NBC enjoyed a strong Sunday behind dominating perfs from 9 to 11 by "Law & Order: Criminal Intent" and a special Katie Couric report on "The Central Park Jogger," according to preliminary nationals from Nielsen. Net won the night outright in adults 18-49 for the first time since October.
"Law & Order: CI" (5.7/13 in adults 18-49, 15.4 million viewers overall) led its hour by 39% in 18-49 over Fox's comedies, while the 10 o'clock Couric spec (5.4/13 in adults 18-49, 13.4 million viewers overall) held on to most of that audience and beat ABC's second-place "Dragnet" by 74% in the demo. The Peacock also did well at 7 with "Dateline" (2.8/9 in adults 18-49, 9.6 million viewers overall), which defeated CBS' "60 Minutes" in all under-55 categories, and at 8 with "American Dreams" (second-place 3.6/9 in adults 18-49, 10 million viewers overall).
Fox ran second on the night, led by an original "Malcolm in the Middle" (4.8/11 in adults 18-49, 10.3 million viewers overall) and a repeat of "The Simpsons" (4.5/12 in adults 18-49, 9.7 million viewers overall). At 8:30, "Oliver Beene" (4.0/10 in adults 18-49) again did pretty well, but 9:30 entry "The Pitts" (3.4/8 in adults 18-49) was shaky.
ABC was led by an original "Dragnet" at 10 (3.1/8 in adults 18-49, 9 million viewers overall), CBS by theatrical "The Whole Nine Yards" (2.8/7 in adults 18-49, 8.6 million viewers).
Preliminary 18-49 averages for the night: NBC, 4.4/11; Fox, 3.6/9; ABC, 2.7/7; CBS, 2.6/7.
In total viewers: NBC easily led with 12.1 million.
Contact Rick Kissell at
rick.kissell@variety.com