NBC gets a Monday boost
     Thanks to a 90 minute edition of "Fear Factor," NBC posted a very rare first place finish on Monday in adults 18-49 and finished a very close third in total viewers. "Factor" averaged a near-season high 14.0mil while the finale of "Average Joe" (already?) drew a solid 10.7mil from 9:30pm onwards. Unofrtunately for NBC, CBS was also near season highs, overshadowing tghe peacock's gains. "Yes Dear" (11.6mil), "Still Standing" (14.0mil) & "Raymond" (19.1mil) all did very well, but it was "Two & Half Men": (16.6mil) and "CSI Miami" (19.4mil) that hit near season highs, sealing the deal for the eye. ABC was third with "PrimeTime" (6.1mil) and football (16.1mil).
      Fox aired the finale of "Joe Millionaire" to just 8.0mil viewers. Though that is a series high for this edition, it's less than a quarter of the audience of the finale of the original episode. The WB averaged 6.5mil viewers with it's typical line-up, while the UPN drew about 4.4mil. (November 25)

Renewals for Fox
     Somewhat shockingly, Fox has given a full season order to "Arrested Development" while it has extended "Tru Calling" by several episodes. Surprizing because, frankly, neither show is doing that well. Currently, "Arrested" ranks 54th on the season in adults, comparing badly to "Malcolm," which ranks 25th, while it rates an even lower 81st in total viewers. As for "Tru Calling," it's 99th in total viewers and 100th in adults. But Fox has faith.... NBC, meanwhile, has committed to a second edition of "Regular Joe" (I miss typed that as "Average Hoe" at first- now that would be interesting). The show is currently ranked 38th in total viewers, but 17th in audlts. (November 25)

ABC picks it up on Thursday
     ABC's regular line-up has been doing okay on Thursday so far this season, but it took the network scrapping the entire night ot finally get a shot at good ratings. While it was third in every half hour, "After The Final Rose" scored 10.2mil viewers at 8pm and a special "Peter Jennings Reports" drew a very solid 11.7mil from 9-10pm. The report actually challenged "Scrubs" (13.4mil) for second place at 9:30pm, but not in adults. Overall, it was ABC's best Thursday of the season, by far.
     CBS did win the night, although NBC was up over last week. "Survivor" won the 8pm hour overall with 20.2mil viewers, though "Friends" (20.2mil) won at 8pm, while a repeat (19.3mil) falling under at 8:30pm. At 9pm, "CSI" (27.2mil) blew away the competition, although "Will & Grace" (16.6mil) was up over last week. At 10pm, a "special" "ER" drew a season high 23.6mil viewers, leaving "Without A Trace" (15.6mil) in the dust.
     There wasn't much else on the night. "WWE Smackdown" (5.6mil) locked up fourth of the UPN while the WB had some great results with ":JKX" (4.0mil) hitting a near series high. It was actually 5th at 8:30pm, leaving "Tru Calling" (3.8mil) in sixth. And how isn't this cancelled yet? (November 21)

ABC wins it all on Wednesday
     ABC rarely wins Wednesday anymore, but the finale of "The Bachelor" was just the ticket. The show drew 19.1mil viewers for its two hour span, above what the last "Bachelor" drew, but slightly below the total for "The Bachelorette." "The Bachelor" that aired last fall (and aired its finale on the same date) drew a series high 25.9mil viewers. "My Wife & Kids" (12.4mil) also won the 8pm half hour, though "It's All Relative" (10.2mil) slipped to second.
     NBC was second on the night, as usual, though "Ed" (9.3mil) at 8pm is doing it no favours.It was fourth in the hour, behind not only ABC, but "60 Miutes II" (10.5mil) and a double shot of "That 70s Show" (10.2mil, 8.8mil). "Smallville" was a diminished fifth in the hour (5.6mil), while "Enterprise" (4.2mil) was an improved sixth.
    NBC was second at 9pm with "The West Wing" (13.1mil), although CBS's comedies continue to perform well with "The King of Queens" (12.5mil) and "Becker" (10.4mil). Fox was fourth with "The OC" (8.9mil), while "Angel" (4.3mil) and "Jake 2.0" (2.2mil) were out of the race. At 10pm, "Law & Order" (17.0mil) is still down over last year, while the "Victoria's Sceret Fashion Show" still did better back when it was on ABC. (November 20)

