‘60 Minutes,’ Movies Give CBS a Summer Glow

Movies and newsmagazines continue to provide CBS’ cure for the summertime blues, based on ratings estimates issued Tuesday by Nielsen Media Research.

CBS not only ranked first for the week but was alone among the six broadcast networks in attracting more viewers than during the corresponding period in 1998. The Sunday edition of “60 Minutes” is leading the network’s summer charge, having finished as the most-watched program seven of the last nine weeks.

ABC, meanwhile, improved its scorecard with “The Showdown at Sherwood,” the first-ever live network telecast of a prime-time golf event. The Aug. 2 match, won by Tiger Woods, stands as the year’s second-most-watched TV golf coverage, behind only the Masters tournament. The three-hour program fared especially well with men in Nielsen breakdowns, which showed another special, Fox’s “Best of Woodstock 99,” generating solid tune-in among teenagers despite a small audience overall.

In cable, MTV’s “The Real World” delivered its biggest audience in four weeks.

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National Nielsen Viewership

Here are the rankings for national prime-time network television last week (Aug. 2-8) 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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Program Network Viewers 1. Wrestling (Mon., 10 p.m.) USA 6.89 2. Wrestling (Mon., 9 p.m.) USA 6.60 3. Wrestling (Sun., 7 p.m.) USA 5.53 4. “Vegas Vacation” TBS 5.46 5. Wrestling (Mon., 8 p.m.) TNT 4.09 6. The Real World MTV 3.92 7. “How Stella Got Groove Back” HBO 3.85 8. “Vegas Vacation” (10 p.m.) TBS 3.82 9. Wrestling (Mon., 10 p.m.) TNT 3.55 10. Wrestling (Thur., 9 p.m.) TBS 3.29

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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 9.35 million 12.12 NBC 7.81 11.75 ABC 7.37 10.85 FOX 5.87 9.64 WB 2.92 4.17 UPN 2.19 2.57

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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. Friends KNBC 621,347 2. Frasier (9:30 p.m.) KNBC 564,861 3. Fraiser KNBC 549,456 4. Will & Grace KNBC 457,024 -- Dateline: NBC (Wed.) KNBC 457,024 6. 60 Minutes KCBS 451,889 7. Jesse KNBC 431,348 8. Whose Line Is It Anyway? KABC 415,943 9. Dharma & Greg KABC 390,268 10. Law & Order KNBC 385,133

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