CBS Scores KO With Sunday Punch, Other Shows

Flush from its November sweeps victory, CBS, buoyed by its powerhouse Sunday lineup and best-ever performances from other series, continued the celebration with a post-sweeps weekly win, according to results released Tuesday by Nielsen Media Research.

“60 Minutes,” “Touched by an Angel” and the movie “Cab to Canada,” starring Maureen O’Hara, handily beat out the Sunday competition, including NBC’s fifth broadcast of the blockbuster dinosaur flick, “Jurassic Park.” Even more impressively, CBS’ “Everybody Loves Raymond” and “JAG” landed in the Top 10 for the first time with their highest ratings ever.

Viewers also turned out in droves for last week’s special 90-minute installment of ABC’s “NYPD Blue,” which featured the departure of Jimmy Smits and the death of his character, Det. Bobby Simone. The series scored its largest audience in three years, and its highest-rated episode among the desired 18-49 demographic in two years.

National Nielsen Viewership

Here are the rankings for national prime-time network television last week (Nov. 23-29) as compiled by Nielsen Media Research. They are based on the average number of people who watched a program from start to finish. Nielsen estimates that there are 256.6 million potential U.S. viewers age 2 and older. Viewership is listed here in millions.

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Program Network Viewers 1. 60 Minutes CBS 23.56 2. NYPD Blue ABC 22.10 3. Touched by an Angel CBS 21.13 4. “Jumanji” FOX 20.80 5. “Cab to Canada” CBS 20.72 6. Monday Night Football ABC 20.68 7. The X-Files FOX 17.47 8. Every. Loves Raymond CBS 16.41 9. JAG CBS 16.06 10. “Celine Dion” CBS 15.88 11. Spin City ABC 15.81 12. “It Takes Two” NBC 15.40 13. Ally McBeal FOX 15.31 14. Home Improvement ABC 15.21 15. 20/20 (Wed.) ABC 14.69 16. Friends (Tue.) NBC 14.36 17. Walker, Texas Ranger CBS 14.31 18. Cosby CBS 14.25 19. The Hughleys ABC 14.24 20. Dateline NBC (Tue.) NBC 14.13 21. “World’s Greatest Magic V” NBC 14.05 22. “Point Last Seen” CBS 13.87 23. King of Queens CBS 13.70 24. “Ice Wars” CBS 13.47 25. Law & Order NBC 13.43 26. Just Shoot Me NBC 13.30 27. ER NBC 13.24 28. The Drew Carey Show ABC 13.18 29. The Simpsons FOX 13.16 30. “Letterman 5th Anniversary” CBS 12.92 31. “40th Anniversary of CMA” CBS 12.90 32. NFL Monday Blast ABC 12.70 33. Dharma & Greg ABC 12.66 34. Dharma & Greg (9:30 p.m.) ABC 12.63 35. “Home Alone” ’ NBC 12.47 36. Dateline NBC (Mon.) NBC 12.25 37. The Practice ABC 12.17 38. “Raggedy Anne & Andy” CBS 11.66 39. Two Guys, Girl, Pizza Place ABC 11.51 40. Chicago Hope CBS 11.45 41. “Home Alone 2” FOX 11.44 42. Saturday Night Live Special NBC 11.32 43. That ‘70s Show FOX 11.25 44. “While You Were Sleeping” NBC 11.19 45. 48 Hours CBS 11.09 46. “Jurassic Park” NBC 11.08 47. “Flipper” ABC 10.74 48. Sabrina, the Teenage Witch ABC 10.66 49. 20/20 (Fri.) ABC 10.51 50. “Grumpy Old Men” CBS 10.29 51. “Miracle on 34th Street” FOX 10.26 52. “Little Giants” NBC 10.15 53. Two of a Kind ABC 10.12 54. Cops (9:30 p.m.) FOX 10.07 55. Cops (8:30 p.m.) FOX 10.05 56. Dateline NBC (Fri.) NBC 10.03 57. 20/20 (Sun.) ABC 9.90 58. Mad About You NBC 9.89 59. NewsRadio NBC 9.77 60. Cops (9 p.m.) FOX 9.77 61. Maggie Winters CBS 9.43 62. The Nanny CBS 9.25 63. Boy Meets World ABC 9.08 64. Brother’s Keeper ABC 8.93 65. Melrose Place FOX 8.80 66. World’s Funniest! FOX 8.42 67. Cops FOX 8.35 68. “The Lost World: Jurassic Park” FOX 8.26 69. 7th Heaven WB 8.19 70. Football, Notre Dame at USC ABC 7.67 71. “Nightmare Before Christmas” NBC 7.55 72. “Winnie the Pooh Thanksgiving” ABC 7.35 73. Dawson’s Creek WB 6.76 93. Guys Like Us UPN 2.44 94. Malcolm & Eddie UPN 2.33 95. “America’s Greatest Pets” UPN 2.02 96. Love Boat: The Next Wave UPN 1.97 97. Diresta UPN 1.94 98. Legacy UPN 1.85 99. The Army Show WB 1.79

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Network Averages

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

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Last week Season to date CBS 14.48 million 13.33 FOX 12.35 11.17 ABC 12.21 12.36 NBC 12.05 13.02 WB 4.73 4.71 UPN 2.66 2.73

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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. Ally McBeal KTTV 756,394 2. NYPD Blue KABC 676,246 3. Spin City KABC 596,098 4. 7th Heaven KTLA 561,034 5. NBC Movie of the Week KNBC 540,997 6. Friends KNBC 520,960 7. Monday Night Live KABC 485,895 8. “Celine Dion Special” KCBS 470,868 “Home Alone 2” KTTV 470,868 10. “Letterman’s 5th Anniversary” KCBS 460,849 Dharma & Greg KABC 460,849 “World’s Greatest Magic” KNBC 460,849

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