‘Millionaire?’ Gives ABC a Wealth of Viewers

“Who Wants to Be a Millionaire?” has clearly enriched ABC’s summer ratings, as nightly airings of the quiz show helped the network score its first weekly victory since May, based on ratings estimates issued Tuesday by Nielsen Media Research.

Hosted by Regis Philbin, “Millionaire?” has been a phenomenon, gaining audience throughout last week (the exception being Saturday, when viewing levels tend to be lower) and peaking with a one-hour installment Sunday. Almost without fail, the program built on ratings for programs preceding it and won its time slot every night.

In a rerun-heavy week, four of the show’s seven installments ranked among the week’s Top 10. Though its two-week test run concludes this Sunday, ABC has indicated the franchise will return--either in weekly or nightly form--during the November sweeps.

Ratings for another original summer show, the CBS comedy “Thanks,” have gradually ebbed to mediocre levels. CBS also sought to generate extra exposure last week for its action show “Martial Law,” airing the series five times and averaging just under 7 million viewers per telecast.

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 7.50 2. “You Know My Name” TNT 7.01 3. Wrestling (Mon., 9 p.m.) USA 6.89 4. “Au Pair” FOX 6.29 5. Wrestling (Sun., 7 p.m.) USA 5.03 6. Wrestling (Mon., 8 p.m.) TNT 4.43 7. Seahawks-49ers Football ESPN 4.30 8. “Introducing Dorothy Dandridge” HBO 4.10 9. “Price of Broken Heart” LIFE 4.01 10. Patriots-Cowboys Football ESPN 3.93

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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 ABC 8.76 million 10.76 CBS 8.73 11.99 NBC 8.27 11.60 FOX 6.46 9.51

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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 House-holds 1. “David Blaine: Magic Man” KABC 703,509 2. Millionaire? (Thur.) KABC 641,888 3. Friends KNBC 564,861 Frasier KNBC 564,861 5. “The Langoliers” Part 2 KABC 518,645 Millionaire? (Wed.) KABC 518,645 7. Frasier KNBC 482,699 Will & Grace KNBC 482,699 Millionaire? (Fri.) KABC 482,699 10. The Drew Carey Show KABC 477,564

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