HOLLYWOOD -- For one final time, Fox's combination of "Joe Millionaire" and "American Idol" proved too much for the primetime competish last week in young-adult categories, but CBS had some standout perfs of its own from hot first-year shows.
According to Nielsen estimates for Feb. 24-March 2, Fox prevailed for a fifth straight week in adults 18-49 (5.0/13) while CBS cruised in total viewers and tied NBC for the lead in adults 25-54.
Pacing Fox were its reality powerhouses, as the spec "Joe Millionaire: Aftermath" was the week's No. 1 program in adults 18-49 (10.2/23), and editions of "American Idol" on Tuesday (9.7/25) and Wednesday (8.7/22) weren't far behind. Net also won Saturday and Sunday in the demo and saw improvement on Thursday with a repeat "Idol" spec and an uptick for newsmag "The Pulse."
CBS claimed five of the week's top 10 shows in adults 18-49, led by "Survivor: Amazon" (8.4/22) and a "CSI" repeat (8.2/20) on Thursday. Net's first-year dramas "CSI: Miami" and "Without a Trace" also led the 10 o'clock hours on Monday and Thursday, respectively, while strong perfs from new laffer "My Big Fat Greek Life" bookended the week on Monday and Sunday. "Trace," airing opposite NBC comedies instead of "ER," achieved its best numbers to date (6.4/17 in A18-49, 18.80m).
Net also continues to do quietly well with "Star Search," which has brought a larger, younger aud to the tough lead-off hours on Wednesday and Friday. CBS placed second in adults 18-49 in both of these slots.
And Dan Rather's "60 Minutes II" interview with Saddam Hussein won its Wednesday hour in key categories -- including the 4-year-old newsmag's best 18-49 rating to date (5.2/13).
NBC was paced by a repeat "Friends" (7.9/21) that impressively ranked as the week's top comedy in adults 18-49 -- ahead of the big "My Big Fat Greek Life" preem or other firstrun hit laffers like "Everybody Loves Raymond," "The Simpsons" and "That '70s Show."
Net's "Law & Order" franchise also excelled, with Sunday's "Criminal Intent" setting slot records (5.9/13 in adults 18-49), Friday's "SVU" hitting a new high for a repeat seg (5.4/17) and Wednesday's mothership (7.2/19) crushing heavily promoted newsmag interviews on ABC and CBS.
Sunday's "Boomtown," back after a four-week hiatus, battled to a draw with ABC's "Dragnet" for the 18-49 lead in its hour (4.1/11).
The Peacock maintains a still-comfy 10% advantage over Fox for the seasonlong adults 18-49 race -- excepting last year's Olympics-inflated boost, the largest advantage for any net at this point of the season in five years.
At ABC, highlights included continued improvement for "Alias," the best young-adult score for Tuesday laffer "According to Jim" since facing "American Idol," and another Friday victory for "Funniest Home Videos."
The 15-night "I'm A Celebrity -- Get Me Out of Here" provided small gains for ABC on a few nights but has failed to generate any buzz -- and was unable to even lift ABC ahead of CBS for the week in adults 18-34.
Still, ABC is up 11% year-to-date in adults 18-49 and 13% in 18-34.
The WB was up year-to-year by 25% or more in all key adult demos, highlighted by a special guest appearance by Christopher Reeve on "Smallville," which wrapped February with some of the best sweep averages for any Frog series in its history. Net's Friday comedy lineup also got a boost with the premiere of "Grounded for Life," which provided nice timeslot gains following "Reba."
Things weren't too upbeat at UPN, which remains down about 20% vs. last season. Net is hopeful that hip-hop drama "Platinum" can make some noise on Tuesdays next month.
TBS and TNT tied for the primetime 18-49 lead among basic cable nets (1.0 national rating), but TLC's "Trading Spaces" was the week's top-rated show (2.3/7). In total viewers, TBS (2.18 million) edged out Nickelodeon (2.12m) and TNT (2.10m).
Other notes:
- NBC regained its advantage in the evening news derby, one week after a rare ABC victory in total viewers. The Peacock's "Nightly News" has also now won all 23 weeks this season in adults 25-54 (including one tie).
- "Law & Order" was the most-watched Wednesday hour on both broadcast and cable television, with NBC's original averaging 19.62 million at 10 and TNT's repeat at 8 drawing 3.20 million.
- Bruce Springsteen's CBS concert on Friday managed a mere 1.9/5 in adults 18-49 (a 21% decline from "Hack's" average in the slot this season). This is about on par with what the Eye scored in November with U2 (1.5/5) and well below what NBC grabbed last fall with country music artists Faith Hill (4.2/12) and the Dixie Chicks (3.8/11).
CBS will have a chance to improve on its record with its upcoming Celine Dion concert from Vegas.
- Fox certainly got its money's worth out of "Joe Millionaire" during the sweep. Not only did the megahit account for 13% of its February programming, but an appearance on Wednesday by the show's lead, Evan Marriott, helped boost "Cedric the Entertainer Presents" to its best-ever femme demos. Earlier in the sweep, an interview with Marriott's parents inflated the numbers for Fox newsmag "The Pulse."
Contact Rick Kissell at
rick.kissell@variety.com