"Millionaire" goes out with a wimper
    The end of a three year tv era came to a close last night: "Who Wants To Be A Millionaire" aired its final regularly scheduled episode, just two months shy of it's third birthday. The show aired from 8:30 to 10pm last night, drawing a now average 8.0mil viewers. Surprizingly, it managed a second place finish in the slot, but was down 42% from last season's episode which drew 13.7mil viewers and topped the weekly ratings. It got a poor lead-in ("Whose Line"- 4.8mil), a strong lead-out (PrimeTime Thursday"- 9.6mil), but did delp to leave ABC in second on the night. 
     Other than that, few shows managed to make a dent in the Thursday numbers. At 8pm, "Friends" (9.5mil) mediocre performance was negated by another episode of "Scrubs" (7.5mil) (why aren't you watching this show?), leaving CBS's "The Price Is Right" (9.5) to a third weekly first place finish in the slot. It would be interesting to see what's happened to the daytime ratings in the last three weeks; the primetime version is drawing about double what the daytime version used to. ABC was third, while Fox brought back "Beyond Belief" to just 5.3mil viewers, though that was a marked improvement of Fox's ratings of late in the slot, even during the regular season. The UPN's "Smackdown!" was fifth with 4.9mil viewers, while the WB's winning "The Jamie Kennedy Experiment" (2.4mil) put up a good performance, though the special "Skateboarding Show" (2.0mil) interested very few people.
      At 9pm, "CSI" (15.5mil) was the usual suspect, with "Millionaire" (8.0mil) coming in second. "Will & Grace" also managed 8.0mil, though "Scrubs" slipped to 6.7mil at 9:30pm. Fox's "Beyond Belief" picked up in the hour, bringing in 6.5mil, acutally beating "Scrubs" at 9:30pm. "Smackdown" clocked 6.3mil, while the WB's "Charmed" (2.1mil) charmed few. At 10pm, ABC won, "The Agency" (8.2mil) was second, while "ER" (7.2mil) fell off the map.
      Compared the last season, the news was not so good. Only two nets scored gains, they were Fox (up 29%) and CBS (13%). On the losers side,  the UPN lost 7%, NBC 13% (mostly due to "ER," down 22%); the WB 19%, while "Millionaire"s finale helped ABC to a 25% loss on the night. In total, the nets drew 40.4mil viewers this year, down 5% from last year;s 42.5mil. (June 28)

"Scrub"-a-thon not so fantastic
    NBC apparently really wants you to love "Scrubs," so they offered up 5 consecutive episodes on Tuesday. And... they all flopped. Though ther did dray more than what "Scrubs" usually draws, none of them even cracked the 8mil viewer mark.
     Starting our at 8pm, "JAG" was first in the hour with 8.0mil, followed by "Frasier" (7.2mil) and the first ep of "Scrubs" (7.1mil). Fox aired back to back eps of "That 70s Show" to third place results (6.2mil; 6.8mil), while ABC languished with back to back eps of "Spin City" (4.4mil; 4.3mil). "Gilmore" was fifth (3.1mil), while "Buffy" (2.0mil) was a usual sixth.
     At 9pm, "American Idol" pulled into the lead with 10.2mil. CBS was second with "The Guardian" (7.8mil), while "Scrubs" was third overall (7.8mil; 7.2mil). ABC's "The Mole" lost ground from recent weeks, falling to just 5.3mil viewers. Over on the WB, "Smallville" was at a typical 3.0mil, while "The Parkers" and "The Hughleys" (1.6mil each) couldn't get anything started for the UPN. At 10pm, "Judging Amy" (8.4mil) was in its usual range, "Scrubs" started falling off (7.3mil; 6.8mil), while "Houston Medical" was up a tick from last week at 6.4mil. It was a good night for you if you love back-to-back episodes; "Spin City" offered 3, "Scrubs" 5, and "That 70s Show" 2.
    Compared to last season, Fox, who won the night in most demos and viewers, also posted the biggest increase over last season. It was up 53%. On a much lesser note, the WB jumped 7%, and CBS 1%. NBC was flat, while the UPN lost5%, and ABC plunged a deep 40%. In total, the nets drew 34.0mil viewers this Tuesday, down 1% from the 34.5mil they drew last season. (June 26)

