Grace" (14.6mil) and "Just Shoot Me" (13.1mil). CBS was still second with 12.5mil, while ABC took 7.7mil. The UPN drew 7.6mil for the secodn half of "Smackdown!," while Fox got stuck with "Andy Richter" (4.3mil) and "King Of The Hill" (4.0mil). That gave the WB fifth place in the hour with "Charmed" (4.6mil). At 10pm, "ER" (14.6mil) took a close victory over CBS's 13.9mil. ABC averaged 8.4mil in the hour.
    Compared to last season, the wins and losses were split, but the losses were much bigger than the wins. Starting with the good news, NBC was up 10% from last season's comparable line-up, CBS 9% and the UPN 6%. But Fox dropped 23% while the WB and ABC plunged 40% and 46%, respectively. The nets averaged 49.7mil viewers this season, off a jaw-dropping 13% from last year's 56.9mil. (March 24)

Repeat Wednesday gives CBS win
    Thanks to a bevy of Wednesday repeats, CBS won the night with an original line-up. Of course, it didn't hurt that "Survivor: Marquesas" led off the night. That show drew 21.8mil viewers as viewers started to find it. NBC was second with "Dateline" (10.3mil), while ABC took third with repeats of "My Wife & Kids" (10.3mil) and "According To Jim" (9.0mil). the UPN actually took fourth place with a new "Enterprise" (5.6mil), leaving Fox to a deep fifth with repeats of "That 80s Show" (5.0mil) and "Grounded For Life" (5.5mil). A repeat "Dawson" took 3.0mil on the WB.
    "Felicity" returned to the schedule at 9pm, but nobody seems to be interested: the show drew only 3.4mil, barely beating out a repeat "Enterprise" (3.3mil). "The West Wing" (14.2mil) took the hour, followed by a strong "The Amazing Race 2" (12.2mil). A repeat "The Drew Carey Show" was surprizingly strong at 9.5mil, but "The Job" slid off from that with 8.0mil. Fox was out of the loop with a repeat "Bernie Mack" (7.4mil) and a new "Titus" (6.4mil). At 10pm, "Law & Order" (16.5mil) came out on top despite a repeat, leaving "60 Minutes II" (8.0mil) and "20/20 Downtown" (6.9mil) the scraps.
     There were only two losers when compared to last season. Fox was third first, plunging a third, while ABC lost just 3%. NBC was flat (with a repeat "L&O" down only 9% from a new episode last season), CBS was up 8%, the wB 10% and the UPN 29%. the nets averaged 49.9mil viewers this season, up 2% from last year's 48.8mil. The original, regular timeslot programming count this Wednesday was 40%, compared to 33% last season. (March 21)

"Ellie" still slids
     "Watching Ellie" dipped once again in its fourth week, reach the 10mil viewer level. the show drew 10.2mil at 8:30pm, good enough for second, though not by much. It did once again increase from its "Frasier" (9.6mil) lead-in, but "JAG" still won the hour with 13.5mil. Fox was second overall with "That 70s Show" (11.3mil) and the strong debut of "Andy Richter" (10.1mil). "Dharma & Greg" (8.5mil) and "Spin City" (8.6mil) were a strong fourth. "Gilmore Girls" drew 4.8mil for a repeat, far and above "Buffy" (3.0mil).
     ABC was tops at 9pm, though there were strong performances all around. "NYPD Blue" won the hour with 12.6mil, though "Frasier" (13.3mil) won at 9pm, but fell off with "Scrubs" (10.0mil). "24" had an extremely strong performance with 10.0mil, its third best viewer total of the season. CBS's "The Guardian" suffered in a repeat (9.6mil), while a new "Smallville" (6.2mil) more than quadrupled the audience of "As If" (1.7mil) and "Random Years" (1.3mil). At 10pm, it was a close race, with "Dateline" (10.6mil), "Philly" (10.3mil) and "Judging Amy" (10.2mil) all vying for top spot.
     Compared to last season, the winners and the losers were evenly split, but the losers lost too much for the winners to overcome.  the UPN dropped 36% of its audience, ABC 30% and CBS 10%. NBC was up 5%, Fox 14%, while the WB jumped 96%. In total, the nets averaged 50.4mil viewers on the night, down 5% from last season's 53.0mil. 

"Baby Bob" another feather in CBS's cap
     Though the reviews were horrible and viewers didn't exactely love it, "Baby Bob" nevertheless became yet anothet hit for CBS on Monday. The show premiered to 16.3mil at 8:30pm on Monday, building soldigly on its strong "King of Queens" (15.3mil) lead-in. They were tops in the hour, though "Fear Factor" (14.5mil in the hour, 15.3mil overall) was very close behind, taking the important demos. "Boston Public" was an average third with 11.7mil, while ABC was way behind with the special "Before They Were Stars" (6.5mil). "7th Heaven" drew 5.5mil for a repeat, while "The Hughleys" (3.0mil) and "One On One" (3.3mil) brought up the rear.
     "Raymond" was the big draw at 9pm, ringing up 21.3mil viewers, followed by a strong "Becker" (18.0mil). "Raymond," however, lost to "Fear" in adults, a 7.2 rating to an 8.0. "Factor" drew 16.9mil in the half hour. But once again, "The Colin Quinn Show" fell, but stayed steady at 7.2mil from last week. "American Embassy" was third in the hour, staying the same as last week with 7.8mil viewers. ABC stayed in fourth with "All Star Bloopers" (6.5mil), while "Girlfriends" (3.7mil) and "The Parkers" (3.5mil) drove into fifth. The WB was dead last with the pathetic "Glory Days," taking up only 2.4mil viewers. At 10pm, it was the battle of the female dramas. "Crossing Jordan" was the clear-cut winner with 12.3mil, "Family Law" drew a pathetic 10.1mil, while "Once & Again" was back in third with 7.8mil, but it was the top rated series on ABC on the night.
     Compared to last season, there were a whole lot of losers. But NBC jumped 35%, and CBS was up 3%. Fox dropped 10%, the UPN 15%, the WB 19%,  while ABC was down 29%. In total, the nets drew 52.3mil viewers on the night, down 3% from last season's 53.9mil. (March 19)