UPN hits season highs on Tuesday
     Will Smith stopped by "All Of Us" last night, and if you watched, you weren't the only one. The show notched a series high 5.4mil viewers, sending the entire line-up upwards. "One On One" hit a season high 4.1mil, while a repeat "Eve" (4.7mil) and "Rock Me Baby" (4.2mil) were an unusual fifth in the 9pm hour, with the latter hitting a series high. The decision to let it stick around for an entire season? It's not looking like a bad one.
     Elsewhere on Tuesday, there was really nothing noteable. "SVU" notched a season high 14.4mil viewers, while CBS's "NCIS" was at a high 13.4mil viewers. CBS aired "Without A Trace" (12.0mil) and "CSI Miami" (11.0mil) last in the night, but they didn't get any futher along than "The Guardian" or "Judging Amy" would have. (November 19)

CBS takes Monday yet again
     Mondays used to be full of surprizes- some networks were total bombs (think NBC), some total surprizes (ie- Fox), but this season, Mondays, next to Saturdays, have become the most boring night of the week to report on. S what happened this past Monday? Well, CBS won with "Raymond" (18.3mil) and "CSI: Miami" (18.8mil), ABC was second with football (15.6mil), NBC was third with "Fear Factor" (12.2mil), the WB fourth with "7th Heaven" (7.5mil), Fox fifth with the failure "Joe Millionaire" (5.5mil, 7.0mil for two episodes) while the UPN topped out with "Girlfriends" (5.0mil). This is that way it's been all season, and this is the way it will be all season at least until January, when ABC gets out of the football season. Adios!( November 18)

WB moves "Like," "Family"
     thefutoncritic.com is reporting that the WB is going to shake up its weak Friday night. "What I Like About You" will move back to 8:30pm while "Like Family" will move up an hour to 9:30pm. While the net is down only 15% on the night so far this season (a number that is looking average for the mini-nets), it's lost the momentum that it's had in previous seasons on the night. On Thursdays, "Jamie Kennedy" will move back to 9pm and "All About the Andersons" will air at 8:30pm. At least this seems to have a little more flow than the other line-up. But still, cancelling "What I Like About You" and "Andersons" probably wold have been more appropriate. (November 18)

More series news
     Tell me if you haven't heard this one- "Survivor All Stars" is set to bow out of the Super Bowl in January. When "Survivor II" did this, the episode raked up 45.3mil viewers overall and swept the 8pm hour on  Thursdays. Considering that "Survivor" is already beating up on "Friends" this season, the last episode of "Friends" will probably be seen by fewer eyeballs that usual. The last Thursday episode of "Survivor" will air opposite the penultimate episode of "Friends," while the final will likely go on Sunday.
     ABC is benching "Karen Sisco" effective immediately due to the utterly low ratings. The show is drawing only half of "The Bachelor"s audience, making it one of the bigger disappointments of the season. To air in its place? ABC will wisely revert back to the deadly "Bachelorette"/"Celebrity Mole" duo in January, a combo whcih did very well last winter. Also, "Extreme Makover" is getting a spin-off called "Home Edition" which will air Wednesdays at 10pm until the aforementioned duo come out on January 14th. ABC has also ordered more episodes of the parent series. (November 18)

