Vardalos
CBS comedy "My Big Fat Greek Life" is off to an impressive start in its regular Sunday-at-8 slot, ranking a solid second in key demos to Fox's "The Simpsons," while winning in total viewers.
The first Sunday following the February sweep also saw NBC's "Law & Order: Criminal Intent" hit another regular-slot record and ABC's "Dragnet" edge past NBC's return of "Boomtown" at 10. Numbers for HBO's season preem of "Six Feet Under" will be issued today.
Critics weren't kind to "Greek Life," which bowed to boffo numbers last Monday in a special preview episode (
Daily Variety, Feb. 26). But in its Sunday premiere, it averaged a 4.4/11 in adults 18-49 and 16.5 million viewers overall, according to preliminary nationals from Nielsen, building by 25% in 18-49 over its "60 Minutes" lead-in (3.3/10 in 18-49, 16.2m).
By comparison, "Becker" never built on "60 Minutes" and maxed out at a 2.6 demo rating in the slot this season.
This is the Eye's best 18-49 showing with regularly skedded Sunday-at-8 programming since an episode of "Touched by an Angel" in April 2000, and its largest overall aud in the slot since the premiere of "The Education of Max Bickford" in September 2001.
"Greek" also helped "Becker," in its new 8:30 slot, hit season highs (3.1/7 in A18-49, 13.0m) -- although "Becker" retained just 70% of its demo lead-in.
Bart, Homer lift Fox
Fox won the night in adults 18-49, led by "The Simpsons" (6.4/16 in A18-49, 14.4m). Net's little-used "Futurama" placed third at 7 in 18-49 (2.8/9), and "Malcolm in the Middle" ran second at 9 (4.9/11).
ABC received another stout score from "Alias" (second-place 4.8/11 in A18-49, up year-to-year), while lead-out drama "Dragnet" (4.2/11 in A18-49, 11.7m) picked it up a bit, edging out NBC's returning "Boomtown" (4.1/11 in A18-49, 11.0m).
This is about the level that "Boomtown" was performing at opposite "The Practice" last fall, while "Dragnet" -- although up from recent outings -- remains below what "The Practice" was doing Sundays at 10.
From 7 to 9, ABC's "I'm a Celebrity, Get Me Out of Here" ranked fourth (2.9/8 in A18-49, down week-to-week). Show ends Wednesday.
'Law' leads NBC
NBC, which won the night in adults 25-54 and total viewers, was led by timeslot-record scores for "Law & Order: CI" (5.9/13 in A18-49, 17.2m) -- an impressive feat given that HBO drama "Six Feet Under" made its season premiere in the same hour. "Law" was up 59% year-to-year.
At 9, CBS' long-on-the-shelf two-part movie "Salem Witch Trials" opened poorly (2.7/7 in A18-49, 7.3m).
Nielsen nationals for Friday, meanwhile, show a solid but unspectacular start for the WB's laffer "Grounded for Life." While the 8:30 special seg didn't do much (1.5/6 in adults 18-49), it fared better at 9:30 in its regular slot, retaining 90% of its "Reba" 18-34 lead-in (1.8/6 vs. 2.0/7) and providing the Frog with hefty time-period improvement.
Roughly two-thirds of "Grounded's" 18-34 aud was female -- a contrast to its almost 50-50 gender split when it aired last season on Fox -- so the challenge for the WB is to recruit more men to the night.
From 9 to 10, "Reba" and "Grounded" beat CBS' Bruce Springsteen concert (1.8/5) among adults 18-49. Fox's two-hour "Baywatch Hawaii" movie did a so-so 2.5/8.
Contact Rick Kissell at
rick.kissell@variety.com