CBS’ ‘Last Don’ Is First Among Sunday Movies
CBS’ “The Last Don II” possessed less firepower than its predecessor but still packed enough heat to gun down the Sunday movie competition, based on results for last week issued Tuesday by Nielsen Media Research.
The miniseries sequel, starring Jason Gedrick, easily out-muscled NBC’s movie “The Long Island Incident,” about Congresswoman Carolyn McCarthy, and “Waiting to Exhale” on ABC, but it couldn’t rub out Fox’s “The X-Files.” The Mafia tale also didn’t match the first “Don,” attracting 30% fewer people than the original did a year ago.
NBC continues to hold a commanding lead in the latest rating sweeps, buoyed by “Merlin” (which concluded April 27) and its Thursday lineup, as “Seinfeld” cruised toward its finale with the show’s biggest audience since January.
In terms of sweeps stunts, ABC’s “The Practice” scored a season-high rating thanks to its crossover plot with Fox’s “Ally McBeal.” NBC, meanwhile, tried running a two-part “3rd Rock From the Sun” on Tuesday and Wednesday, faring better with the first half--following “Frasier,” which helped out by clobbering ABC’s “Home Improvement”--than the second opposite “The Drew Carey Show.”
National Nielsen Viewership
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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 Network Viewers 1. Wrestling (Mon., 10 p.m.) USA 6.16 2. “Face Off” HBO 6.13 3. Wrestling (Mon., 8:57 p.m.) USA 5.59 4. NBA Playoffs (Fri.) TNT 4.06 6. South Park COMC 4.02 5. NBA Playoffs (Wed.) TNT 3.82 7. R. Simmons Def Comedy HBO 3.55 8. Break (HBO Filler) HBO 3.46 9. NBA Playoffs (Mon.) TNT 3.00 Rugrats Nick 3.00
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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 NBC 15.86 million 14.77 CBS 12.37 14.17 ABC 11.51 12.34 FOX 10.56 10.61 WB 4.65 4.47 UPN 3.79 4.04
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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 1,227,261 2. “Merlin” KNBC 1,046,929 3. ER KNBC 1,006,855 4. Friends KNBC 921,698 5. Frasier KNBC 916,689 6. Just Shoot Me KNBC 906,671 7. Veronica’s Closet KNBC 826,523 8. 3rd Rock From the Sun KNBC 771,421 9. The X-Files KTTV 746,375 10. Ally McBeal KTTV 731,348
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