TV ratings move in mysterious ways

BY Diane Werts -- What's up with those TV season ratings anyway? How does NBC's Jesse get canceled out of Nielsen's Top 20? How does the WB's Jack and Jill get renewed when it's below No. 150? And who even knew the Pax Three-Hanky Movie was on the air at all?

It's that time of year again. The weather's warm, the tube's in reruns and we finally have enough breathing room to analyze Nielsen's final regular-season results. But with 196 series airing this year -- on four full-week networks, two netlets and the PAX chain -- we don't have enough space to print the entire ranking anymore.

Nielsen's 1999-2000 season winners are no big surprise. ABC's Who Wants to Be a Millionaire takes the top three spots with its weekly regular airings, followed by the usual suspects, ER and Friends. Aided greatly by Regis Philbin's Sunday lead-in, ABC's The Practice creeps into the Top 10. (Last year, it finished 33rd.) And CBS' Everybody Loves Raymond makes its strongest showing yet in its fourth season, tying for 10th in total viewers. Among the other series celebrating are some freshman successes. CBS' drama surprise Judging Amy tops the first-year renewal list, followed by NBC's The West Wing, CBS' Family Law and ABC's Once and Again, giving the traditional Big Three networks solid hour footing for the future.

(rest of the article "snipped")__Newsday (June, 2000)