ABC's dream: changeable football schedule
     The NFL wants to beef up its premiere regular season show- "Monday Night Football." While ABC will schedule all games before the season even begins, towards the end of the season, the NFL will reshedule games with playoff contenders to Monday nights. ABC will have to share some revenues with CBS and Fox, however, who have the right to the Sunday afternoon games.
     This couldn't have come at a better time for ABC. Going through one of the worst seasons in the history of network television, "MNF" was off again in the ratings this season, to 16.8mil viewers. (March 19)

Typical Sunday mix-match
     There were no clear winner on Sunday, as usual, with a different network winning every hour. Starting at 7pm, "60 Minutes" was the clear cut winner, taking a solid 16.6mil viewers. ABC was second, taking 10.1mil for the first half of the movie "Snow White: Confessions." Fox was third, with pathetic numbers from "Futurama" (6.8mil) and "King of The Hill" (7.6mil). The 7pm edition of "Weakest Link" took a deadly 6.2mil, while "No Boundaries" (1.5mil) shrank even more in its third week.
    ABC came out on top at 8pm, thanks to the second hour of the Disney Movie (13.9mil). Fox was second with a new "Simpsons" (12.5mil) and a repeat "Malcolm" (11.5mil). CBS slipped to a close third with "Max Bickford" (11.3mil), while NBC stayed in fourth with a second "Weakest Link" (9.0mil). "The Jamie Kennedy Experiment" was way back in fifth with two episodes drawing 2.4mil and 2.6mil.
    It was NBC's turn at 9pm, as the drama log jam resulted in "Law & Order: CI" taking 13.0mil. "Alias" threw in a very strong outing at 11.7mil for second, while CBS's movie "Laura Ingles" was a disappointment with just 10.2mil at 9pm. An even bigger disappointment was "The X-Files," which drew only 8.3mil, a near series low. "Off Centre" did a pathetic 2.3mil for the WB, but "For Your Love" was even worse than that, drawing only 2.1mil. At 10pm, "The Practice" (15.1mil) was tops, followed by the second hour of CBS's movie (11.4mil), while "Dateline" lingered with 9.3mil.
    Compared to last season, it was a disappointing night overall. Only NBC and CBS increased, and they were up a tiny 3 and 2%, respectively. Fox lost 12%, ABC a quarter,  and the WB was down 30%. In total, the nets averaged 45.8mil viewers on the night, down 11% from last year's 51.5mil. (March 18)

Weekend ratings average, but still down
    Nielson was indifferent towards the networks over the weekend, though overall ratings were still down. NBC won Friday thanks to the thrid straight week of double episodes of "Dateline NBC" (11.3mil & 12.9mil), and topped out with "Law & Order: SVU" (13.0mil). ABC was a strong second with "Funniest Videos" (9.6mil), "Bloopers" (9.0mil) and "20/20" (9.3mil). CBS was third, but stronger than usual with the NCAA (8.1mil). Fox dropped off the map, once again, thanks to "That 70s Show" (5.0mil), "King of The Hill" (4.9mil) and "Dark Angel" (5.3mil). Funny, when ABC airs "Whose Line?" or "My Wife & Kids" twice a week, everybody screams "overuse!" But when Fox airs "That 70s Show' thirty time a week and "King of the Hill" on Thursday, Friday & Sunday, nobody says anything...
    On the night, Fox was down 19% and ABC 17%. CBS & NBC were both up a tiny 4%. The nets averaged 34.9mil viewers on the night, down 6% from last year's 37.2mil.
    On Saturday, CBS was tops with the NCAA (8.0mil), while Fox was a close second with its usual line-up (7.0mil, 7.6mil, 8.2mil). Viewerrs outright rejected NBC's line-up- "ET's 20th Anniversary" drew only 6.4mil, and the wasted movie "The Mathew Shepard Story" came up with just 7.6mil. But that still beat up ABC's "The Man With The Golden Gun," which slid to just 6.0mil.
     Compared to last season, ABC dropped a third, CBS 18% and Fox 15%. NBC almost tripled its 2.5mil from last season's XFL debacle, but it still wasn't enough. The nets combined for 29.0mil viewers on the night, down 5% from last year's 30.4mil. (March 17)

"UC: Undercover" gone... surprise
     It appears that NBC has officially cancelled the series "UC: Undercover." The show, which has not been on the air since early January, is set to wrap up Saturday, March 23rd with a two hour movie. Though NBC's doesn't say the show is cancelled, it does say that "UC"s comign back for "two final episodes" and it's taken the link for the show down. (March 16)

