"Survivor" still down,
but not out
In its second Wednesday
outing, CBS's "Survivor" was still down, but it wasn't out. At 17.1mil
viewers, it still managed to take the 8pm hour, even as "That 70s Show"
(10.3mil) and "Idol" (19.7mil) over on Fox put up a serious challenge.
Over on ABC, its sitcoms drew 10.4mil, while NBC's war coverage got stuck
at 8.8mil. Over on the WB, "Dawsons Creek" slipped to 3.2mil, while "Enterprise"
continued to slid, reaching 2.7mil.
An hour later, Fox was
in full control with "Idol" and the premiere of "Wanda At Large," which
rocketed to 15.3mil, one of Fox's biggest comedy premiered since "Malcolm."
CBS was second with "60 Minutes II" (12.0mil), while "The West Wing" slipped
to a series low of just 11.4mil. But that was still better than ABC's "The
Bachelor," which opened up to just 10.2mil, though it was just a "preview"
show. "Angel" (3.2mil) was much better than "The Twilight Zone" (1.5mil)
for 5th.
At 10pm, "Law &
Order" slipped to 16.1mil viewers, an inter season low for a new installment.
CBS was second with a repeat of "CSI" (10.3mil), while almost nobody in
America watched "All American Girl" (6.6mil) (March 27)
"The Practice" finally heats up
Thanks to Oscar promos
and Christopher Reeves, "The Practice" finally started drawing some ratings
on Mondays. The show drew 11.4mil at 9pm and 10.2mil at 10pm, similar to
the kind of numbers it was drawing on Sunday nights. But will this hold
up? It's lead-in was imrpoved war coverage (8.2mil), but given that "Miracles"
and "Veritasd" could return next week, don't expect anything big.
But it was NBC that
took the night with "Fear Factor" (15.6mil) continuing its new-found audience
gains and the "Miss USA 2003" pageant, which drew a solid 11.4mil viewers.
CBS peaked with "Raymond" (15.3mil) and won 11pm with "CSI Miami" (12.0mil),
and placed second in every other half hour of primetime. Fox lost out once
again with the slipping "Boston Public" (8.4mil) and the dud "Married By
America" (6.4mil), while the UPN beat out the Wb on the night, 3.5mil to
3.1mil. (March 26)
WB gets renewal happy
In the non-surprise
of the month (other than that the war was going to happen no matter what
the UN said), the WB has renewed 6 series for next season. "7th Heavn"
has been picked up for two more seasons (taking it to season 9, I believe-
the longest running series in mini-net history). "Charmed" got a renewal,
as did "Reba" "Smallville" "Everwood" and "Gilmore Girls." Also renewed
are "The Surreal House" and "High School Reunion."
As for the other series
on the sched, "Angel," which is doing better of late, could very well be
back, ditto for "Grounded For Life," which is doing also better than "Greetings
from Tucson." "What I Like..." is a question, as is "The Jamie Kennedy
Experiment" but don't hold your breath for "Greetings" nor "Sabrina." (March
26)
ABC scraps schedule
Well, not the entire
schedule, but it certainly seems that way. With so much war coverage, it
appears the net has come to its senses and has decided to get more serious.
Gone immediately are "The Family" and "Extreme Make-Over," both of which
will air in the summer. "Are You Hot?" will air its finale on Saturday.
"Profiles From The Front Lines" is also gone, but may air over the summer.
Back immediately is "Whose Line?" which will take up its old Thursday slot.
Probably making their last appearance on Monday will be "Miracles" and
"Veritas," should they air at all. (March 26)
"Just Shoot Me" shot
After 7 poor seasons,
word has it that NBC has canned "Just Shoot Me." So long. (March 26)
Fox will air new summer series
As the nets decide what
they're going to dump on the summer months, Fox has decided to "save" "Cedric"
and "Furutama" for summer runs. Translation: neither series will be renewed.
(March 26)
"Frasier" skids to a series low
For those on the message
board, remember last fall when I said that "Frasier" would porbbaly slip
below 11mil viewers for new episodes by the spring? Well, not only has
it slipped under 11mil, it has dropped below 10mil. The show registered
only 9.3mil viewers on Tuesday, a distant third in its slot. If this trend
keeps up, NBC surely won't let it drown. It'll have to look more seriously
into Tuesday night and put on shows that people actually care about other
than "Frasier." That certainly isn't happening with "Deal" (7.7mil) and
"AUSA" (6.8mil). "Dateline" was the high point of the night with 10.8mil.
