CBS wins Monday, ABC strong
     CBS won the second Monday of the new season and was only down in the 10pm hour, while ABC was a very strong second. CBS opening the night up with "Standing" (10.9mil) and "Listen Up" (11.3mil), which were both down slightly in viewers over last week, but were up in adults. At 9pm, both "Raymond" (18.6mil) and "Men" (17mil) were up over last week in adults and viewers, while "CSI Miami" (19.2mil) took a dip, but was still up over last season and was the top rated show of the night. Over on ABC, although "The Benefactor" (7.6mil) is not living up to expectations, football (19mil) hit a big high and drew over 20 million viewers at 9pm.
     NBC was third on the night with an improved "Fear Factor" (10.9mil) and "LAX" (8.9mil), although "Las Vegas" (11.4mil) was down over last week, but was still the peacock's top rated show on the night in adults and viewers. The WB was fourth overall with "7th Heaven" (6.8mil) and "Everwood" (5.3mil) in the same range they were at this time last season, while Fox sunk to a (what is becoming normal) fifth with the dud "North Shore" (4.5mil) and the out-classed "Trading Spouses" (5.1mil). Seriously, after watching "Wife Swap" on Sunday, I can't go back to "Spouses." It's like the difference of making a leftovers snadwhich yourself or going too Subway. The UPN was last with better numbers than last week, although very slightly. (September 28)

"Trace" over "ER" for the first time
     We all knew it was going to happen, but premiere Thursday made it official: "Without A Trace" has finally beaten "ER" in viewers with both airing original episodes. "Trace" drew a series high 20.7mil for its premiere episode, while "ER" was a little over a million viewers behind with 19.4mil. The lead-ins did help, of course. "CSI" got off to a blazing start with 30.2mil viewers, while "The Apprentice" continues to underperform at just 15.5mil. Earlier in the evening, even though the latest "Survivor" (19.5mil) is not lighting the world on fire, it did send "Joey" below the 15 million viewer mark to 14.6mil, even though "Will & Grace" managed to build off of that to 15.1mil. Yep, the days of Must-See Thursday are officially dead. NBC did not win a single timeslot on the night. Interesting factoid: the three editions of "CSI" have so far delievered 71.1 million viewers so far this week.
     Elsewhere on Thursday, ABC was third in all timeslots with a two hour "Extreme Makeover" (6.8mil) and "PrimeTime" (6.7mil), while the UPN was fourth with "Smackdown" (4.9mil). The WB was actually fifth at 8pm with two episodes of "Blue Collar TV" (2.9mil), beating out an even lower rated "OC" special than aired last week (2.8mil). At 9pm, a repeat of the premiere of "The Mountain" sputtered to just 1.4mil viewers, giving Fox fifth place in the hour (3.1mil). (September 24)

l"CSI" beats "Law," "Lost" huge
     This is the battle we've all been waiting for- "CSI: NY" versus "Law & Order." And while CBS was saying that it wasn't going to win the timeslot, it did exactely just that in a huge way, beating NBC 18.7mil to 16.2mil. Welcome CBS to a competitive Wednesday. Now you can expect to win not only Mondays, Tuesdays, Thursdays, Fridays and Sundays, but also Wednesdays. Can anything stop this network? CBS was second from 8-10pm with the Dr. Phil special (14.1mil), while NBC was third at 8pm (8.2mil) with "Hawaii" and first at 9pm with "Law & Order" (18.1mil)
     The other big news (if the not the biggest news) was the premiere of ABC's enthralling "Lost." I had predicted somewhere around 7 million viewers. Well, the show drew 17.6 million, smashing the competition and giving ABC something to do cartwheels about. When is the last time they launched an out of the box hit? Sure, we'll have to wait a few weeks to get a better picture, but I'm betting that ABC couldn't be happier right now. Not so great was the premiere of "The Bachelor," which rung up series low numbers for a premiere, coming in at just 9.2mil viewers under intense competition. 
     And that's pretty much where the good news ended. Fox had a spectacularly bad night with "That 70s Show" (5.5mil) hitting a series low, although "Quintuplets" (5mil) is holding that audience. Two episodes of "Bernie Mack"
averaged 5.4mil in the 9pm hour. Over on the WB, "Smallville" came back with a disappointing 5.6mil, down significantly from last year. "The Mountain" premiered to a disappointing 4mil at 9pm.
    But nobody could be more disappointedthat the UPN. Already reeling from weak premieres on Monday and Tuesday, "America's Next Top Model" hit just 4.3mil viewers at 8pm, and a preview of "Veronica Mars" could do no better than 2.6mil. What I had predicted as being an up season for them is not looking like it's going to pan out after all. (September 23)