"Rock Star": another flop
    After going all season with no shows drawing beneath the 2.0mil viewer level, all the sudden in the last two weeks, four new shows have accomlpished that feat. The newest victim: the WB's new comedy entry "My Guide To Becoming A Rock Star," which drew 1.7mil and 1.6mil for back to back Thursday episodes. It wasn't that it was a weak night- CBS went with basketball, NBC aired repeats, and "Charmed" drew a strong 4.6mil at 9pm. Again we are left wondering: what happened?
    Again, it was NBC's night, even when airing almost all repeats. "Friends" started the night off with 20.1mil, phenominal for a repeat, while "Leap Of Faith" sunk to 15.3mil at 8:30pm. CBS basketball coverage was second, averaging 10.2mil over the night, while ABC was third with "Whose Line?" (6.7mil at 8pm, 8.0mil at 8:30pm) doing better than ti has recently. The UPN was fourth, with "Smackdown" drawing 6.6mil from 8-10pm, while Fox got stuck in fifth as usual, with two episodes of "The Family Guy" (5.0mil at 8pm, 5.5mil at 8:30pm).
    But ABC pulled ahead at 9pm, thanks to Rosie's little talk on "PrimeTime Thursday." That show averaged 15.3mil viewers from 9-11pm. "Will & Grace" (13.3mil) and "Just Shoot Me" (11.7mil) were at typical repeat levels in second. Fox was once again in fifth, with "King Of The Hill" (4.9mil) and "Futurama" (4.2mil) not doing much of anything. NBC was second at 10pm with "ER" (13.7mil).
    Compared to last season, only one net posted an increase. That was CBS, up 17%. But ABC was only down 2%, its smallest Thursday loss of the season, the UPN 3%, NBC 7%, excellent considering it aired all new episodes (minus "ER" last season). The biggest losers were Fox, down 30% and the WB, which plunged 39%. In total, the nets averaged 51.9mil viewers on the night, down 7% from last year's 56.1mil. (March 15)

With "Boxing," Fox fights back
     It's no secret that Fox's Wednesday line-up is not what it was last season (with the loss of 'Temptation Island"), but Fox bit back on Wednesday night, nearly doubling last season's results. "Celebrity Boxing" overwealmingly won the 9pm hour with 18.2mil viewers, better than every single performance of "Temptation Island." Not that this show is any less low brow, but can Fox ignore numbers like this? "The Simpsons" and "Bernie Mack" both took 8.5mil in the 8pm hour.
    But ti wasn't only Fox biting back in the night. Every net had something to brag about. Starting with the winner, NBC, it started out with "Dateline" (11.6mil) drawing better numbers than "Ed," then repeats of "The West Wing" (15.0mil) and "Law & Order" (17.1mil) strayed into redord territory for repeat broadcasts of those series. For "WW," it was down only 13% compared to last season's new episode, while "L&O" only lost 9% from a new episode. CBS has "Survivor" (20.2mil) at 8pm, bringing in slightly lower numbers than its doing on Thursdays. "The Amazing Race" got a nice boost from this, coming up with 11.3mil. "60 Minutes II" capped off the night with a slow 7.6mil.
    Even ABC had something to brag about- it was up over last season on Wednesday for the first time this season. Though no show did backflips, "My Wife & Kids" (10.0mil), "According To Jim" (9.0mil), "Drew Carey" (8.2mil) (all repeats) and a new "The Job" (7.0mil) and "20/20 Downtown" (8.2mil) increased over last season by a small, but important 2%. On the little nets, back to back episodes of "Dawsons Creek" (2.5mil, 2.3mil) were weak on the WB, while "Enterprise" (3.8mil) and the special "WWF Divas" (3.2mil) locked up fifth on the night.
     Compared to last season, ti was mostly a good night. Fox was up 78%, ABC 2% and NBC 1%. the UPN lost only 3%, the WB 4% and CBS was down 18%. In total, the nets averaged 55.3mil viewers on the night, up 6% from last year's 52.3mil. (March 14)

"Will & Grace" for three more seasons
     The NBC network has struck a deal with NBC productions (that must have been a tough negotiation...) to keep "Will & Grace" on the air for three more seasons. The network will pay about $4mil an episode, making it the fourth most expensive show on the network. (March 14)

"Watching Ellie" a hit
    Yes, "Watching Ellie" did decline in its third week, but the decline was insigificant enough for NBC to officially declare this show a hit. Of course, NBC has been doing this all along, but now it will have the grounds to. The show drew 11.1mil viewers at 8:30pm, a decline of only 7% over last week. It built on its "Frasier" (10.1mil) lead-in, and won its slot in the key demos. Of course, it lost overall to "JAG" (15.7mil), but that show was no match in the demos. Also in the hour, "That 70s Show" drew 8.7mil for a repeat, good enough for third, followed by "Dharma & Greg" (8.0mil) in fourth. "Undeclared" ended what will likely be its run with 6.5mil, losing out to "Spin City" (7.2mil) for third. On the mini nets, "Gilmore Girls" drew 4.5mil for a repeat, just beating out a new "Buffy" (4.4mil).
     But 9pm is where the carnage started, at least for the UPN. "As If" declined 23% from its horrible premiere numbers to average only 1.4mil viewers, while "Random Years" did even worse, drawing only 1.0mil, the UPN's worst ever performance in the slot, and the worst ever for the big six nets in primetime, not including the summer. WB's "Smallville" (5.8mil) was miles above them, and things only got bigger from there. "24" (9.1mil) was at typical levels, as were "NYPD Blue" (12.0mil), "The Guardian" (13.0mil) and "Frasier" (15.1mil). On show that NBC cannot call a hit is "Scrubs," which fell to 10.8mil at 9:30pm, its worst first run performance of the season.
     At 10pm, "Dateline" (12.0mil) come out on top, while even in repeats, "Judging Amy" (10.6mil) still beat out "Philly" (10.0mil).
     Compared to last season, there were more winners than losers, but the losers lost big. Starting with the winners, the WB was up 82% compared to last seasons double repeat combo (interestingly, a repeat "Gilmore" was up 50% over last season's repeat "Buffy," this year a repeat beat a new episode of the slayer). CBS jumped in all slots, recording an overall increase of 14%, while NBC was up 10% thanks to "Ellie" and a new "Frasier." The UPN was flat, Fox fell 20%, and ABC was the biggets loser (will I ever tire of writing that?), down 30%. All totaled, the nets shed a microscopic 1% of their audience, going from 52.5mil to 51.9mil. (March 13)