Weak Monday brings gains
     It was an atypically weak Monday for the networks, as only two shows broke the 10mil viewer mark, but still, there were gains on five of the six networks. There were no real surprises, everybody ranked in order, so this report will be quite boring.
    Starting out at 8pm, "King of Queens" (8.1mil) and "Yes, Dear" (8.4mil) fell off their usual first place perch, leaving a repeat "Fear Factor" (8.8mil) to take the crown. Third went ABC's inexplicably popular "Meet Joe Black" (7.2mil at 8pm, 8.5mil overall), giving the net one of its best Monday performance of the summer season. Fourth was Fox's "Home Alone 3" (4.5mil), though ratings were anemic. "7th Heaven" (3.0mil) on the WB was fifth, just over "The Hughleys" (2.7mil) and "One On One" (3.0mil)
     At 9pm, "Raymond" (13.0mil) and "Becker" (10.8mil) were off their usual marks, with second place going to the solid "Dog Eat Dog" (9.5mil). ABC was third, Fox fourth, while the UPN's "The Parkers" (3.0mil) and "Girlfriends" (2.9mil) bested "Gilmore Girls" (2.5mil) by a slim margin. At 10pm, it was ABC over "48 Hours" (9.6mil) and the sinking "Crossing Jordan" (7.2mil)
     On the night, Fox was the biggest winner, up 17%. the WB was up 12%, the UPN 11%,  ABC 9%, and CBS 2% Meanwhile, NBC dropped off 16%. Overall, the nets averaged 38.2mil viewers on the night, up 2% from last season's 37.5mil. (June 25)

Another Must See Thursday- for CBS
     CBS won yet another Thursday night thanks to its unlikely powerhouse combination of "The Price Is Right" and "CSI" both winning their timeslots, in the latter's case by a huge margin. Though it lost out in the 8pm slot (9.5mil) to "Friends" (10.1mil), the showcase showdown in the second half drove the show to 10.7mil viewers, and a nice win over an hour long "Will & Grace" (9.2mil at 8:30pm, 9.6mil overall). In the leftover category, "Whose Line?" (4.4mil; 5.6mil) was down and out, "WWE Smackdown!" (4.6mil) was strogn as per usual, Fox's special "Teen Music Mania" (3.7mil) was a complete wash-out, while back to back repeats of "The Jamie Kennedy Experiment" (2.4mil, 2.5mil) continued to defy expectations.
     At 9pm, "CSI" won with a huge 16.4mil, which will likely place it 2mil viewers above "Raymond" as the top rated series of the week. As it stands, CBS has a lock on the top 4. "Will & Grace" was second at 9pm, though "Just Shoot Me" (8.0mil) once again lost a big portion of its lead-in, as per usual. "Millionaire" was third (7.7mil- though it overtook "JSM" at 9:30pm with 8.3mil viewers). "Smackdown!" took 6.6mil viewers, way over Fox's "Music" special (4.5mil). "Charmed" was last with 2.1mil viewers. At 10pm, "PrimeTime Thursday" broke out (11.0mil) for a big win over "ER" (7.9mil) & "The Agency" (7.5mil).
    Compared to last season, it wasn't all good, but most of the losses were small. The sole winner was CBS, up 28%. On the losers side was Fox, down just 2%, the UPN down 3%, the WB and NBC, both down 8% (though NBC debuted "Spy TV" to 13.1mil viewers this week last season), while ABC dropped 24%. Overall, the nets averaged 40.1mil viewers this Thursday, down only 4% from last year's 41.4mil. (June 21)