CBS wins Tuesday as premieres falter
     The big story of Tuesday night was that "The Amazing Race" finally busted out, drawing a big 13mil viewers for its season finale and winning the 9-11pm block in adults, while "Big Brother" went out with an okay 10.2mil viewers, down significantly from previous season. But the other big story of Tuesday night was that, save for NBC and the WB, the network season premieres faltered, coming up with head-scratching ratings that didn't quite make sense.
      Starting off at 8pm, after CBS, ABC was second with the season premiere of "My Wife & Kids," which came up with just 9.5mil for its season premiere, continuing the downward slide seen at the end of last season, but not quite geling with the momentum the series built over the course of the summer.  Third place was a tie between NBC's already disappointing "Last Comic Standing" (6.2mil) and the WB's reenergized "Gilmore Girls", which was up about a million viewers from last season's premiere numbers. Fox was fifth with "Trading Spouses" (5.6mil), which seems to have burned out already, while the UPN had a bad night on its own with the premieres of "All Of Us" (2.7mil) and "Eve" (2.9mil) coming up with marginally better numbers than repeats did last week. What gives?
     At 9pm, CBS won once again, while ABC was once again second with the premieres of "Jim" (10.5mil) and "Rodney" (10.1mil), neither of which reached expected heights. NBC found a sloid way to compete with "Pride" (9.4mil) and "Scrubs" (8mil), while the WB was fourth with the premiere of "One Tree Hill" (5.1mil), which doubled its series opening numbers from last season. Fox was left out in the cold with the dud "Next Great Champ" (4.2mil), while the UPN wrapped up "Amish In The City" (3.1mil). In the late hour, CBS slipped to second place, but grew its numbers. "SVU" opened its season with a solid 15mil viewers, up over last season, while "NYPD Blue" opened its final season with 9.7mil viewers, down  from last season.
      The sudden loss in viewership has to be alarming, especially for networks like the UPN, which saw really bad premieres on Monday, now on Tuesday. It could be the result of Neilsen increasing the US household size, but really, should that effect it this much? Perhaps once CBS gets into its regular line-up with draws an older crowd, ABC will see its audience increase, but I'm not so sure. (September 22)

"Miami" busts out to open the season
     While none of the networks had terrific results on the very first night of the season, "CSI Miami" busted out of the pack like a wild dog ready to devour any and all viewers in sight. The show drew an incredible 22mil viewers and a 8.0/21 in adults, nearly reaching its season finale numbers which set a series record. Scared now "Law & Order" ? Well, you should be. It smashed NBC's "LAX" which slid to just 8.1mil viewers, though ABC's football was very strong on the night overall (18mil)
     CBS wasn't so golden in its other timeslots. "Still Standing" premiered to 11.1mil viewers, while "Listen Up" had a weak 11.8mil. "Raymond" clocked in at a declining 18.2mil, while "Men" followed that up with 16.5mil. Over on NBC, "Fear Factor" (9.7mil) is aging very quickly, but "Las Vegas" (12.1mil) is the true standout, increasing in both viewers and adults.The WB was fourth with "7th Heaven" (6.5mil) and "Everwood" (5.5mil), thrashing Fox's dead "North Shore" (4.2mil) and the DOA "Renovate My Family" (4.8mil). The UPN was not so golden on the night with the debut of "Second Time Around" (2.9mil) coming up with the net's worst sitcom on a Monday debut in the last 4 years. (September 21)

Bye-bye Barbara wins Friday
     NBC kicked its fall line-up into full gear, as did Fox and the WB, but it was Barbara Walter's 20/20 good-bye that viewers really wanted to see. The two hour send off drew 11 million viewers and ranked first from 9-11pm in viewers and adults. NBC was second overall in the two hour block with a average season premiere of "Third Watch" (10.1mil) and the third episode of "Medical Investigation," which at 8.2mil viewers took a 24% drop from its second episode. Nope, this one doesn't look to hang around for very long. CBS was third at 9pm with "Joan Of Arcadia" (5.8mil), but second an hour later with a repeat of "CSI" (9.2mil).
     Two hours earlier, NBC ranked first as usual with "Dateline" (10mil), while CBS was on the demos with the penultimate episode of "Big Brother 5" (8.5mil). ABC was third with "Lopez" (6.2mil) and "Rules" (5.7mil).
      Now for the news from the tiny 3. The WB was fourth in every timeslot with the premieres of "What I Like About You" (3.1mil), "Grounded For Life" (3.4mil), "Reba" (4.7mil) and a repeat "Blue Collar" (3mil), each showing good, but not spectacular performances. The UPN was sixth at 8pm with "Enterprise" (1.6mil), but managed to take 5th at 9pm with a repeat "Amish" (2mil). And then there's Fox. After opening Fridays witha  disaster last year, it just keeps getting worse and worse. "The Complex" opened the night up with a microscopic 2.3mil viewers, while a repeat "Great Champ" slid into never-never land with only 1.9mil viewers, some of Fox's worst numbers in the timeslot ever. Wake up Fox! This is not acceptable! (September 18)