Roanoke doesn't like "Once & Again" 
    In an odd an inexplicable move in these days of "Will & Grace" and "Queer As Folk," the ABC affiliate in Roanoke-Lynchburg, Virginia, decided not to air last Monday's episode of "Once & Again." The episode, which featured a girl on girl kiss, was overlooked by the station, which reaches 420 000 homes. GLAAD was upset over the move (but then again, when are they not upset?). Ironically, it was "Once & Again"s highest rated episode of the season by far, reaching over 9mil viewers. Instead, it aired informercials.
    But this is not uncommon for ABC affliliates of late. "Whose Line?" is sometimes dropped by affliates in favor of other things, as is the low rated Saturday night movie. With ABC in such a mess, why air a show that only reaches 5mil viewers nationally when money making infomercials can be aired instead? And with a network so desparate to hold onto anything, it's not likely to take action against the dissidents. (March 13)
Monday brings string of disappointments
    Three new series premiered Monday night, and all were promptly shot down, leading the networks to wonder what the hell happened. Starting with the worst, "The Colin Quinn Show" got a great lead-in from "Fear Factor" (a series high 16.0mil for a an hour and a half edition), but "Quinn" dropped 60% of it's lead-in, plunging to just 7.1mil viewers. "Factor" did 17.7mil at 9pm. Over on Fox, in the very same hour "American Embassy" took the the air, coming up with only 8.2mil, well off "Ally"s normal marks. And on CBS, "The Amazing Race 2" debuted to only 9.7mil, despite having a good lead-in in "Becker" (16.5mil). What happened? Perhaps nobody will ever know...
     Starting out at 8pm, "Fear Factor" won with 15.2mil, beating out CBS's "King of Queens" & "Yes, Dear" (both 12.9mil) by over two million viewers. Fox's "Boston Public" was third with 11.6mil. ABC sunk to a deep fourth, almost fifth. "My Wife & Kids" performed okay at 8pm, coming up with 7.1mil for a repeat. But "The Wayne Brady Show" plunged to just 4.6mil at 8:30pm, fifth in the slot. "7th Heaven" was fifth overall with a repeat taking 5.6mil, just a notch out of fourth. "The Hughleys" (3.1mil) and "One On One" (3.3mil) rounded out the hour with repeat efforts.
     At 9pm, NBC would have won were it not for "Quinn." CBS took top honours, with a repeat "Raymond' (16.7mil) and "Becker." NBC was second, Fox third, and ABC fourth with the special "The Hunt For Osama Bin Laden" (7.1mil). the UPN jumped into fifth with "The Parkers" (3.4mil) and "Girlfriends" (3.6mil), while the WB's "Glory Days" proved it could suck on Mondays as well as Wednesdays, taking only 2.5mil. At 10pm, The winner was CBS, but there was a huge surprise. With all of its female competition out of the way, "Once & Again" drew 9.0mil, by far its best results of the season. Could there be a renewal? NBC's special "Jim Belushi Remembered" wasn't far behind, taking 8.7mil.
     Compared to last season, the winners and loser were split. ABC was the biggest loser, as usual, down 45%. The UPN was down 19% (from a new line-up last season) while the WB dropped 16% from a repeat line-up. On the winners side, CBS was up 5% on a similar line-up, Fox aired new episodes, but was only up 10% over last year's repeats while NBC jumped a huge 98% from last year's movie and "Third Watch," which averaged only 6.1mil viewers. In total, the nets drew 50.5mil viewers this Monday, up about a million, or 2% from last season. (March 12)

"Sally" says so long
    Talk shows are fuguring prominently in tv news lately, and after yesterday, there's one more season. The plug on "The Sally Show" has been pulled after nearly 20 years on the air. The show is averaging less than a 2.0 rating so far this season, down 30 some percent from last year. In the face of dalling ratings, overhauls have been done on the show, but none of it's worked. It's the longest running talk show on the air, currently. 
    But that will all change in 2006. That's when Oprah has decided she'll end her talk show, making it 20 years on the air. The top rated talk show for over a decade (minus that "Jerry Springer" season), her show averages about a 6.0 rating, stable over the last few seasons. She doesn't have a written agreement that will keep her on the air, but stations would not dare to drop her show, the highest rated on daytime tv.
    And then there's Rosie. She'll be ending her talk show this May, buit she still hasn't come out of the closet. A fun game tp play while watching her show is to count the number of references she makes to the "news" of her coming out, only not to say what the news is about. Try it, it's fun. (March 12)