"Idol" cools down
     "American Idol" drew a few less viewers on Tuesday night, though at 10.0mil, it still matched last week's delivery. On top of that, it won its timeslot by a convincing margin and gave Fox a huge win in adults on the night. It grew quite a bit from a two "That 70s Show"s (6.4mil- 8pm, 6.7mil- 8:30pm), and beat out "Frasier" (9.2mil); "Scrubs" (7.2mil); "The Guardian" (8.3mil); "The Mole" (6.6mil); "Smallville" (3.2mil) and  repeats of "The Hughleys" (1.4mil) and "The Parkers" (1.9mil) for first.
     At 8pm, nobody had that much luck, but it quickly turned into a race between CBS and NBC for first. CBS's "JAG" (9.0mil) took it, though "Spy TV" (8.6mil, 9.2mil) was only a fraction behind. Fox was third, while ABC's "Spin City" (5.2mil; 5.0mil) were distant fourths. Hey ABC, since you think you've got such a winning strategy in airing repeats of "Spin City," why no try "Dharma & Greg?" This former fan who missed to entire last season would like to see them.... Oh, and "Gilmore Girls" (3.1mil) and "Buffy" (1.9mil) were at typical levels.
    At 10pm, ABC's disasterous foray in original summer programming continued. "Houston Medical" debuted to a "Boston 24/7"-like 6.4mil viewers, half of those probably concentrated in the Houston, Texas area. "Dateline NBC" won the hour (10.2mil), while "Judging Amy" (8.6mil) was a solid second.
     On the night, it was actually pretty good for the nets. Alot of people are tuning in, thanks to successes like "Spy TV" (which led NBC up 26% over last year) and Fox's "American Idol" (up 57%). On the other hand, ABC (down 39%) is still reeling from the loss of "Millionaire," while CBS (up 7%), the UPN (up 12%) and the WB (flat) just sit and watch the shenanigans. Overall, the nets drew 37.0mil viewers on the night, up 5% from last year's 35.1mil. Without ABC in the mix, the nets jumped an amazing 22% in viewers, (June 19)

"Dog Eat Dog" gets eaten
     Despite the ambitious title, "Dog Eat Dog" did not eat the competiton on Monday night, coming in second in its slot. On the upside, at 10.5mil viewers, it beat out the third place net Fox (the movie "American Pie" -6.6mil), and will probably coming in first in most of the young demos. It also built on its lead in ("Fear Factor" -9.0mil), drew a hell of alot more viewers than "Crossing Jordan" (7.7mil), and wasn't that far behind "Raymond" (14.4mil) and "Becker" (13.0mil). Fourth in the hour was ABC with the movie "Goldfinger" (5.6mil from 8-11pm). "7th Heaven" (3.4mil) was third, while the UPN regulars drew 2.7mil and 2.9mil, respectively.
     An hour ealier, CBS took it again. "King of Queens" (9.8mil) and "Yes, Dear" (9.6mil) took it by a slim margin over "Fear Factor," while Fox and ABC were left in the dust. On the WB, "Gilmore Girls" did an above average (for the slot) 2.7mil, while the UPN was fifth with "The Parkers" (3.0mil) and "Girlfriends" (3.1mil). At 10pm, "48 Hours" (11.8mil) outdrew the competition by a big margin.
     Compared to last season, it was a night of solid gains.  fox was up the most, 36%, the WB jumped 24%, the UPN 16% and CBS 13%. On the losers side, NBC was down  just 7%, while ABC dropped 18%. Overall, the nets drew 39.0mil viewers, up 6% from last year's 36.8mil. (June 18)

