‘60 Minutes,’ Newsmagazines Stay Above Surface

Summer doldrums have clearly descended on network television, with viewing of the four major networks sinking to a near-record low and declining 7% compared to the corresponding week a year ago, based on results issued Tuesday by Nielsen Media Research.

CBS ended NBC’s five-week winning streak, thanks in part to Mike Wallace and the “60 Minutes” crew, one of six prime-time news programs to populate the Top 10, including a new Monday edition of CBS’ “48 Hours.”

Some shows repeat better than others, including NBC’s “Just Shoot Me”--which actually drewmore viewers last week than “Seinfeld”--and CBS’ “Diagnosis Murder,” which lost less than a quarter of the audience the murder-mystery normally attracted from September through May.

By contrast, series such as “ER,” “Seinfeld,” “NYPD Blue” and “The X-Files” aren’t repeating nearly as well, each declining more than 40% from their average in-season viewing totals. Demonstrating just how vulnerable reruns can be, Fox actually marched off with first place last Wednesday by airing the movie “Legion of Fire: Killer Ants.”

(BEGIN TEXT OF INFOBOX / INFOGRAPHIC)

Cable Top 10

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

*--*

Program Network Viewers 1. Wrestling (Mon., 10 p.m.) USA 4.97 2. Wrestling (Mon., 8:57 p.m.) USA 4.32 3. Sunday Night Baseball ESPN 4.26 4. Wrestling (Mon., 8 p.m.) TNT 4.25 5. Wrestling (Mon., 10 p.m.) TNT 4.24 6. Wrestling (Mon., 9 p.m.) TNT 4.15 7. “When Trumpets Fade” HBO 3.87 8. South Park COMC 3.86 9. Wrestling (Wed., 9:06 p.m.) TBS 3.85 10. The Brady Bunch NICK 3.81

*--*

Network 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 Season to date CBS 8.58 million 13.42 NBC 8.44 14.51 ABC 7.79 11.67 FOX 7.29 10.05 WB 3.02 4.33 UPN 2.29 3.82

*--*

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.

*--*

Program Station Households 1. Seinfeld KNBC 736,357 2. ER KNBC 666,228 3. Just Shoot Me KNBC 641,181 4. 60 Minutes KCBS 591,089 5. Suddenly Susan KNBC 581,071 6. King of the Hill KTTV 576,061 7. “Mary and Tim” KABC 540,997 8. 20/20 KABC 530,978 9. 20/20 (Mon.) KABC 510,941 -- The Simpsons KTTV 510,941

*--*

Source: Nielsen Media Research