Americans watch 9/11
    The day before the sixth month anniversary of September 11th, Americans turned out en masse to CBS's special 9/11, which documented the events and the people of the day. 37.3mil of them turned out, in fact, scoring a huge 23.9/33 in the overnight ratings. And this number could be revised upwards depending on if people watched in groups, or if it was a more urban event.
    Nothing else could even compete with this. CBS won three of the night's four hours, and was very close at 8pm. Starting early on, "60 Minutes" scored a now big 17.0mil, with ABC's movie "Confessions of an Ugly Stepsisters" coming up with 9.6mil in the hour. Fox was third behind "Futurama" (7.3mil) and "King of The Hill" (9.0mil), while NBC's NBA coverage drew only 5.0mil. The WB's "No Boundaries" slipped from it's weak premiere, falling to 1.9mil. But that will only rank it 5th up from the end on the week. On the very week of the season that we have series drawing in the 1-2mil viewer range (minus Christmas week), 5 shows have achieved that accomplishmed.
    At 8pm, Fox steered into the lead with very strong performances from "The Simpsons" (14.2mil) and "Malcolm In The Middle" (14.4mil). ABC was second, with "Ugly" draw 12.6mil in the hour. CBS's "The Education of Max Bickford" got a boost, drawing 12.0mil. NBC once again got stuck with the NBC and a half-hour "Dateline" (6.6mil). On the WB, two episodes of "The Jamie Kennedy Experiment" actually performed kinda well, doing 2.7mil at 8pm and 2.8mil at 8:30pm
    But that's where the big ratings ended. With "9/11" in the mix, everybody was off. Second in the 9pm hour was "Law & Order: CI," coming up with a weak 10.1mil. "Alias" slipped to 9.6mil, while "The X-Files" (8.0mil) dropped over half of its lead-in. "Off Centre" (2.4mil) and "For Your Love" (2.4mil) on the WB were jokes.
     And finally at 10pm, "The Practice" did okay numbers, at 13.6mil, it was above its season average despite the competition. On the other end of the spectrum, "The Weakest Link" plummetted to 6.4mil, dropped 37% of its lead-in. (March 11)

"Survivor" up in week 2, "Leap" down
    "Survivor: Marquesas" was up in week two, something the "Suvrvivor" series hasn't accomplished since the very first edtion. The show drew 23.5mil at 8pm, up frmo 23.0 it's first week. It also jumped from 22.0mil at 8pm to 25.1mil at 8:30pm. That was enough to beat NBC on the hour, something that the third edition never accomplished opposite new episodes. "Friends" drew an average 26.1mil, but "Leap Of Faith" dropped to 18.5mil. Still solid, but the 29% drop was more than the 24% drop in the first week. 
    At 9pm, the white hot "CSI" slipped a bit from last week, but not by much. The show drew 28.4mil, down 400,000 viewers from last week. "Will & Grace" (18.2mil) held its audience from last week at 9pm, while "Just Shoot Me" (15.1mil) slipped from 15.8mil last week. "ER" was solid at 10pm, though it couldn't out-do "CSI," coming up with 26.0mil. But is did more than double CBS's flailing "The Agency" (11.5mil), which dropped a biggest yet 59% of its lead-in. Time to take out the trash....
   And then there were the rest. At 8pm, "Whose Line?" (5.5mil; 6.4mil) got beaten out once again by "Smackdown!" (6.0mil at 8pm. Fox was a blurr with two episodes of "The Family Guy" (5.0mil; 5.5mil), while the WB sunk with "Charmed" (3.1mil). At 9pm, "Millionaire" (9.1mil) continued to slip, "Smackdown" (8.0mil, 7.0mil overall) was fourth, while Fox lost out once again with "King of The Hill" (5.2mil) and "Futurama" (5.0mil), while the WB wasn't much better with another "Charmed" (3.1mil). "PrimeTime Thursday" (7.7mil) closed out the night in pathetic style.
    Compared to last season, the winners and losers were evenly split. NBC jumped 72%, thanks to an all repeat line-up last season (13.2mil for "Friends," 11.0 "Just Shoot Me," 12.3, 10.5, 14.1mil), the UPN was up 6% while CBS was up a tiny 0.5% (interestingly, last season "Survivor" drew 28.7mil, "CSI" 23.0mil and "Big Apple" (11.4mil)- besides the first two switching places, ratings were identical). On the losers side, Fox was down 13%, the WB 16%, but the big loser was ABC, which plunged 43%. NBC won the night in viewers with 21.8mil, but CBS was close behind with 21.1. ABC sat at 7.7mil, the UPN 7.0mil, Fox 5.2mil and the WB 3.2mil. (March 8)

Syndicated ratings a mix-match
    Since I've never written a sotry about the syndicated rated, I feel the need to start. And although this is probably the only time I've ever do it, my teachers strike is into its 5th day and I'm as bored as fuck.
    At the top of the syndicated ratings, as usual, were the stand-bys "Wheel of Fortune" (9.5rating) and "Jeopardy" (8.1). "Friends" comes third, showing surprizing strength at a 7.3. Even "Seinfeld" is in on the act in fourth at a 6.3 (can you imagine how much money has and will be made off this show?). Fifth place goes to the venerable "Entertainment Tonight" (6.1) Sixth place is a tie between my fav "Raymond" & another funny show, "Judge Judy" (5.8). "Oprah" down 20% from last year, sits in seventh with a 5.6. From there on in, it's a long drop.
    "Live with Regis & Kelly" comes in at a 4.0 for eigth, "Judge Joe Brown" sits at a 3.5, and a 3.4 was had by "Maury," "Inside Edition," "ET: Weekend" and "King of the Hill." 14th with a 3.3 is "Frasier," leadin into "Divorce Court" & "Andromeda" (3.1 each). And finally, at a 2.8, sits the once mighty "Jerry Springer" (down 30% from last year- can we say flavour of the month?); "The X-Files," "Stargate SG-1" and "Access Hollywood."
    Taking a look down the syndie sitcom ratings is like a trip down memory lane. How's about "Home Improvment?" (1.4)? And "Married With Children" (1.6), "Suddenly Susan" (1.1), "The Nanny" (1.1), "Sister, Sisters" (0.9), "Clueless (0.8), "Caroline In The City" (0.8), "Cosby" (0.7) and "Grace Under Fire" (0.5). Only goes to show- some series only last as long as it takes to see them off into syndication.
    But perhaps the most surprising performanced come from "The Steve Harvey Show" and "The Jamie Foxx Show." They sit at a 1.7 and a 1.3, almost identical to what they drew as they finished off their runs with new episodes on the WB. For "Harvey," I think the 1.7 might be higher. (March 8)

