'Seven'-11 combo puts Eye on top
Net posts win, a recent rarity
On Monday meanwhile, ABC got a solid start from its post-football lineup, NBC's "Dateline" hit record numbers and CBS' lineup fizzled, but Fox's "Ally McBeal" stole the spotlight, formally achieving status as the biggest hit of the season thus far.
"The Magnificent Seven" keyed CBS' weeklong victory by corralling the net's most lopsided Saturday households win in three months. "Seven" rustled up a posse of new male viewers for that lineup, more than doubling the Eye's men 25-54 season average in the slot.
On Jan. 2, CBS' coverage of the Orange Bowl, despite a 26% drop vs. the comparable year-ago gridcast, scored the network's best Friday rating in the nearly four years since the '94 Winter Olympics.
The week's combo of three prime-time bowl game gridcasts lost roughly 15% vs. year-ago results, which was not a surprising drop, given the reduced national-championship implications of this year's primetime lineup and the particularly weak marquee value of this year's Fiesta Bowl.
Last week also saw the WB best UPN for a fourth straight week in homes and a second straight week in adults 18-49, after having topped UPN just once in the previous 16 months in the vital 18-49 demo. In homes, it was the biggest WB edge over UPN ever, and the WB may stretch that advantage starting Jan. 19, when five Sinclair stations are scheduled to switch affiliation from UPN to the WB.
Dec. 29-Jan. 4 adults 18-49 averages were: NBC, a 5.6 rating, 15 share (down in rating by 8% vs. results for the same week last year); ABC, 4.9/13 (down 17%); Fox, 4.5/12 (down 6%); CBS, 4.2/11 (down 2%); WB, 1.5/4 (up 50%); UPN, 1.3/4 (down 19%). With football and "Magnificent Seven" on its team, CBS earned its best men 25-54 stats since April 1-7, 1996.
Tuesday
An extra "Drew Carey" (9.0 rating, 14 share) at 8 p.m. gave ABC enough of a boost to nip NBC in adults 18-49 (7.3/19 vs. a 7.2/19), but NBC kept the lead in homes (10.8/17 vs. a 10.0/16).
Monday
Monday may be remembered as "Ally McBeal's" coming-out party.
The Fox rookie shattered its previous series record 18-49 rating by a stunning 33% and built by an unheard-of 3 shares on its lead-in from "Melrose Place" (7.3/11). The lack of football competition proved surprisingly important, as "Ally" (9.1/14 in homes) attracted a slot-winning 17 share among men 18-49, just 2 shares behind its 19 among women 18-49.
Still, it was NBC taking the night, on the strength of a record "Dateline Monday" (15.0/25), the third-highest-rated "Dateline" ever (best ever in total viewers). In adults 18-49, "Dateline" more than tripled CBS' repeat of the "Brooklyn South" premiere (5.9/10). It was in fact, the highest 18-49 rating for any newsmag this season.
NBC's Monday low point came at 8:30 p.m., when "Jenny" (6.7/10) held just 71% of the slot's 18-49 lead-in. That pratfall helped Fox top NBC from 8-10 p.m. in the 18-49 demo.
ABC got a stronger-than-expected start from its new Monday lineup, "America's Funniest Home Videos" (9.5/14), "20/20" (11.7/17) and "The Practice" (8.4/14). The nightlong 15 share is a 2-point improvement over ABC's regular-sked post-football Monday average of last season.
CBS' premiere of "Style & Substance" (7.9/12) showed promise despite dreary numbers, building by 12% on the slot's feeble 18-49 lead-in from "George & Leo" (7.9/12 in homes).
WB (3.5/6) topped UPN (3.0/5) for a 16th-straight Monday.
Sunday
Fox nipped NBC to win Sunday in adults 18-49. CBS was fourth in that demo but first in households.
Fox was led by "The X-Files," which hunted down the week's highest adults 18-49 rating, a first for the sci-fi thriller. At 8:30 p.m., Fox's preview of "Ask Harriet" retained a decent 87% of its "The Simpsons" lead-in. Slot regular "King of the Hill" consistently improves on that lead-in.
