Extra 'Millionaire' spells win over 'ER'
ABC wins sweeps total auds with extra 8 minutes
The network, however, chalks it up to simple good luck.
The finale of four "Millionaire" segs featuring celebs playing for charity, Thursday’s episode spilled into the following hour—airing from 9-10:08 p.m. That enabled ABC to keep a good chunk of viewers away from the start of "ER" and retain eyeballs for "20/20 Downtown."
According to an ABC spokesman, "Millionaire" exec producer Michael Davies asked for the additional time in order to fit in the week’s final celeb contestant, "Everybody Loves Raymond" star Ray Romano.
The spokesman said Davies had done everything he could to shorten the episode. Rather than going back and editing more, ABC decided to pull some promo time out of "20/20 Downtown" and shrink that newsmag down to make room.
Of course, it doesn’t take a millionaire to realize ABC also saw a potential ratings bonanza and powerful tool versus NBC’s former juggernaut by bleeding into 10 p.m. It may have also given ABC a chance to take a peak at what "Millionaire" might do at 10 p.m. against prime competish.
Affiliates, after all, have been begging the web to sked "Millionaire" as a local news lead-in. In the first-ever standoff between "Millionaire" and "ER" (albeit for eight minutes), "Millionaire" won handily.
NBC execs weren’t particularly miffed by ABC’s move.
"We knew they were going to do it," said one Peacock insider, comparing the stretch of "Millionaire" to "CBS or Fox milking the end of a Sunday football game" to make sure part of a pigskin contest ends up in primetime.
"It’s just a part of the war," the NBC solider said.