NCAA on UPN
    Here we go again- CBS is once again throwing its send offs to the UPN. The special "The March To Maddess," introducing the teams and stars of the NCAA tournament which CBS has paid $6.2bil over 11 years to have the rights to air. The special, which would likely draw few viewers on the eye, will air Wednesday, March 27th. (March 8)

"The Chair" is pulled out
   ABC has made it offical- after drawing a record low 4.8mil on Monday, "The Chair" is going on a little walk down cancelation boulevard. The last episode will air Monday, March 18th. Now ABC has the task of finding another series that will draw record low ratings. So much choice, so little time... (March 7)

NBC wins Wednesday, UPN flops
    NBC won Wednesday yet again, one week after barely losing to the Grammy awards. The combo of "Ed" (10.8mil), "The "West Wing" (19.5mil) and "Law & Order" (20.9mil) posted above average numbers, combining for an average of 17.1mil viewers. On the other end of the spectrum was the UPN, which repeated the Tuesday flops "As If" and "Random Years" to only 1.4mil and 1.3mil viewers, repesctively. Yes, these are DOA, considering their combined averages from two days would barely rate above anything airing on the WB's Sunday night line-up.
    The other nets got washed away on the night, with onyl a few standouts on each. Starting at 8pm, it was a three way race for first between "Ed", "60 Minutes II" (10.8mil), "My Wife & Kids" (11.3Rmil) and "Acccording To Jim" (10.4Rmil) ABC barely won it, but that would be the only thing it would win on the night, besides a whole pot of frustration. Fourth in the hour was Fox's lame duo of "That 80s Show" (7.7mil) and "Grounded For Life" (8.1mil), while a repeat "Enterprise" (4.4mil) had no problem outdoing a repeat "Dawsons Creek" (3.1mil).
     An hour later, as NBC flew high to a win, Fox was second. Well, sort of. "The Bernie Mack Show" (11.6mil) continued to slowly build, but "Titus" (8.3mil) got lost in the shuffle. Overall, they were first, followed closely by a repeat of "Survivor" Marquesas" (9.4mil). ABC was down and out, with a repeat "Drew Carey" (7.9mil) and a new "The Job" (7.1mil) continuing to flounder. As for the UPN, it barely got beat out by a repeat "Glory Days" (2.0mil), but even that show onyl came in sixth in the overnights. Number five belonged to PAX for the first time ever, with "Touched By An Angel" taking a 2.0/3 to "GD"s 1.9/3. Of course, with so few affiliates, that number will equal about 1.1mil viewers of so, but good nonetheless. At 10pm, NBC was far and away the winner, leaving deuling newsmags "48 Hours" (7.7mil) and "20/20 Downtown" (6.0mil) to pick up the few scraps. (March 7)

Fewer viewers watch "Ellie"
    It can hardly be called disappointing, but "Watching Ellie" has dropped off in its second outing, taking in 12.5mil viewers. While that is about double what NBC is averagin in the slot so far this season, it still a 25% drop from the first episode. It did build great on its "Frasier" (10.2mil) lead-in though.  "JAG" (15.5mil) won the hour as usual, though its viewer total was off. Fox was second with a repeat "70s" (9.1mil) and the penultimate episode of "Undeclared" (6.8mil). Meanwhile, the life span of "Dharma & Greg" and especially "Spin City" just got a little shorter- they came back to only 8.4mil and 7.4mil viewers, respectively. I say especially bad for "Spin" because the episode guest stared Martin Sheen, and still couldn't do anything in the ratings. If onyl one of these series come back in the fall as is widely expected, I'm betting it will be "Dharma." Or with all the bridges ABC is content on burning thses days, both could be gone. "Buffy" (5.6mil) got a boost on the UPN, probably because "Gilmore Girls" (4.8mil) was a repeat, albeit a very strong one.
    9pm was a mix in the winners column. "Frasier" (15.1mil) took it at 9pm, though "Scrubs" (11.1mil) lost a huge portion of that audience. "Scrubs" is a good show, but not int he timeslot. CBS's "The Guardian" tied NBC on the hour with 13.1mil, while "NYPD Blue" (12.6mil) was a close third, second in adults. Fox's "24" (9.0mil) was average, while "Smallville" (4.6mil) showed strength despite a repeat. Then came the UPN. The premiere of "As If" brought in a season low 1.8mil, and if that weren't bad enough, "Random Years" lowered the bar to only 1.4mil at 9:30pm. Thse two will likely not live to see another week, and rightfully so. But a margin of about a million viewers, the will rank as the two lowest rated series on the season. At 10pm, "Judging Amy" (14.6mil) was first as usual, leaving little for "Dateline" (10.1mil) and "Philly" (9.6mil). (March 7)