NBC started the night with the highest football-overrun rating of the season, a 23.9/40 from the Denver-Kansas City playoff game. A rerun "Bloopers" spec held just 36% of that powerful lead-in, but things picked up again at 8 p.m., when "Dateline" reported the highest 18-49 rating for any newsmag last week. "Blackout Effect" followed with NBC's best one-part Sunday vidpic rating in 52 weeks.
WB's "The Tom Show" misfired in a third Sunday timeslot. In its first try at 7:30 p.m., "Tom" saddled the WB with a loss vs. the half-hour's lead-in for the first time since Oct. 19.
Saturday
NBC led the night in adults 18-49 despite CBS' strong start for "Magnificent Seven," which galloped to the Eye's best regular-programming homes rating in that slot since Nov. 16, 1996, and best in men 25-54 since Nov. 20, 1993.
The boost in male viewers helped "Walker, Texas Ranger" to its second-highest rating of the season and spurred CBS to nightlong wins in homes and adults 25-54.
NBC enjoyed its highest Saturday 18-49 rating with regular programming since premiere week 1996. The 9 p.m. "Pretender" set a regular-slot 18-49 series record.
Fox also feasted, with each of its Saturday regulars turning in its highest rating since March 23, 1996.
ABC suffered through another horrible Saturday, with "Celebration of America's Music" croaking out what's apparently the worst non-political primetime rating in Big Three regular-season history (excepting telecasts cleared in only portions of the country). "Savion Glover's Nu York" also fell to ABC's worst rating on record for that timeslot.
Friday
CBS' Orange Bowl dominated Jan. 2 despite a lopsided Nebraska victory and reduced national-championship implications after Michigan's victory in the Rose Bowl on New Year's Day.
Fox's "Battle of the Sexes on Ice" fell 5 shares below its year-ago Wednesday figures.
Thursday
NBC's Thursday juggernaut got bowled over Jan. 1 by ABC's football, the Peacock's first Thursday loss since the year-ago Sugar Bowl.
The first 15 minutes of primetime in the Eastern and Central time zones were dominated by ABC's Rose Bowl and its 21.3/35. That more than doubled the "Friends" competition, marking the first time in 52 weeks "Friends" has lost its slot in homes.
ABC's Sugar Bowl also beat the NBC team in households with a 12% gain over the comparable year-ago bowl game. It was ABC's top-rated Thursday in adults 18-49 since the 1997 Sugar Bowl.
NBC continued to audition sitcoms for possible future Thursday slots, with OK results. "Just Shoot Me" roughly matched what "Veronica's Closet" has been retaining recently of its 18-49 lead-in in the 9:30 p.m. slot, while a firstrun "NewsRadio" easily bested "Union Square" retention levels at 8:30 p.m., but with NBC's lowest firstrun in-season rating in that slot since April 8, 1993 ("Wings").
Fox wrapped "Living Single" with a 9% increase over the 8:30 p.m. slot's 18-49 average this season. The 8 p.m. episode though, was the lowest-rated firstrun "Single" ever, with Fox's worst firstrun regular-program rating ever in that slot.
Wednesday
ABC's sitcoms won a low-viewership New Year's Eve on which the rate of homes using TV dipped to an average 47% (vs. 59% the night before and 61% the night after).
With a mediocre Kansas State-Syracuse matchup, CBS' Fiesta Bowl got sacked for a 26% loss vs. the comparable year-ago New Year's Eve gridcast.
Fox equaled its lowest-rated original-programming Wednesday ever.
WB led the night in kids and teens.
Tuesday
ABC's comedies narrowly beat NBC's on Dec. 30 in adults 18-49 results, while the Peacock inched ahead in homes.
Monday
NBC and Fox ran 1-2 in adults 18-49 on Dec. 29, far ahead of the competition, in the first post-football Monday of the season.
Each household rating point represents an estimated 980,000 homes, or 1% of the country's TV homes. Each adults 18-49 rating point reps 1.23 million viewers, 1% of the U.S. total. A share is the same sort of percentage, except it measures only the homes or viewers watching TV during the timeslot involved.
