ABC nabs ratings win with Walters

'People's Choice' bounces back

By RICK KISSELL

ABC enjoyed its best Wednesday in two months thanks to a sold showing for a Barbara Walters special on a night when the "People's Choice Awards" bounced back from last year's record lows.

According to preliminary nationals from Nielsen, Walters' interview with Patrick Swayze, who is battling pancreatic cancer, averaged a 3.0 rating/8 share in adults 18-49 and 12.6 million viewers overall -- tying with NBC's "Law & Order" for the hour's demo lead while also standing as the night's most-watched program overall. It's certainly an improvement for ABC over the low-rated "Dirty Sexy Money," which had aired in the timeslot.

Also Wednesday, the "People's Choice Awards" on CBS averaged a solid 2.9/8 in 18-49 and 9.3 million viewers overall from 9 to 11 p.m., rising nicely over last year's taped edition of the kudocast which was light on celebrities due to the writers strike. Despite the bounce back, the show was down about 15% vs. its performance of two years ago.

CBS won the night in most measures, getting a good showing in the leadoff hour with repeats of laffers "The New Adventures of Old Christine" (2.3/7 in 18-49, 8.2 million viewers overall) and "Gary Unmarried" (2.3/6 in 18-49, 7.4 million viewers overall), both of which led their timeslots.

NBC started slowly with "Knight Rider" (1.6/5 in 18-49, 5.7 million viewers overall), which was on par with ABC's repeats of "Scrubs" (1.6/4 in 18-49, 4.5 million viewers overall). Things picked up for the Peacock at 9 o'clock with a repeat of "Law & Order: Special Victims Unit" (2.2/6 in 18-49, 7.4 million viewers overall) and at 10 p.m. with a firstrun episode of "Law & Order" (3.0/8 in 18-49, 10.1 million viewers overall), which matched its season high in 18-49.

At CW, the premiere of reality entry "13: Fear is Real" settled for a 1.1/3 in 18-49 and 2.4 million viewers overall. It fared a bit better in the net's target demo of adults 18-34 (1.3/4), finishing just 1 share behind CBS for the timeslot lead while outperforming the launches of the net's "Farmer Wants a Wife" and "Girlicious."

Fox, whose "American Idol" joins the night next week, was not a factor with two repeats of "Bones" that averaged a 1.8/5 in 18-49 and 6.6 million viewers overall.

Preliminary 18-49 averages for the night: CBS, 2.7/7; ABC and NBC, 2.3/6; Fox, 1.8/5; Univision, 1.7/5; CW, 0.8/2.

In total viewers: CBS, 8.8 million; ABC, 8.4 million; NBC, 7.7 million; Fox, 6.6 million; Univision, 4.5 million; CW, 1.7 million.