New ABC Monday up in flames
    ABC learned a very hard lesson on Monday night- if you put together an uneven line-up, viewers will not show up. And nothing could have more clearly demonstarted this than when the overnights starting rolling in. A new "My Wife & Kids" started the night with only 8.2mil, and that's about where the good news stopped (save 10pm). "The Wayne Brady Show" came back onto the sched with only 6.1mi lookers, its worst performance ever, including its run last summer. "The Chair" fell even further at 9pm, down to only 5.4mil. But there was a ray of good news at 10pm- returning drama "Once & Again" increased to 7.7mil, but far its best marks of the season. And if viewers finally realize where it is on the schedule, the ratings could only increase. But still, 7.7mil on a Monday night is not good, but considering its lead-in and the treatment this show has gotten, it's fantastic.
    But it was CBS's and NBC's night overall, though the WB threw in a very strong performance. "King of Queens" started the night out with 14.5mil, which lead itno an exceptionally strong "Yes, Dear" (15.5mil). "King of Queens" could have some series competition for its timeslot come May, its going on hiatus for a few week this spring to make room for the new sitcom "Baby Bob." What's going to take its place? "Yes, Dear." Yes, indeed. NBC was a very close second with "Fear Factor" (14.0mil) taking its best numbers since returning two months ago. The WB was third in the slot with an amazingly strong "7th Heaven" (9.4mil) putting up its best numbers of the season. ABC was fourth in the hour, but close on its heels was Fox, which aired repeats of "The Bernie Mack Show" (7.5mil) and "That 80s Show" (6.1mil). The UPN got stuck way back in sixth with a repeat "The Hughleys" (3.0mil) and a strong new episode of "One On One" (4.1mil).
    CBS took 9pm, as usual, with "Raymond" (21.8mil) and "Becker" (17.6mil) putting up average results. NBC was once again second, this time it was "Third Watch"s turn to take season high honours, drawing 12.9mil. In the overnights, it continues to beat out its "Fear Factor" lead-in, this time a 9.1rating vs. an 8.9, both season highs. Fox stuck in third with "Ally McBeal" (10.0mil), while the race four fourth was fought between the WB, the UPN and ABC. ABC won out, or I should say lost out, "Angel" took fifth with a strong 4.5mil, though disappointing considering it dropped 53% of its lead-in. "The Parkers" (4.2mil) and "Girlfriends" (4.0mil) had strong numbers in sixth. At 10pm, NBC took top honours with "Crossing Jordan" (13.3mil). CBS was second with "Family Law" (10.6mil), while "Once & Again" stayed in third.
     Compared to last season,  the WB jumped the most,u p 53%, though it aired an all repeat line-up last season, NBC was up 17% from a movie, and CBS jumped 6% with all repeat comedies and a 10pm edition of "48 Hours," which drew 2mil more viewers than this year's "Family Law" did. Fox was down 11% from last year's line-up of all repeat comedies, the UPN was down 16% from an all new line-up, while ABC dropped a third from the movie "Once Fine Day" and "Gideon's Crossing." And when you add it all up, the nets averaged 54.5mil viewers, identical to last year's tally. This never happens.... (March 5)
 

CBS, Fox, ABC, WB share Sunday rebound
    A week after the closing ceremonies of the Salt Lake City Olympics crushed the competition, NBC fell back to normal levels while Fox, CBS, ABC and even the WB picked up the slack. CBS started the winning out at 7pm, with "60 Minutes" taking an average of 16.5mil. ABC was second in the hour with the movie "Cinderella" taking 11.8mil. Fox lingered in third with above average numbers for "Futurama" (8.0mil) and "King of The Hill" (9.0mil). Hey- "Futurama"s aired two consecutive weeks in a row- fox must be starting the burnoff. The series should be all done by the spring of 2005.... NBC got stuck with the NBA until 8:30, taking a very low 4.6mil. Meanwhile, the WB premiered the series "No Boudraries," but nobody watched: it only drew 2.4mil.
    The muscial chair of ratings winners turned to ABC at 8pm, where "Cinderella" took a huge 16.2mil. Fos was second in the hour with strong performances by "The Simpsons (14.3mil) and "Malcolm In The Middle" (14.0mil), winning in adults and msot of the younger male demos. CBS also had a strong put-out, this time from "The Education of Max Bickford" (11.4mil), which kind of rebounded from the last few week's ratings lows. NBC got stuk once again, witht he NBC and a half-hour "Dateline" (6.0mil). The WB aired two episodes of "The Jamie Kenndy Experiment" (time to shorten that name already- my hands get tired from writing it. I think my favorite show names are "ER" and "CSI." Short, sweet, all caps. Then there's a bitch like "Will & Grace," which, because of my haphazard typing, usually comes out as "Will 7 grave." anyways...) Where was I? Oh yeah, "JKX" averaged 2.6mil and 2.9mil over the hour, certainly better than it's done recently.
    9pm did belong to NBC, though by a thin margin. 12.3mil viewers welcomed back "Law & Order: CI" after a long break. "Alias" (11.1mil) performed okay, as did "The X-Files" (10.0mil). CBS's movie "Crossed Over" aparently didn't cross over enough- it only drew 8.8mil, decreasing from 10.3mil in the first half hour to just 7.4mil at 10:30pm. The WB got a boost, for whatever reason, with "Off Centre" (3.3mil) and "For Your Love" (3.1mil) both hitting season highs. At 10pm, a repeat "The Practice" (12.0mil) outdrew a new episode that aired last week, while "Dateline" (10.7mil) put up a strong front, NBC's second best results in the slot all season (excluding the games).
     Compared to last season, every net was down, but non lost out by a huge margin. Fox and NBC each shed a tiny 1%, ABC was down 11%, the WB 13% and CBS 14%. In total, the nets averaged 46.2mil viewers, down 9% from last season's 50.3mil. This week last season, "Millionaiire" drew 18.5mil, Fox stuck with "Lone Gunman," and the UPN drew only 1.6mil for the XFL. (March 4)

