Networks in Doldrums, but Fox Lets Out ‘Roar’

The major networks continue to endure a cruel summer, based on results issued Tuesday by Nielsen Media Research. To underscore that point, NBC ranked first in prime time last week despite attracting less than half as many viewers as a year ago, when it televised the Summer Olympics.

Fox did get off to a promising start with the medieval drama “Roar,” starring Heath Ledger, which premiered last Monday and conquered repeats in its time slot to rank as Fox’s top-rated program. Ratings sank, however, for this week’s second telecast.

The network also has room for some concern about “Millennium.” While nothing is repeating very well this summer, last week that first-year drama drew a smaller audience than any program in its hour and even the series leading into it, “Sliders,” which Fox canceled.

Programmers continue to employ various stunts, meanwhile, to freshen up their reruns. NBC, for example, is playing movies featuring stars from Fox’s “Beverly Hills, 90210” (which is taking the summer off) in that show’s time period, although the first--”Buried Secrets,” starring Tiffani-Amber Thiessen--fared poorly. CBS did pronounce its “Wayback Wednesday” a success, with the series of TV reunion movies improving its performance that night. “Simon & Simon Returns” scored the highest rating.

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National Averages

Here is the number of viewers that each network averaged per hour of prime time, for last week and for the season.

Last Week

NBC: 9.90 million

CBS: 9.25

ABC: 8.85

FOX: 6.90

UPN: 3.50

WB: 2.98

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Season to Date

NBC: 14.45 million

CBS: 13.00

ABC: 12.53

FOX: 10.71

UPN: 4.28

WB: 3.53

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Southland Viewing

Here are Nielsen’s Top 10 prime-time programs in the Los Angeles area during the same week. The rankings are based on the number of households watching.

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Program Station Households 1. Seinfeld KNBC 682,057 2. “Telling Secrets” Part 1 KABC 583,438 3. Touched by an Angel KCBS 553,553 4. 60 Minutes KCBS 543,668 5. 20/20 KABC 533,784 6. The Simpsons KTTV 528,841 7. PrimeTime Live KABC 523,899 -- ER KNBC 523,899 -- Sabrina KABC 523,899 --10. Home Improvement KABC 504,129 -- Clueless KABC 504,129 -- The X-Files KTTV 504,129

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Source: Nielsen Media Research.