Thursday Still a Night for Rejoicing for NBC

Holiday specials decorated the prime-time landscape last week, but NBC’s Thursday programs remained TV’s most reliable gift-givers, based on results issued Tuesday by Nielsen Media Research.

Getting its title character back to work was what the doctor ordered for “Frasier,” which attracted more viewers than “Friends” for the first time this season. “ER’s” 100th episode also drew that show’s biggest audience since Oct. 1.

On the down side for NBC, its latest TV movie based on classic material, a version of “The Tempest” starring Peter Fonda, didn’t fare much better Sunday than an earlier adaptation of “Crime and Punishment.” NBC also didn’t help its cause with a special touting “The Prince of Egypt,” which delivered unto the network its lowest rating in that time slot in more than three years.

The return of the improv series “Whose Line Is It Anyway?” yielded immediate dividends for ABC, retaining more audience from lead-in “The Drew Carey Show” than now-defunct “The Secret 1281980005dramas “Fantasy Island” and “Cupid” fell to lowest-yet ratings. The former has been canceled, while “Cupid” moves to Thursdays next month.

National Nielsen Viewership

Here are the rankings for national prime-time network television last week (Dec. 7-13) 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.

Cable Top 10

Here are Nielsen’s top 10 cable programs in prime time last week, also ranked by total viewers (in millions).

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Net- View- Program work ers 1. Sunday Night Football ESPN 11.6 2. Wrestling (Mon., 10 p.m.) USA 5.89 3. Wrestling (Mon., 8 p.m.) TNT 5.50 4. Wrestling (Mon., 9 p.m.) USA 5.33 5. NFL Primetime ESPN 5.07 6. Wrestling (Thur., 9:05 p.m.) TBS 4.90 7. Wrestling (Sun., 7 p.m.) USA 4.52 8. “Switchback” HBO 4.50 9. Wrestling (Mon., 10 p.m.) TNT 4.39 10. Wrestling (Mon., 9 p.m.) TNT 4.23

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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 Season week to date CBS 12.74 million 13.28 NBC 12.15 12.82 ABC 11.85 12.45 FOX 10.04 10.94 WB 4.03 4.60 UPN 2.75 2.76

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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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Sta- House- Program tion holds 1. Frasier KNBC 921,698 2. Friends KNBC 896,652 3. Veronica’s Closet KNBC 761,403 4. Jesse KNBC 726,338 5. Home Improvement KABC 686,265 6. Everybody Loves Raymond KCBS 641,181 7. Beverly Hills, 90210 KTTV 596,098 8. The Drew Carey Show KABC 571,052 “Billboard Music Awards” KTTV 571,052 10. Dateline NBC (Wed.) KNBC 561,034 Becker KCBS 561,034

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