CBS has a big weekly win
    CBS got support from just about everywhere last- and it won, breaking NBC's Olympic run. The eye saw "CSI" soar to a new big high of 28.8mil viewers on Thursday, taking the week's top spot and beating that other top drama "ER" by 3.9mil viewers, the first time it's done so. "Survivor: Marquesas" premiered to 4th, "Raymond" was just a place behind that, all of which made up for the 7th place Grammy telecast, which fell a astonishing 29% behind last year's numbers. And the future may not be looking so bright for "First Monday"- it slipped to 65th after a stellar debut only a month ago. The lowest rated series on the week was a Saturday repeat of "The Agency" in 75th. The eye had 9 of the top 20. 
     But NBC barely backed off last week, buoyed by two strong premieres. "Leap of Faith" clocked in 6th, but lost alot of viewers from "Friends" (2). "Watching Ellie" (13) was the real story of the week, coming on big, lifting "Frasier" (10) to the top 10. How will week 2 fare? A lead-in with "Frasier" certainly won't hurt- I predict about 13mil. NBC did better than CBS in the top 20, taking 11 spots.
     ABC had yet another mediocre week, topping out with the movie "Cinderella" (24). Very low in the ratings was 'The Drew Carey Show" (70), and ABC still has two more seasons of this left in the bank.... Fox topped out with "The Simpsons" (17), and saw soem good numbers for "Americas Most Wanted" (47).
     On the little nets, the UPN did big numbers with "Smackdown!" (76) and "Enterprise" (79). Over on the WB, "7th Heaven" was the top draw, placing at a usually strong 70th. (March 4)

NBC wins big on Friday
    After barely winning Thursday night, NBC turned out a huge performance on Friday, winning the night in grand fashion. It all started otu at 8pm, where a special "Dateline" drew 11.3mil, beating out the next best thing, "Americas Funniest Home Videos" (10.2mil) by over a million viewers, though it did lose in adults and most of the younger demos. CBS aired a special "First Monday," by brought in only 8.4mil, while Fox's presentation of the NCAAP Image Awards drew a typically low 4.0mil in the 8pm hour. One question- why do the nets keep airing these things? The same goes for the latino awards in May- they never break 5 million viewers. I know it's all about diversity, but do the nets really have to air something as blatant as the Image awards to prove they're diverse? How about the 7th black "Friend?" Yeah, right. And wouldn't these things fit better on BET? Anyway, that's enough of my rant for now...
    The 9pm hour brought an even bigger victory for NBC, again with "Dateline" (14.6mil) doing its best numbers of the season. ABC's umpteenth rerun of "Best Commercials" (7.8mil) failed to attract, drawing just over half what "Dateline" did. CBS's "Miss America 2002" started the hour out with 6.6mil, proving that just because you stick "USA" in the title of something, viewers won't necessarily come in droves. The Image Awards increased to 5.8mil in the hour, averaging 4.9mil over the night.
    In the late hour, it was all NBC, as 16.1mil viewers welcomed the return of "Law & Order: SVU." "20/20" came back from last week's crushing 5.3mil, averaging 10.1mil. But that's still below normal. Maybe by this point in the night, viewers were "newsmag" exhausted. "Miss USA" clocked in at 8.8mil in the hour, averaging 7.7mil over the night.
    Compared to last season, NBC was the only net up, increasing a solid 9%. CBS was down 10% (last year's USA pageant posted a small 5% loss), ABC 14%, while Fox slipped a quarter. In total, the four nets averaged 36.2mil on the night, down 7% from last year. (March 3)

"Survivor" big, but "CSI" huge
    CBS can officially roll out those "tv's most watched series" promos that we all know they've been stockpiling, "CSI" not only broke its old viewer record (25.1mil), it crushed it. Thanks to the premiere of "Survivor: Marquesas," the show jumped to a huge 28.2mil viewers, winning its timeslot by 62%. Not only did it rank as the night's highest rated show, it will also rank as the week's highest rated series, something that it's never accomplished. It's higest rated competition was NBC's "Will & Grace," but at 19.4mil viewers, it didn't even come close. "Just Shoot Me" slipped to 15.8mil at 9:30pm.
    An hour earlier, a much more interesting race developed. Although "Survivor" (23.0mil) drew big ratings for its premiere, down only 4% from the "Africa" premiere, "Friends" (27.5mil) didn't back down, and actually broke a 20 rating (20.3) in the overnights, compared to "Survivor"s 13.0. "Leap of Faith" debuted to a promising 20.9mil at 8:30pm, and stayed ahead of "Survivor" in adults. It drew a 9.9/24, compared to "Friends" 13.2/33. "Survivor" stayed in the mid 8 rating range. 
   At 10pm, "ER" won (24.8mil), though it fell further behind "CSI" as tv's top rated drama, while "The Agency" (11.9mil) was second, followed by "Primetime Thursday" (10.1mil)
   And then came the rest. At 8pm, "Smackdown" was third in viewers (6.0mil), followed by ABC's "Whose Line" (6.5mil, 5.4mil). Fox slid with two eps of "The Family Guy" (5.3mil; 4.6mil), while the WB was last with "Charmed" (2.8mil).
   Thing didn't get any better an hour later, either. "Millionaire" (9.1mil) moved into third, followed by "Smackdown" (7.8mil) in fourth. Fox fell off the map with "King of The Hill" (4.6mil) and "Futurama" (4.0mil). And on the WB, the cancellation of "Charmed" became a little more of a reality. A new episode drew only 3.3mil, a series low, falling 28% from a repeat last season.
    Compared to 2001 (when NBC aired all repeats save "ER", keep in mind), every net was down by the peacock and the UPN. NBC gained a solid 20%, while the UPN was basically flat, up 2%. CBS was the least of the losers, down only 6%, then it was a steep slope. Fox lost 18%,  ABC 29%, and the WB plunged a third. The nets averaged 66.2mil viewers on the night, down 5% from last year's 69.5mil. (March 1)

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