"Idol," again
a two hour edition, scored 21.2mil viewers on the night, over CBS, whose
"JAG" (14.4mil), "The Guardian" (12.0mil) and "Judging Amy" (14.1mil) were
a strong second on the night. NBC was third, was ABC clunked out, but mostly
thanks to "The Family" (5.2mil), though the 9pm sitcoms aren't exactely
pulling their weight at 7.2mil.
A night earlier,
numbers were skewed because of the presidential address. Overall, NBC won
with a record repeat for "Fear Factor" (14.7mil), and strong numbers for
"Third Watch" (13.0mil) and "Crossing Jordan" (11.9mil). CBS was third
at 8pm, but first for the rest of the night, peaking with "Raymond" (16.0mil).
"CSI Miami" barely won the 10pm hour with 12.0mil. ABC had a great night
with news coverage, drawing 12.6mil, double what it earned last week. Fox
had a very bad night with a series low for "Boston Public" (8.2mil) and
"Married By America" (6.1mil), while the UPN and the WB were interchangable
drawing 3.0 and 3.5mil viewers, respectively. (March 19)
CBS takes Thursday, again
With all all new episodes
of every series on every network, Thursday was more competitive than the
usual Thursday, but CBS still took it. "Survivor" won at 8pm with 21.8mil,
followed by "CSI" at 27.2mil and "Without A Trace" at 15.3mil. NBC peaked
at 8pm with "Friends," though at 21.1mil viewers, it was one of the weakest
performances of the season. The rest of the series on the night drew 16.3mil,
15.1mil & 13.0mil, while "ER" (21.0mil) at 10pm continued to flirt
with record low numbers.
The night wasn't
so kind for ABC, which has been struggling of late. "Profiles" was 3rd
at 8pm at 6.4mil, "Are You Hot?" slipped again to 6.7mil, while "PrimeTime"
topped out the night at an even 10mil. Fox was out of it in fifth with
the NAACP Awards" (5.2mil), beatebn by the UPN, which averaged an average
5.5mil for "Smackdown!" The WB was dead last with only 2.3mil viewers howing
up for the night. (March 14)
"Fear Factor" zooms again
A special Law Vegas
"Fear Factor" was just what the doctor ordered. The show drew a series
high 18.3mil viewers from 8-9:30pm, averaging an 8.0/20 in adults, but
zooming to a 9.5 rating at 9pm. Want proof that the reality bubble is burting?
You wont find it here. "Meet My Folks" slipped to 12.0mil at 9:30pm, obviously
not what NBC was hoping for.
CBS won the night in viewers with a high for
"Raymond" (19.5mil) and "Still Standing" (16.2mil), though "CSI Miami"
(18.8mil) was no slouch at 10pm.
Fox has a slow
night with "Boston Public" (9.3mil) and a rapidly declining "Married By
America" (6.7mil), but noa s slow ABC, which set record lows in adults,
led by "The Practice" (8.8mil) and bottoming out at 8om with "Veritas"
(5.2mil). "Miracles" drew a pathetic 6.1mil at 10pm.
The UPN averaged
a slow 2.8mil viewers on the night, considerably behind the WB at 4.0mil.
(March 12)
Post sweeps repeats take effect
Nearly a week after
sweeps ended, the usual post-sweeps repeat-feat has taken effect, bringing
low ratings to most networks. On Tuesday night, the only real winner was
Fox, whos "Idol" (19.2mil) and "24" (12.6mil) won the night and both timeslots
in viewers and demos. NBC was a distant second on the night with poor scores
from "Let's Make A Deal" (9.3mil), "Frasier" (12.1mil- which hit a regular
slot series low in viewers and adults), "AUSA" (9.5mil) and "Dateline"
(10.3mil), ABC was slightly behind, but did no better with "Rules" (11.0mil),
"Jim" (10.7mil), "Celebrity" (9.6mil) and the new series "The Family" (8.8mil).
A distance fourth, unusually, was CBS with "JAG" (10.8mil) and the flop
movie "the Salem Witch Trials" (7.0mil). The WB averaged 4.4mil with repeats
od the regulars, while the UPN slid to just 2.0mil, thanks to "Abby" (1.6mil),
which probably aired for the very last time. (March 5)
JustTV News Archive: March 2003