Stephanopoulos
NEW YORK -- Sunday mornings may be getting a little rougher for CBS' "Face the Nation."
In fourth-quarter ratings for the Sunday Beltway gabbers, ABC's newly revamped "This Week" showed signs of recovery with new anchor George Stephanopoulos as it tries to edge its CBS rival out of second place.
NBC's "Meet the Press" displaced "This Week" in 1997 as the front-runner in the category and has held on ever since.
The battle for second place, however, may now be down to decimals.
The CBS half-hour newsmaker program anchored by Bob Schieffer drew an average of 2.72 million viewers, 17,000 less than the hourlong "This Week."
Fox's "News Sunday" took last place with an average of 1.4 million.
In the all-important 25-54 news demo, "Face" has a little more breathing room, attracting 1.01 million viewers compared with ABC's 830,000.
"This Week" exec producer Jon Banner discounted the ratings, instead tubthumping recent exclusives such as Time magazine's whistle-blowers cover story and an interview with Oklahoma GOP Sen. Don Nickles in which he suggested that then-Senate Majority Leader Trent Lott be replaced.
"The ratings are a lagging indicator," Banner said. "The viewers just haven't caught up yet."
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