Viewers leave Olympics for CBS
     Okay, so the headline may be a bit misleading- CBS of course did not beat the Olympics, but it did return to form on Tuesday night as the Olympics took a hit in the ratings. The show averaged 24.5mil viewers in primetime, down about 5 million viewers from last Tuesday, while CBS's line-up was up about 1.3 million viewers overall, averaging what it did before the Olympics came along. "NCIS" (8mil) was second at 8pm, ditto for "Big Brother" (9.6mil) and the hot "Amazing Race" (10.5mil). That show was up 20% over last week and drew an impressive 4.4/14 rating in adults 18-49, just shy of its best performance to date. How will thw show do once the Olympics are over? I can honestly see it in the 11-13 million viewer range.
    Elsewhere on the night, the return of "One Tree Hill" (2.2mil) did slightly better than expected, putting to bed a repeat of "The Player" (1.8mil) on the UPN. ABC's "In The Jury Room" (3.9mil) was non-existant at 10pm, while Fox averaged 4.5mil viewers for the night with a marathon of "That 70s Show." So far this week, Fox has aired 6 episodes of the series, compromising a very sad 75% of its schedule. (August 25)

"Collar" hot, "Studio" not
     The WB got more hot numbers from "Blue Collar TV" on Thursday night as ther show jumped to 4.7 million viewers, up from 4.1 million the previous week and just below its premiere numbers. The show was 4th in the timeslot, beating out both the UPN (4.1mil average overall) and Fox, who averaged 3.3mil for the infomercial "Alien vs. Predator." "Reba" (3.7mil) dropped slightly at 8:30pm, coming in 5th, but it was "Studio 7" that took the plunge- all the way down to 1.7mil viewers and a dead last finish by 2.3mil viewers (behind Fox's repeat "Celebrity Boxing"). "Collar" looks like it's going to pull some decent numbers for the WB this fall, "Studio" probably won't make it to fall.
     Elsewhere on Thursday, CBS won all three hours with "Big Brother" (9.5mil), "CSI" (11.6mil) and "Trace" (11.2mil), while ABC was a surprizing second with two episodes of "Makeover" (7mil, 8mil) and "PrimeTime" (7.2mil). NBC was third with improved numbers for repeats of "Will & Grace" (6.2mil) and "ER" (5.5mil)- not hurting matters was the finale of "Last Comic Standing" (8.7mil). (August 13)

CBS's reality wins competitive Tuesday
     It was an unusually competitive Tuesday, but that didn't stop CBS from sweeping the night, as has been the case for most of the summer. 8pm was the only hour that the eye didn't take as Fox's "Trading Spouses" averaging 8.8 million viewers, beating out "NCIS" (8.1mil) for first place. NBC aired a special edition of "Last Comic Standing" (7mil) to third place, while ABC was in a close fourth with 6.2mil tuning in for a repeat "Home Edition."
     A 9pm, it was CBS's turn to take over as "Big Brother 5" brought in its best numbers of the summer at 10.2mil. NBC was second, although "Last Comic Standing" (8mil) was distant in the race. The only other noteable programming in the hour was the WB's "Summerland" (3.5mil), leaving "The Player" (2mil) in the dust. At 10pm, it was "SVU" (10.7mil) over CBS's surging "Amazing Race" (10.5mil), while ABC's "In The Jury Room" took in just 4.4mil for its premiere.
     Compared to this Tuesday last season, frontrunner CBS was up 39%, NBC was up 9%, Fox down 8%, ABC down 14%, while the WB was up 25% and the UPN 38%. In total, the six nets averaged 35.5 mil viewers, up 10% from last season. (August 11)

ABC actually wins Monday
     Stop the presses! Beware of holy rollers screaming that the end of the world is nigh! ABC actually won Monday night! Or any night period! Pre-season football was the ticket as ABC brought in 10.2 million viewers on the night, beating second place CBS by 400,000 viewers, the first time that the eye has lost the night so far this summer. As for that network, it was no slouch, with repeats of "Raymond" (11.4mil), "Men" (10.8mil) and "Miami" (11mil) all winning their respective timeslots.
     In other network news, NBC may finally pull the plug on the once hot "For Love Or Money." The two hour finale slumped to just 6.8mil viewers, third overall in viewers and adults (2.8/8). Remember when the first edition last summer went out with 13 million viewers? Those days are clearly over. Fox may be getting equally antsy with "North Shore," although the soap did post a not-too-shabby 5.1 million viewers, up about a million from recent weeks. With the addition of Shannon Doherty, could Fox have something? Probably not, but at least repeats of "Trading Spouses" (5.9mil) are still a hot commodity at 9pm, jumping 1.7 million viewers from what "The Casino" did there last week. (August 10)

"Simple Life" finally over
    And viewers with taste may breathe a huge sigh of relief: "The Simple Life 2" is finally over. But before it went out, it left Fox with a little treat: 9.5 million viewers, although, with the show now gone, Fox is going to have a really hard time on Wednesdays. Earlier in the evening, "Quintuplets" (6.0mil) built slightly off of "That 70s Show" (5.8mil), but it's nothing to write home about.
    And in the tale of the other originals on Wednesday. ABC's "Drew Carey" skidded to a series low of just 4.1mil viewers for back-to-back episodes, "Amish In the City" was down from it's premiere, though at 4.2mil viewers, it's still performing very well, and NBC's "Next Action Star" movie "Bet Your Life" drew only 4.6mil. Note to NBC- before you make a movie based on a reality series, wait for that series to air to see if viewers actually care. That performance sunk "Law & Order"- the show drew just 7.7mil viewers, a summer low, setting the stage for "CSI NY" to win the slot come September. Why the sudden loss of interest in the original "L&O" ? Ratings have gone south in the blink of an eye. (August 5)

All nets winners on Tuesday
     During the regular season, Tuesday seemed to be one of the hardest weeknights to program. While Fox squashed everything, ABC, NBC and the UPN struggling to put together a meaningful line-up, while CBS skewed older and the WB younger. Well, something seems to have clicked this summer, because the nets all had something to brag about last Tuesday.
     Of course, CBS was doing the most bragging as 'The Amazing Race 5" continues to lead the night in viewers (10.4mil) and adults (4.4/12). "Race" has yet to drop below 10 million viewers and a 4 rating in adults, marks it hit only twice last summer when it aired Thursday at 8pm. Personally, the funniest thing I've seen on tv in years was last week when several contestants broke down and started bawling and shaking when confronted with eating two pouds of Russian caviar. I was in hystyerics, literally. CBS also got good support from "Big Brother" (9.8mil) and "Navy NCIS" (9mil), which both won their timeslots in viewers.
     NBC was second on the night, led by "Law & Order: SVU" (10.2mil), although "Last Comic Standing" (7.4mil) is still leading the network in adults 18-49. Fox was third with the suprize hit "Trading Spouses" (8mil), while ABC got jump started at 8pm with a repeat "Home Edition" (7.3mil), which was second in the hour in adults after "Spouses" (2.7/9 vs. 3.7/12).
     Over on the WB, "Summerland" (4.1mil) hit its best numbers since its premiere and continues to heat up the night for the WB, while the premiere of "The Player" on the UPN. although coming in at only 2.4mil viewers, was up 20% over "America's Next Top Model," which has aired in the slot so far this summer.  Compared to this Tuesday last season, both Fox and NBC were down 18%, but ABC was up 5%, CBS 51%, the WB 48% and the UPN and impressive 79%. In total, the nets gained 8% in viewers. (August 4)

  July 2004 News