Reruns of Popular Series Fizzle Out on Networks

The Fourth of July provided the major networks no cause to celebrate, as the traditionally low-rated holiday helped depress prime-time viewing to record lows, based on results issued Tuesday by Nielsen Media Research.

CBS won the week thanks to its Sunday lineup, with “60 Minutes” emerging as prime time’s top-rated show for the second straight week--the venerable news program’s first consecutive No. 1 finish since 1993--followed by the Kevin Kline movie “Dave” and “Touched by an Angel.”

Part of the network woes stem from the fact that some popular series aren’t repeating as well this summer. Audiences for NBC’s “Seinfeld” and “ER,” for example, dropped at least 12% compared to the corresponding week a year ago, while Fox’s “The X-Files” and ABC’s “Home Improvement” both slumped more than 20%. With regular series firing off duds, the week’s Top 20 roster included a half-dozen newsmagazines and four movies, including the film “Powder,” which paced Fox to a rare Tuesday win on June 30.

Overall, the four major networks combined for just 44% of the available prime-time audience, as cable and other options keep taking bites out of the viewing pie.

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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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Program Viewers Network 1. Wrestling (Mon., 10 p.m.) USA 6.02 2. Wrestling (Mon., 8:57 p.m.) USA 5.56 3. Wrestling (Mon., 8 p.m.) TNT 5.09 4. Wrestling (Mon., 9 p.m.) TNT 4.67 5. Wrestling (Mon., 10 p.m.) TNT 4.24 6. Wrestlng (Thurs., 9:09 p.m.) TBS 3.65 7. South Park COMC 3.49 8. “The Last of the Mohicans” TNT 3.29 9. “Men in Black” HBO 3.09 10. “Eraser” HBO 3.04

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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 8.98 million 13.32 NBC 7.96 14.35 ABC 7.21 11.56 FOX 6.57 9.97 WB 3.03 4.29 UPN 2.54 3.79

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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. 60 Minutes KCBS 666,228 2. Seinfeld KNBC 621,145 3. Friends KNBC 586,080 4. “Powder” KTTV 546,006 5. ER KNBC 535,988 6. Ally McBeal KTTV 525,969 Suddenly Susan KNBC 525,969 8. 20/20 (Mon.) KABC 520,960 Frasier KNBC 520,960 10. The X-Files KTTV 515,951

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Source: Nielsen Media Research