HOLLYWOOD -- Fox made it a record six straight weekly primetime victories in the key young-adult demo, but for the first time during that stretch, it was another net's reality skein -- CBS' "Survivor" -- that was the frame's No. 1 program.
According to Nielsen Media Research, Fox prevailed during the week of March 3-9 with a 4.5 rating/12 share in the adults 18-49 demo, ahead of NBC's 4.1/11. Net now has won every week since "American Idol" premiered and has all the momentum, but it remains something of a long shot to catch season leader NBC, which still enjoys a 10% advantage (4.6 vs. 4.2) at the two-thirds mark of the season.
"Survivor: Amazon," airing roughly an hour later than usual on Thursday following President Bush's news conference, was the week's No. 1 program in 18-49 and total viewers -- the first time the reality adventure series has topped a week's demo rankings since the penultimate episode of "Survivor: Africa" in January 2002. CBS won the frame in total viewers for the 17th time in 24 weeks.
Overall, the wave of successful unscripted programs continued last week. During a frame that saw repeats of some of the top scripted series, the highest-rated hour in adults 18-49 for each of the major nets was a reality program: "Survivor" for CBS, "American Idol" for Fox, "Fear Factor" for NBC and "I'm a Celebrity, Get Me Out of Here" for ABC.
For Fox, two one-hour editions of "American Idol" (both averaging an 8.5/23 in adults 18-49) led the way, pacing demo victories on Tuesday and Wednesday. And a strong bow for "Oliver Beene" (6.1/15 in A18-49) coming out of "The Simpsons" (6.1/16) produced a Sunday win.
Also, Tuesday's "24" was the week's No. 2 drama in 18-49 (6.2/16), behind a repeat "CSI" (8.9/23), and Friday's drama combo of "Fastlane" and "John Doe" again led the night in male demos and adults 18-34.
On the downside, reality skein "Married by America" debuted to ho-hum numbers (4.1/10 in adults 18-49) and then declined 2 share points on Monday of the current week.
NBC, second for the week in most key categories and first in adults 25-54, claimed 10 of the week's top 25 programs in adults 18-49, highlighted by a repeat of "Friends" (7.5/18) -- the week's top-rated comedy in the demo -- and Monday's tandem of "Fear Factor" and "Meet My Folks."
And facing repeats of CBS dramas on Saturday seemed to be a boon to NBC's night of "Law & Order" repeats, as the Peacock scored a rare 18-49 victory on the night, edging out Fox's "Cops" and "America's Most Wanted."
On the other hand, Friday has become a bit of a struggle, as rookie drama "Mister Sterling" (2.0/7) ran fourth in the leadoff hour.
CBS dominated the shortened Thursday, as "Survivor" (airing in the "CSI" slot) drew its largest Thursday numbers since September and a repeat "CSI" followed and ranked second for the night -- and week -- with an 8.9/23 in 18-49.
Also, "Star Search" won Friday's leadoff hour in adults 18-49 (3.3/11) with the net's strongest series score there since the premiere of "The Fugitive" in September 2000.
CBS lagged in fourth place in 18-49 on five nights, though, with movies on Tuesday ("Salem Witch Trials") and Sunday ("Return to the Batcave") contributing to its woes.
ABC remained fourth in 18-49, although not far behind CBS, but has now shown improvement over its anemic scores of last season for six consecutive weeks.
Two-hour finale of "I'm a Celebrity" didn't do huge numbers (4.8/12 in A18-49), but it did win its Wednesday timeslot, while the premiere of another reality skein, "The Family," led its Tuesday-at-10 hour in 18-49 (4.1/12).
Net's "Profiles From the Front Line" (2.0/5 in 18-49) is struggling on Thursdays, but Fridays are looking better now that "America's Funniest Home Videos" has been stretched to two hours; the Alphabet has placed first on five of the last six Fridays.
The WB remained ahead of UPN in all key categories, boosted by improved numbers for its Friday comedy block. "Grounded for Life" topped its week-earlier premiere scores, giving the net its best scores in the 9:30 slot in more than two years.
TNT (1.0 rating) and TBS (0.8) again ranked as the top primetime performers among the ad-supported cablers, with the former also prevailing in total viewers (2.50 million), ahead of Fox News Channel (2.17m).
Sunday's "SAG Awards" (4.76m) was up 28% year-to-year, and was the top-rated basic cable program of the night in 18-49 (1.9/5).
- President Bush's roughly 50-minute news conference on Thursday averaged 55.84 million viewers on eight broadcast and cable nets -- a huge turnout but smaller than the 62.06 million who watched his State of the Union Address five weeks earlier.
- A pair of shows on the proverbial bubble at the WB -- laffer "Sabrina the Teenage Witch" and drama "Angel" -- made their case for renewal last week. "Sabrina," airing in its new Thursday-at-8 slot, set a season-high slot score (1.7/5 in 18-34), while "Angel," out of a repeat "Dawson's Creek," delivered its best femme demos since moving to Wednesday.
- On Monday of this week, NBC surged to its best non-sports 18-49 average on the night in nearly four years behind 90-minute segs of "Fear Factor" (record-high 8.0/20) and "Meet My Folks" (5.9/15). That contributed to more soft numbers for Fox's "Married by America" (3.5/8 in 18-49).
CBS was a solid second in demos and first in total viewers, as "CSI: Miami" (7.0/18 in A18-49, 18.95m) led the 10 o'clock hour. ABC again struggled to what's likely historic Alphabet lows for a night of original series Monday programming (2.2/6 in A18-49), led by a fourth-place finish for "The Practice" (2.6/6).
Contact Rick Kissell at
rick.kissell@variety.com