"Idol" picks up steam
    Despite the fact that it's not doing anything with its high overnight numbers (Tuesday's 8.6 rating equalled just 10.0mil viewers, which is why my preliminary 11.5mil was so far off), "American Idol" jumped to 11.3mil viewers on Wednesday, in its regular timeslot. It nearly doubled it lead-in, a special one hour "Malcolm In The Middle" (5.8mil). That left the competition in the dust, well, nearly all of the competition. NBC aired the final game of the NBA finals, drawing just 12.3mil viewers as the LA Lakers swept the New Jersey Nets in four games. "The West Wing" started out the night with a weak 6.6mil viewers at 8pm.
    And then there were the rest. CBS actually won the 8pm hour with 9.1mil tuning in for "60 Minutes II." ABC was second with 7.6mil for "My Wife & Kids," and 7.0mil for "According To Jim." Third was NBC, fourth was Fox (whose positions would be the inverse at 9pm). On the UPN, 2.4mil watched "Enterprise," while just 1.9mil settled for the "Creek."
    At 9pm, with Fox and NBC fighting amongst themselves for first, ABC took first with "The Drew Carey Show" (6.2mil) and the flop "My Adventures In Television" (5.0mil). CBS was a lock for fourth place witht he better off shelved movie "Joan Of Arc" (4.9mil, 5.4mil overall), while "Wolf Lake" (1.9mil) beat out the dying "Dawsons Creek" (1.6mil). At 10pm, ABC took second with "Boston 24/7" (6.2mil), while CBS was third.
     Compared to last season, there were some gains from some surprizing players. In the losers column, NBC was down 35% thanks to a impotent NBA finals this season, and CBS lost 15%. The WB was flar, ABC was up 2%, the UPN 15%, while Fox added 60% more viewers to its ranks. Overall, the nets drew 36.5mil viewers this season, down 8% from last season's 40.0mil.
Without NBC's cruddy performance, there was actually an overall gain of 10%. (June 13)

"American Idol" busts out
    Fox may not have had any luck with new series during the regular season, but something changed on Tuesday night. The new reality series "American Idol" busted out, capturing 11.5mil viewers overall from 8:30-10pm. this represents Fox's best regular performance in this slot in over a year, regular season or not. And it even did well considering what it was given: Fox started off the evening in third place with "That 70s Show" (6.4mil). this led Fox to a win in viewers on Tuesday night, the first time that's happened in a long, long time.
    For the rest of the nets, ti was business as usual. Starting off at 8pm, CBS's "AFI Presents" special took in 8.0mil viewers, averaging 9.5mil for the night. Over on NBC, two episodes of "Spy TV" were second, but brought in a disappointing 7.8mil and 7.2mil, actually decreasing in its second half hour, likely due to "Idol." ABC was fourth with two episodes of "Spin City" (4.7mil, 5.7mil), while the WB played for fifth with "Gilmore Girls" (3.3mil), while "Buffy" (1.9mil) was out fo it all together.
    At 9pm, Fox took over first place, while CBS slipped to second. NBC was third with "Frasier" (8.8mil) and "Scrubs" (6.8mil) taking weakish numbers, while "The Mole" (6.0mil) slipped from last week, probably due to the lead-in. The WB was a strong fifth with "Smallville" (3.8mil), while the UPN sunk to 1.8mil and 1.6mil for repeats of "The Hughleys" and "Girlfriends," respectively. At 10pm, CBS took over first, while NBC took second with "Dateline" (8.5mil). Over on ABC, the never ending "Boston 24/7" took just 6.1mil.
     Compared to last season, it was a very good night indeed. Fox drove away to an 82% increase, NBC was up 13%, the WB 9% and CBS 3% while the UPN was flat. ABC was the big loser, down 42% on the night. This year the nets averaged 38.8mil viewers, up 5% from last season's 36.8mil. (June 12)

"Spy TV" looking good
    Take a picture- because "Spy TV" is the latest NBC series to take off in the summer. On Monday, the show drew 10.0mil viewers at 9:30pm, coming in second in the slot (first in most demos), as well as being NBC's highest rated series on the night. It grew from its 90 minute "Fear Factor" (9.4mil), and beat its "Crossing Jordan" (8.8mil) lead-out. NBC must be happy with the performance- last summer the show debuted to big numbers, but quickly fell off. So far this year, it's grow in every telecast (even though it's only aired for two weeks).
     But that wasn't enough for NBC to win the night, that was CBS's honour. Starting out at 8pm, "King of Queens" (9.7mil) and "Yes, Dear" (10.3mil) took it, with NBC coming in second. Fox was third with "The Simpsons" (6.8mil) and "Malcolm" (5.6mil), while ABC languished with the NHL finals (4.8mil in the hour, 6.0mil overall). "7th Heaven" was third (3.6mil), while "The Hughleys" (2.6mil) and "One On One" (3.1mil) brought up the rear.
     At 9pm, CBS won it again, with "Raymond" (15.1mil) and "Becker" (13.3mil) doing their best summer number yet. NBC came in second, while ABC moved into a distant third. Fox fell to fourth with "That 70s Show" (5.5mil) and "Grounded For Life" (4.7mil), while the UPN duo of "The Parkers" (3.2mil) and "Girlfriends" (3.3mil) won a big victory over "Angel" (1.9mil).
At 10pm, "48 Hours" (11.8mil) had no problem overcoming "Crossing Jordan" (8.8mil). ABC was third.
     Compared to last year, it was a night of double digit losses and gains. Starting with the losers, ABC was down 40% and NBC 15%, with the WB was flat. With the winners, both Fox and the UPN were up 19%, while CBS jumped 17%. Overall, the nets drew 38.8mil viewers on average this year, down 6% from last season's 41.5mil. (June 11)