"Survivor" down, but bites "Joey"
     The premiere of "Survivor" may have been the lowest rated yet at 19.3mil viewers, but it managed something with CBS has been aiming for, it took a bite bite ouf of "Joey." NBC's "hot" new series slipped to 15.7mil viewers, already reaching the lowest numbers that "Friends" ever drew. So what's NBC going to do? I had predicted that "Joey" would bottom out at between 14 and 16 million viewers, but even that looks doubtful right now. Still, NBC really has nothing else to air in the hour, and "Joey" is still more highly rated than most of its other line-up. "Will & Grace" premiered season number 7 to an okay 15mil viewers at 8:40, also trailing "Survivor." No other network was a factor in the hour, with the UPN coming up with 4.2mil viewers for "Smackdown" leading the pack.
     At 9:20pm, NBC got some more not-so-great news from "The Apprentice." Although the show did jump to 16mil viewers from 14mil the previous week, it got trashed by a repeat of "CSI" which drew 22.1mil viewers. With "The Apprentice" seeing its lead-ins in place, this is obviously not great news. Once again, no other network was a factor in the hour with the UPN in third place. At 10pm, "The Apprentice" finally won the hour in viewers, although "Without A Trace" was no slouch with 16.2mil viewers overall. (September 17)

Fox dives into Wednesday disaster
     Always a network to be all or nothing, Fox dived into a fresh disaster on Wednesday night as it's sutcom line-up to a big dive in viewers, despite airing against almost all repeat competition. "That 70s Show" started the night off with a near series low 6.6mil viewers, while "Quintuplets" followed that up with a not too bad 6.3mil viewers, just slight above the numbers both series drew during the summer season. Of course, "70s" was in repeats at that time. "Bernie Mack" couldn't recover at 9pm with just 5.7mil viewers, leading to a series low of only 4.5mil for a new episode of "Method & Red," which likely puts the final nail in that coffin.
    And the competition wasn't even extraordinary. First at 8pm was "Hawaii" at an improved 9.3mil viewers, followed by "60 Minutes" at 8.5mil. Repeats of "My Wife & Kids" even beat Fox, averaging 8.2mil viewers in the hour. "Amish" was at a much improve 3.7mil, while "Smallville" skidded to 6th (2.5mil)
    At 9pm, Fox was still in fourth place despite, once again, the lack of competition. And NBC special on "Seigfried & Roy" drew an incredible 14.1mil viewers, showing that viewers really are interested in them and "Father Of The Pride", while CBS was in second with two repeats of "King of Queens" (7.9mil). ABC was third with the World Music Awards (6.6mil overall), while the WB eclipsed the UPN with "Smallville" (3.5mil) up against the finale of the little watched "The Player" (2mil). At 10pm, an interesting battle occured when CBS aired the set-up episode to "CSI: NY" in the form of "CSI Miami" against a repeat "Law & Order." The results? NBC, but only by about 200,000 viewers, 10.3mil to 10.1mil. But clearly, with "L&O" in its typical summer range and CBS about 3 million viewers about its own, there could very well be an audience out there for both shows. At least they hope so. (September 16)

