'Cops,' 'Wanted' preems score

Fox takes Saturday crown in 18-49 demo, overall numbers

By RICK KISSELL

HOLLYWOOD -- Fox's long-running primetime series "Cops" and "America's Most Wanted" show no signs of slowing down, as Saturday's season preems apprehended better ratings than a year ago and led the net to an easy victory on the night.

According to Nielsen prelim nationals, Fox captured the night by 5 shares in adults 18-49 (with a 3.2/12) and by more than 2 million viewers overall (averaging 8 million) -- topping last season's premiere averages of 3.1/11 in the demo and 7.3 million viewers. Competish this year included college football on ABC and repeats on CBS and NBC.

The 15th season premiere of "America's Most Wanted" (prelim 3.5/12 in A18-49) led the way for Fox, posting its best score since April 28 and improving on last year's preem by 17%. The opening-hour of the 14th season of "Cops" was down slightly vs. last year at 8 p.m. (prelim 2.5/10 in A18-49) while the 8:30 episode matched last season's score (3.3/13).

Among current primetime network series, only "60 Minutes," "Monday Night Football" and "20/20" have aired longer than Fox's reality vets. Last year, they helped the net post a seasonlong Saturday victory in all key demos.