President Bush disrupts another Thursday
    He's getting in the habit of doing this- President Bush disrupted yet another Thursday for the networks with one of his speeches. while this turned out to be greatly okay or NBC, it was ABC and CBS that felt the pinch. The peacock started out the night wth 10.2mil viewers for the speech, compared to 7.0 for ABC and just 6.7 mil for CBS. Elsewhere in the hour, Fox combined with speech with the "2002 Essence Awards" and came up with 4.8mil viewers, while the UPN ignored the prez completely and drew 5.5mil for "Smackdown!" Over on the WB, "The Jamie Kennedy Experiment" is starting to look at home in its new slot: it drew 2.7mil for back to back repeats.
    At 9pm, it ws "CSI" all the way, as that series raked up 15.5mil viewers. Nothing even came close. "Will & Grace" (8.8mil; 8.0mil) seemed to struggle on NBC, while "Millionaire" (7.6mil) was left out of it all together. On the WB, "Charmed" drew just 2.1mil. In the last hour, "ER" took it with 9.1mil viewers, "The Agency" took in 8.2mil, while "Boston 24/7" finished up its run with just 6.0mil. (June 7)

Another lame Wednesday
    In what is becoming the sotry of the summer, nobody came out the winner on Wednesday night, and most shows took a hard fall. Starting with the winner overall, NBC had no problem with game 1 of the NBA finals, taking in 17.4mil viewers overall. A repeat of "The West Wing" took a slow third place 8.0mil at 8pm.
    Over on CBS, the number two net, "60 Minutes II" was first at 8pm, but drew a below average 8.8mil viewers. The movie "Cupid & Kate" did much better, taking 10.4mil from 9-11pm, good enough for secound place. ABC was next down the line, taking second at 8pm with the combo of "My Wife & Kids" (8.4mil) and "According to Jim" (7.8mil), but slid from there on out. "Drew Carey" drew just 6.6mil at 9pm, "My Adventures in Television" 5.3mil at 9:30/ the bright note, "Boston 24/7" raised itself to 6.8mil at 10pm, about a million above its Monday debut.
    Down on Fox, two episodes of "Grounded For Life" took 5.3mil and 5.7mil, while "Bernie Mack" took 6.8mil at 9pm. But "Greg The Bunny" dropped to onyl 5.0mil at 9:30pm. On the mini nets, the UPN had no troubles. "Enterprise" took 2.4mil at 8pm, and "Wolf Lake" 1.8mil at 9pm. Two episodes of "Dawsons Creek" on the WB were left with 2.0mil and 1.7mil, respectively.
    Compared to last season, almost everybody was down. ABC lost 15%, the WB 10%, NBC 8%, Fox 7% while the UPN was flat. Only CBS gained, and it was up a healthy 17%. In total, the nets drew 40.6mil viewers on the night, down 4% from last season. (June 6)

Nathan Lane is back...
    It seems that CBS likes to spit in the face of fate. In that vien, it's giving Nathan Lane's new sitcoms a mid season order, sort of a knee-jerk reaction to have a record upfront take this past week. The show, to be called "Life of the Party," will explore the intricate relationships between.... just kidding. Whatever its about, its got a 6 episode order from the eye.
    Lane, as you probably don't want to recall, stared in the horrible sitcom "Encore, Encore" a few years back on NBC. It aired Tuesday at 8pm for about 4 weeks. (June 6)

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