"Joe Millionaire,'' "American Idol'' and the unstoppable "Simpsons'' have powered Fox to a network-record, third straight weekly victory among young adults, while a big Thursday showing kept CBS primetime's most-watched network overall.
According to Nielsen, Fox prevailed in adults 18-49 for the week of Feb. 10-16 by winning four nights (including one tie) and claiming five of the week's top seven shows in the demo - including No. 1 "Joe Millionaire'' (12.9/28).
"American Idol'' keeps plugging along and dominating its Tuesday and Wednesday slots, while the combo of "The Simpsons'' and a "Married With Children Reunion'' gave the net its top-rated Sunday with entertainment programs in six years.
Overall, Fox has won three straight weeks in adults 18-49 for the first time in network history (and is a cinch to make it four straight after "Joe Millionaire's'' huge finale on Monday of this week). Net also easily won the frame in adults 18-34 and teens, sweeping the top 10 shows in the latter category.
CBS remained on top in total viewers despite a third-place finish in both adults 18-49 and 25-54. Net moved ahead of NBC on Thursday in adults 18-49 behind a big opener for ``Survivor: The Amazon'' and a special 90-minute "CSI'' (
Daily Variety, Feb. 17) and also received another strong perf from Monday's "CSI: Miami,'' which again crushed its drama competish.
Thursday's "CSI'' was the week's No. 1 show in both adults 25-54 (12.4/27) and total viewers (27.21 million) and No. 2 in 18-49 (10.7/25), topping an original seg of NBC's "ER'' (10.1/24) for the first time.
NBC, despite a rare second-place sweeps finish on Thursday, ran first or second in adults 18-49 on every night but Wednesday and finished on top for the frame in adults 25-54 (5.6/13).
A couples edition of "Fear Factor'' set new ratings records for the reality series on Monday (7.8/20 in adults 18-49), "Friends'' beat "Survivor'' head-to-head (although with its lowest firstrun score of the season), and the ``Law & Order'' franchise flourished with all six of its episodes (including three repeats on Saturday).
ABC placed third or fourth in most key categories, although there were several bright spots, including slot-winning 18-49 perfs from "The Bachelorette'' and "America's Funniest Home Videos'' (3.5/11 for two hours on Friday). Also, Wednesday's "Celebrity Mole'' finished strong (5.9/15 in adults 18-49) and Friday's "20/20,'' featuring Barbara Walters' interview with Christina Aguilera, was the week's top-rated newsmag in adults 18-49 (3.8/12) and 25-54 (4.2/11, tie).
On the down side, Monday's new drama lineup fizzled and the verdict's still out on Sunday's "Dragnet'' (4.0/10 in adults 18-49). Also Sunday, a new rendition of "The Music Man'' failed to wow, although its 13.09 million viewers makes it ABC's second most-watched original movie of the season.
The WB had another solid week, as "7th Heaven'' scored its best ratings of the season (3.5/9 in adults 18-49), and Sunday's conclusion of "High School Reunion'' matched or set its best marks in young-female demos. On Tuesday, "Smallville'' ran second in all of the 12-34 and 18-34 breakdowns.
"Buffy the Vampire Slayer'' grabbed its best young-male numbers since November to pace UPN, which remained well off its year-ago pace.
Among the newest shows to bow on the nets, NBC's Tuesday comedy "A.U.S.A'' looked shaky in its second try, but ABC's in-your-face reality skein "Are You Hot?'' got off to a promising start on Thursday.
There was nothing too exciting happening in cable last week, as TNN's "WWE Raw Zone'' was the top draw among advertiser-supported programs in both adults 18-49 (2.6/6) and total viewers (5.63m), moving up to third for its Monday-at-10 hour in 18-49 - behind only CBS and NBC.
USA, paced by a strong turnout for Tuesday's "Dog Show'' (5.26m), led in overall primetime viewership (2.63m), followed by TNT (2.58m) and Nickelodeon (2.03m). In adults 18-49, TNT (1.0 national rating) led the way, followed by USA (0.9) and TBS (0.8).
Contact Rick Kissell at
rick.kissell@variety.com