NBC leads sweeps race, but CBS close in homes

Peacock bets on 'ER,' 'Alice' to win competish

By TOM BIERBAUM

The networks have reached the halfway point of the February sweeps with NBC still controlling the adults 18-49 race, leading by a full rating point, but CBS continues to hang within striking distance in households, a half-point back.

Through 14 nights of the four-week February sweeps, NBC is averaging a 6.3 rating, 17 share in adults 18-49, up 11% over year-ago results, when CBS' Olympics dominated.

A close race for second is shaping up between tiring Fox (5.3/14, down 7%) and rallying ABC (5.1/14, up 19%). Trailing them are CBS (3.9/10, down 55% from its year-ago Olympics-inflated numbers), the WB (2.1/4, up 24%) and UPN (1.4/4, down 7%).

In homes, NBC is up 9% this year, with a 9.9/16, but the Peacock is still being dogged by runner-up CBS (9.4/15, down 42%). Further back are ABC (8.3/13, up 14%), Fox (7.0/11, down 10%), the WB (3.7/6, up 12%) and UPN (2.3/4, down 12%).

Compared with its November sweeps averages (when Olympics didn't skew its results), CBS is down a modest 2% in homes and 5% in adults 18-49.

NBC could virtually clinch the February households crown if Thursday's George Clooney farewell on "ER" or Feb. 28's "Alice in Wonderland" achieve blockbuster numbers. CBS' hopes rest on the "Doris Duke" two-parter, which begins Sunday, and the Feb. 24 Grammys.

NBC kept the sweeps month races alive when its Feb. 14-15 two-parter "To Serve and Protect" skidded to the Peacock's lowest firstrun multiple-parter rating in at least 18 years.

The sweeps' second week wrapped Wednesday with a solid ABC victory. A "20/20" report on the Phil Hartman murder-suicide grabbed ABC's best 18-49 numbers in that slot (11.9/20 in homes, 7.3/20 in adults 18-49) since last April 8.

At 8:30, ABC's "Two Guys, a Girl and a Pizza Place" (9.3/15 in homes, 6.8/18 in adults 18-49) retained 100% of its 18-49 lead-in, a "Pizza" first when following a regular-slot firstrun "Dharma & Greg."

NBC padded its sweeps averages with a "Confirmation" UFO spec (7.9/12 in homes, 4.3/11), which abducted the Peacock's highest 18-49 rating in that slot since the November sweeps.

CBS slipped 8-9 p.m. with a Tara Lipinski skating special (7.2/12 in homes, 1.9/5 in adults 18-49), which finished sixth for the hour in adults 18-49 and fell to CBS' worst firstrun in-season 18-49 marks in that slot in at least three years and possibly ever.

UPN's two-hour "Star Trek: Voyager" (4.7/7 in homes, 3.8/10 in adults 18-49) achieved that series' highest households orbit since Nov. 12, 1997, and finished third in its slot among adults 18-34, trailing only ABC and Fox. It was also the first time this season that UPN has beaten a night of firstrun programming on the rival WB netlet in households.

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 measures only the homes or viewers watching TV during the timeslot involved.