Auds not attracted to Fox's 'Girls'
Morning Ratings Flash - Rick Kissell
The David E. Kelley drama settled for a fourth-place 6 million viewers overall and a 2.6/6 in adults 18-49 - half of what "Ally McBeal" opened with in the hour a year ago. And the legal drama saw its aud decline on the half hour.
At 8, the season premiere of "Boston Public" (4.0/11 in adults 18-49) was well off from its preem last year (6.3/16), when it faced weaker competition. It's not a bad opening, though, as this is about what the high school drama was delivering the second half of last season.
CBS won the night in all key measures, led by "Everybody Loves Raymond" (7.4/18 in adults 18-49, 21.3 million viewers overall) and "CSI: Miami" (6.8/17 in adults 18-49, 18.4 million viewers).
NBC had a strong showing, with "Third Watch" (4.8/11 in A18-49) seeing its best showing ever in the hour during "Monday Night Football" season. And at 10, an improving "Crossing Jordan" hit a season high (4.4/11 in A18-49) and closed the gap with "CSI: Miami."
Reliable numbers for ABC's "Monday Night Football" game (Indianapolis-Pittsburgh) were unavailable.
Preliminary nightly 18-49 averages: CBS, 6.1/15; ABC, 4.8/12; NBC, 4.7/12; Fox 3.3/8.
Preliminary total-viewer averages: CBS, 17.2 million; ABC, 12.3 million; NBC, 11.8 million; Fox. 7.9 million.