ABC rises on Thursday
     Yes, CBS and NBC are still battling it out for top spot on Thursday (though it really isn't a "battle" anymore), ABC is slowly building an audience once again. "Threat Matrix" at 8pm (7.4mil) isn't spectacular, but it's solid, "Extreme Makeover"  (9.6mil) hit its highest ratings yet at 9pm, while "PrimeTime Thursday" "Spear"ed it's way to 11.2mil viewers. It was third in every timeslot and drew a season high 3.4 rating in adults on the night. that's a far cry from last season when the net would struggle to hit a 2 rating in the demo on the night.
      The aforementioned battle better CBS and NBC is turning into a rout. "Survivor" (21.5mil) beat "Friends" (20.3mil, 18.0mil) in the 8pm hour, winning both timeslots, while "CSI" (27.8mil) nearly doubled up on "Will & Grace" (15.8mil) and "Srcubs" (12.8mil) over on NBC> The only respite was at 10pm where "ER" (20.4mil) was up slightly over last week while "Trace" (16.7mil) was down about 2mil viewers.
      There was little audience left over on the night, but "Smackdown" (5.7mil) picked up most of it. "Tru Calling" hit a series low of 3.8mil, meaning immenent cancellation. A repeat of "24" aired at 9pm to just 2.8mil viewers. Over on the WB, "Harvey" (3.7mil) and "JKX" (3.8mil) hit season highs, even as "What I Like" (2.4mil) and "House" (2.3mil) failed to hold that audience. (November 14)

CBS starts rising on Wednesday
     Remember when I said that moving "JAG" to Fridays and ABC's TGIF were the best moves on the season? Well, here's number three: CBS's Wednesday line-up. After an okay start, things are really looking up, especially with the turn around of the 10pm hour. CBS opened the night with a win for "60 Minutes II" (12.6mil), won the 9pm half hour with "King of Queens" (13mil), slipped to third at 9:30pm (Becker- 11mil), and rebounded to second at 10pm with "48 Hours" (10mil). Averall, the net was second on the night, fourth in adults by a slim margin.
     Elsewhere on Wednesday, "It's All Relative" (10.3mil) rebounded from a weak perf last week to come close to "My Wife & Kids" (11.3mil), beating out "Ed" (9.4mil) for second place. "Stan Hooper," meanwhile, is edging closer to the dump with only 5.5mil, down drastically from "That 70s Show" (9.2mil). "Smallville" (6.4mil) continues to soar past "Enterprise" (4.0mil) in the race for fifth.
    At 9pm, "The Bachelor" (12.4mil) and "The West Wing" (12.5mil) were virtually tied for first overall while "The OC" (8.4mil) continues to draw younger viewers in fourth. At 10pm, "L&O" (19.1mil) hit its best numbers since premiere week, sending "Karen Sisco" (7.6mil) down the toilet. (November 13)

Sunday auds go "home" for "Story"
     Remember back a few years ago when CBS's motto used to be "Welcome Home" ? Well, viewers must really have that engrained by now because they are turning up en masse to CBS's line-up. this past week alone it won six out of the seven nights and was very close on the other one (Tuesday). Sunday turned out to be no exception as the eye won every half hour in primetime and also won the night in adults, something else that has been happening with regularity this week (it has won Monday, Wednesday, Thursday (tie with NBC) and now Sunday.
     Granted, the eye had a huge football overrun, but "60 Minutes" won the 7pm hour with 17.6mil viewers, way ahead of second place "Dateline" (10.2mil). "Videos" was third (9.0mil), while two episodes of "King of the Hill" averaged 7.4mil viewers, peaking with 9mil for a new episode at 7:30pm. 'Smallville" drew a solid 3.0mil on the WB.
     An hour later, CBS once again had no problems as "Cold Case" drew 14.4mil, its best aud since its premiere. "CI" moved up an hour for second with 13.3mil, while "The Simpsons" (12.4mil, 12.6mil (R)) won the hour in adults. "10-8" got squeezed in the middle and wound up with a series low 7mil, while "Charmed" continues to bless the WB with 4.6mil. At 9pm, it was the battle of the movies, and boy was it close. "Elizabeth Smart" drew 15.0mil over its span, while "Jessica Lynch" attracted 14.5mil. ABC was third over the two hour span, while Fox was fourth.  (November 10)

