NBC, ABC ratings strongholds stumble
'48 hours' viewership surges
Coverage of the Littleton, Colo., tragedy also boosted Friday's "Dateline NBC" to its highest rating in 12 tries, but a special edition of CBS' "48 Hours" on Saturday slipped to the Eye's second-lowest rating in that 8-9 p.m. slot in 12 weeks.
Thursday's "48" tallied an 11.0 rating, 19 share in homes and a 5.0/14 in adults 18-49. That homes score equals the best "48" rating since Dec. 7, 1994, and pushed the Dan Rather-anchored newsmag past NBC's "ER" (9.4/16 in homes, 6.2/17 in adults 18-49 in rerun) for the first time. "ER" retained the slot lead in most key demographics.
NBC Thursday droops
Overall, it was a lackluster Thursday night for NBC, which also saw the lowest firstrun homes rating for "Friends" (14.4/25 in homes, 10.9/36 in adults 18-49) since Dec. 14, 1994, the lowest firstrun homes rating ever for "Veronica's Closet" (10.5/17 in homes, 7.5/20 in adults 18-49) and the biggest falloff yet for "Will & Grace" (12.0/20 in homes, 9.2/28 in adults 18-49) relative to its 18-49 lead-in from "Friends."
NBC still won Thursday by 5 shares in homes and by 13 in adults 18-49.
The Peacock also dominated Friday, led by "Dateline" (a preliminary 11.5/20 in homes, 6.0/20 in adults 18-49). Interest in the Columbine killings boosted the newsmag to its second-best Friday homes rating since Nov. 14, 1997.
That competition helped dump ABC's "T.G.I.F." lineup to what could be some of its lowest-ever Nielsens. From 8-10 p.m., that once-dominant block settled for a third-place 5.3/10 in homes and a second-place 2.7/9 in adults 18-49, according to prelim Nielsens. It's the lowest 18-49 rating for a standard "T.G.I.F." schedule during the regular season in at least five years and probably ever.
'20/20' pulls its own
Despite that weak lead-in, "20/20" (a prelim 9.6/17 in homes, 4.8/14 in adults 18-49) managed its second-highest homes rating in seven weeks.
By Saturday, some viewers were either tiring of Columbine coverage or unaware of a special 8-9 p.m. "48 Hours" (a prelim 6.3/13 in homes, 2.4/8 in adults 18-49), as the news spec settled for CBS' second-lowest numbers in that slot since January.
The Eye still easily won Saturday in homes and tied Fox for first in adults 18-49, though these prelim results could be adjusted by Nielsen on Tuesday.
NBC shot another brick with its second attempt at Saturday primetime NBA basketball, slipping from last week's poor 3.5/6 in metered-market household results to a 3.2/6. Those week-earlier overnights translated to NBC's worst-rated in-season Saturday ever.
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.
