'60 II' slips down a tick

'Lateline' lags, ABC wins Wednesday

By TOM BIERBAUM, KATHY A. MCDONALD, KATHY A. MCDONALD

"60 Minutes II" has declined by a mere 5% in adults 18-49 with its second airing Wednesday, an encouraging performance for the fledgling newsmag, especially since its lead-in hour was down by 38% vs. last week.

Less heartening is "60 II's" 20% second-week dropoff in households, from its premiere 12.3 rating, 18 share last week to a 9.9/15 this week. But again, the previous hour's dropoff was much steeper -- 47% -- and "60 II's" homes tally was still good enough to win the hour, with a 68% improvement over the slot average for predecessor "To Have and to Hold."

With a 3.8/9 in adults 18-49, "60 II" finished third for its hour in that demo, 8 shares out of the slot lead, but 46% better than the "To Have" slot average.

With weaker 8-9 p.m. fare and "60 II" subsiding, CBS dropped from last Wednesday's first-place finish in households to third this week, but remained within 3 shares of first on what has long been one of its weakest nights. In adults 18-49, the Wednesday lineups for ABC (6.2/17) and Fox (5.8/15) are easily outclassing those of NBC (3.9/11) and CBS (3.4/9).

Bad news for NBC

NBC got the night's worst news in the 9-10 p.m. hour, as "Lateline" (4.8/7 in homes, 2.5/6 in adults 18-49) plunged to a humiliating sixth for that half-hour in adults 18-49, behind WB and UPN competition, and "Encore! Encore!" (4.9/7 in homes, 2.8/7 in adults 18-49) tied for fifth. That sitcom duo will be gone from the schedule by the start of the February sweeps.

CBS got positive news at 10 p.m., as "Chicago Hope" (7.7/13 in homes, 4.1/12 in adults 18-49) improved by 17% on its 18-49 score of last week, for "Hope's" best rating since November.

From 8-9 p.m., CBS aired "The Nanny" (5.8/9 in homes, 2.5/7 in adults 18-49) and "Maggie Winters" (5.2/8 in homes, 2.1/6 in adults 18-49). Last week, CBS ran a special "JAG" there and sustained a 10.1/15 in homes and a 3.7/9 in adults 18-49).

ABC wins night

ABC won Wednesday despite another weak performance from a special "Brother's Keeper" (7.3/11 in homes, 4.9/13 in adults 18-49). The "T.G.I.F." sitcom retained just 71% of that slot's 18-49 lead-in, while slot regular "Two Guys, a Girl and a Pizza Place" averages a 94% retention.

ABC's "20/20" (9.6/16 in homes, 5.5/16 in adults 18-49) reported the night's top newsmag numbers in adults 18-49, while "Dateline NBC" (10.4/17 in homes, 4.5/13 in adults 18-49) was best in homes.

The WB continues to progress on Wednesdays, this week finishing third in adults 18-34 (3.4/10), beating NBC and CBS in that demo, and winning the night in teens (6.2/20).

Good mornings for 'GMA'

In this week's early-morning Nielsens, ABC's "Good Morning America" continues to benefit from the guest-hosting stint of Diane Sawyer. After three days, "GMA" was averaging a second-place 3.6/15 in preliminary nationals, up 25% over its fourth-quarter average.

NBC's "Today" (5.3/22, up 1% over the fourth quarter) continues to lead that race comfortably, with "CBS This Morning" (2.6/10, up 4%) back in third.

In cable ratings for Tuesday night's State of the Union speech, CNN, as usual, earned the highest ratings, while Fox News Channel bagged the biggest gains vs. last year.

In Fox-calculated figures for 9-11 p.m. (including analysis and Republican response), averages were CNN, a 2.9 rating in its universe (down 20% vs. last year); Fox, 1.3 (up 157%); CNBC, 1.1 (up 70%); MSNBC, 0.8 (down 23%).

CNN notes its 3.1 rating for the speech was its third-highest State of the Union rating ever. Over the last 14 years, CNN has averaged a 2.5 for State of the Union coverage.

Each household rating point represents an estimated 994,000 homes, or 1% of the country's TV households. Each adults 18-49 rating point reps 1.239 million viewers, 1% of the U.S. total. A share is the same sort of percentage, except it's measured against only the homes or viewers watching TV during the timeslot involved.