""Pride" not so bad afterall
     Mind you, the season hasn't really started yet, but "Father of The Pride" is not doing so bad for NBC so far. Episode three drew a solid 9.6mil viewers and a 4.0/11 in adults, second in the timeslot to "Big Brother" (10.2mil, 4.2/11), while "Scrubs" followed that up with an okay 7.6mil and a 3.5/9 in adults. The real competition will come next week when "Jim" premieres, but so far, "Pride" is on par with "Frasier"s performances from late last season. Also airing in the hour was Fox's "Next Great Champ" (5mil), which  was down slightly from its premiere, and the UPN's "The Player" (1.9mil) which clearly will not see a season season.
     An hour earlier, NBC got some not-so-good news as the third edition of "Last Comic Standing" is going down in flames, coming up with only 6mil viewers and a fourth place 2.4/7 in adults. "NCIS" won the hour overall (10mil), while ABC was good with "Home Edition" (8mil). Fox also did well with "Trading Spouses" (7.2mil) and the WB had a surprise in "Gilmore Girls" (3.7mil), which come up with its best numbers of the summer.
     At 10pm, it was a horse race between "The Amazing Race" (10.6mil- why aren't you watching this already?) and "SVU" (10.2mil), although "Race" was far and away the top rated show of the night in adults (4.7/13). As for CBS delaying the new season until October, maybe they're realizing that they should not waste the series gorwing buzz on Saturday nights? I say, move over "Amy," you just got beat in the "race." (September 15)

NBC gets good Monday news
     With clear disappointments on Thursday and Tuesday, NBC got a little bit of good news on Monday as "LAX" premiered to a strong 13.1mil viewers, jumping from the 11.8mil season premiere of "Las Vegas." Still disappointing was "Fear Factor" at 8pm, which came up with just 10.3mil viewers. Hot on "Factor"s heels was the premiere of "The Benefactor," which debuted to a not-so-shabby 9.8mil viewers, coming second in the slot. ABC won the night overall with football (17.7mil), while CBS was an atypical third.
     In other season premiere news, "7th Heaven" came in at an okay 7mil, while "Everwood" was up slightly over last year to 6.1mil (September 14)

Fox's Friday disaster
     So you thought last season on Fox was bad with shows like "Wanda At Large" and "Luis" breaking down on Friday? Well, Fox, never exceeding expectations, it out to show that it can go just a little bit lower. It's line-up until November premiered last night, and boy, was it bad. "The Complex" started the night off with a microscopic 2.4 mil viewers, fifth in the timeslot, while "The Next Great Champ" improved only slightly to 2.8mil viewers. Those number represent just half of what Fox drew on the night last year- already a horrific number. Hey, Fox, I thought you were trying to make it "The Big Four," not the "Little Three" group of networks. When you start sliding back under 5 million viewers on multiple nights, you've got a big problem.
     But the news was not all bad on Friday as NBC got it's first piece of good news of the season. "Medical Investigation" debuted on the night to a not-so-shabby 11.3mil viewers- losing only a few viewers from its Thursday premiere and building off its lead-in by a few hundred thousand viewers. Could NBC actually have something here? Don't bet on it. (September 11)

"Joey," "Apprentice" implode on impact
     NBC is trying to spin this as a good thing, saying that it's satisfied with the premiere numbers, but how can it be happy with this? "Joey" premiered on Thursday to a weak 18.6mil viewers, which in itself doesn't look so bad, but it should have been so much more, considering that, a) It's a spin-off of "Friends," one of the most popular series of the last decade, b) It's had constant hype over the Olympics, c) It's on NBC's once infalliable Thursday night line-up, and d) the season hasn't even started yet and there was no competition! With series typically losing audience over the course of the season, "Joey" could be in the 14 to 16 million viewer range by November, giving NBC a reason to bring some of his old Friends back.
     And then there's "The Apprentice." Remember how this was last season's great big new show, NBC's next new hope? Well, all of that went down the tubes on Thursday as the premiere registered a paltry 14mil viewers, half the number that tuned into the April finale and only two thirds of what the show averaged during its first season. "Medical Investigation" followed that up with an okay 11.8mil viewers. 
     So what does this all mean? So far NBC has has a disasterous start to the season, as is evident on Monday, Tuesday and now Thursday. I had been prediciting 10% declines for the network, but at the rate this is going, it could be even bigger than expected.
     Overall, Thursday was won by ABC with the season opener of football (16.9mil viewers), while CBS was third, losing no audience at all with "Big Brother" (8.8), "CSI" (13.5mil) and "Trace" (11mil). The only other programming of note was on the WB, which averaged 3.6mil viewers on the night thanks to a special starring Bill Engvall and "Blue Collar TV." Hey, WB, this Blue Collar thing really is working. Why not bring back "The Jeff Foxsworthy Show" and call it a night? Okay, maybe not. Also of note was an odd performance by "WWE Smackdown," which followed up its highest numbers in two years with some of its lowest ever- just 3.8mil viewers and a tiny 1.2/3 in adults 18-49. (September 11)
 

  August 2004 News