ABC builds a big Friday win
     So what was the single smartest programming move of the season? The resurgeance of ABC's TGIF, which won Friday with big numbers, topped off by Martha Stewart on "20/20." "Lopez" (8.2mil) & "Married To The Kelley's" (7.2mil) may have been third in their timeslots in viewers, but they won in adults. At 9pm, "Hope & Faith" raked up 10.4mil viewers and a big win in adults, while "Bonnie" (8.9mil) is starting to look up at 9:30pm, drawing better ratings tahn it did on Tuesdays last season. At 10pm, "20/20" drew a big 14.2mil with Ms. Stewart pleading her case to Barbara Walters.
    But did ABc win the night in viewers? No. Here comes the second best programming move of the season. "JAG" (12.5mil) is winning Fridays for CBS, with "Joan Of Arcadia" (10.9mil) coming up roses at 8pm. "The Handler" (7.8mil)? Not so much. Over on NBC, "Third Watch" (9.7mil) is basically drawing what it drew on Mondays, while the net continues to be paced by "Dateline" (10.3mil) at 8pm. And it looks like it may finally be time to pull the plug on "Miss Match," which notched only 6.3mil viewers at 9pm. (November 8)

CBS trounces NBC on Thursday, ABC up
     Just show far has NBC fallen on Thursday? Well, so far that this week is won the night in adults by only .1 ratings points and lost by almost 5 million viewers. Starting out at 8pm, "Friends" (20.1mil) did manage to win the half hour, "Friends" repeat (18.1mil) got swamped by "Survivor," (20.7mil), which is actually is up over last season at this point in the game. "Threat Matrix" on ABC may not be a threat to win the hour, but is did garner a series high 8.0mil viewers. ABC's decision to renew the hour for a full season is starting to look like a good one, especially considering that the show was up 67% over what ABC aired in the slot this night last season. "Smackdown" was third with an average of 5.5mil viewers for the night, while "Tru Calling" (4.1mil) on Fox is looking all but dead. On the WB, "JKX" peaked for the net with just 3.1mil viewers.
     An hour later, "CSI" hit a season high with 28.4mil viewers, more than double NBC's combo of "W&G" (15.1mil) and the sinking "Scrubs" (12.1mil). "Extreme Makeover" on ABC (8.6mil) is also looking like a huge success, up 80% over what ABC aired in the slot last season. Over on Fox, a repeat of "The OC" drew only 3.0mil viewers, but that was still almost double what the WB drew, fallling to just 1.5mil viewers for "Run Of The House."
     And at 10pm, remember when I predicted that "Without A Trace" would beat "ER" by December? Well, it didn't happen this week, but the margin was only 10% (20.4mil to 18.2mil). It was even loser in the overnight ratings where the difference was just 8%. "PrimeTime" (7.9mil) was too far back to count.
      Compared to last season, ABC was up 58% while CBS jumped 9%. The WB was down only 8%, the UPN 11%, NBC 23% and Fox 28%. In total the nets drew 59.3mil viewers on the night, down 5% from last season, much thanks to continuing declining return on NBC. (November 7)

"Tarzan," "Dragnet" canned
     Neither of theses cancellations come as much surprise, but the WB has gone ahead and cancelled "Tarzan" (which will continue to air into sweeps), while production has been halted on "LA Dragnet," no new episodes are scheduled and none will probably air. The UPN, meanwhile, has gone the other way and renewed the iffy "Jake 2.0" for an entire season. So far, both CBS & the UPN have their new shows squared away (all renewed except "The Brotherhood"), ABC has one show still on the bubble "Karen Sisco" (likely to be canned), NBC is still mum on "Miss Match" & "Lyon's Den," while on fox, "skin" has been cancelled, but nothing else has been said. Don't hold your breath for "Tru Calling" nor "Stan Hooper." (November 7)

"CMA"s best in years
      In previous years, CBS's annual airing of the "Country Music Awards" would ususally garner it good enough ratings for second place on the night or so, but something sure changed this year because the awards hit a near-decade high, caputring 23.2mil viewers and winning every single timeslot on the night in viewers and adults 18-49. CBS, arguably having the best year of any of the broadcast nets, just keeps getting big surprizes where they never would have expected it.
     The opposite seemes to be true for Fox. A week ago, "The OC" came back to Wednesday to a near record high. This week, it came up with only 7.5mil and a near record low. Sure, the competition was fierce, but still, is this show really goign after the same audience as the "CMA"s ? Not helping matters was "Stan Hooper" at a mere 5.1mil at 8:30pm. "That 70s Show" opened the night wiht a 4th place 8.0mil.
     At 8pm, after CBS, ABC was second with "Kids" (10.3mil) and "It's All Relative," (8.3mil) both of which hit their lowest numbers of the season. NBC was even further behind with the looking-to-depart "Ed" (8.4mil), while "Smallville" hit 6.0mil for fifth (4th in the 8:30pm half hour). "Enterprise" (3.8mil) is out of the game altogether. At 9pm, "The Bachelor" (13.3mil) gave the "CMA"s a run for it's demos, while "The West Wing" (12.5mil) continues to lose viewers, hitting a near series low. "Angel" was fifth (4.2mil), while "Jake 2.0" (2.3mil) was dead.
     At 10pm, "Law & Order" (17.0mil) actually lost for the first time ever (not really, but it seems like it, no?), while "Karen Sisco" (7.5mil) continues to disappoint. (November 6)

Tuesday upsets abound
     With the return of "8 Simple Rules" and a wedding on "Judging Amy," there were upsets all around on Tuesday were nothing looked like it did one year ago. Starting out at 8pm, "Rules" (20.3mil) was the obvious winner, hitting a series record in the process and sending ABC's line-up skyward. But there was lots of left-over room in the hour, as amply demonstrated. "NCIS" took an average 12.0mil, while "Fear Factor" was at a somewhat disappointing 10.7mil (to 9:30pm). After that, there was a huge drop into four. That spot was actually taken up by "Gilmore Girls" (5.6mil), while Fox and the UPN battled it out for fifth. Fox aired a "24" repeat to a mere 4.1mil, while "One On One" (3.6mil) and "All Of Us" (4.0mil) were at typical levels. After such a hot start with baseball, Fox is having one crummy season. See 9pm.
      And here it is. "24" dropped to 8.7mil, its worst reults for an original episode since its first season. Calling "American Idol"..... It was fourth overall in the hour, beaten out by all but the mini-nets. ABC wad first in the hour with "Jim" (15.0mil) and "Less Than Perfect" (11.6mil) both hitting series highs, while "The Guardian" (12.3mil) beat out "Fear Factor" and a continually declining "Frasier" (10.3mil) for second. After Fox, "One Tree Hill" (3.7mil) won out over the sitcoms on the UPN.
     The last upset of the night came at 10pm where "Judging Amy" registered 14.2mil viewers, beating out "SVU" (13.5mil) which like-wise hit a season high. also hitting a season high was "NYPD Blue" (11.3mil). With 10 series hitting a season high on Tuesday, it looks the the networks are starting to get back on track after a rough, tough start. (November 5)

"Boomtown," "Skin" canned
     In the real world, when yuo can something, it means to preserve its freshness for later. Not so in the network world. "Boomtown" and "Skin: have just discovered that as both have been axed. (November 5)

"Coupling" cancelled quickly
     I'm sure you've already heard, and even if you haven't, it'l come as no surprise- "Coupling" has been cancelled. It's unknown whether the remaining episodes will make it to air. (November 4)

"Miami" zooms past 20mil
     After a very rough start to the season, the network's rating are starting to pick up, well, some of them anyway. On Monday, it was CBS's turn. While "Yes, Dear" (11.3mil) and. "Still Standing" (12.4mil) are still struggling at 8pm, "Raymond" (18.6mil), "Two & A Half Men" (16.4mil) were good in their slots, but the real good news came for the eye at 10pm where "CSI Miami" hit 20.1mil, its best numbers since last fall.
     ABC also had a very good night with a special on Jesus at 8pm (10.1mil) and football (16.7mil), while NBC was a solid third with "Fear Factor" (13.3mil), "Las Vegas" (11.5mil) and a very solid premiere for "Average Joe" (11.2mil). On the WB, it was much the same with "7th Heaven" (7.2mil) and "Everwood" (6mil) hitting their stride, while the UPN's comedies drew a solid 4.2mil viewer average.
     The one network not showing any rebounding? Fox. With "Joe Millionaire" (6.2mil) and "Skin" (4.4mil), Fox was fifth on the night, and even 6th in the 9pm hour. Yikes. (November 4)
 

                    October 2003 News