NFL Playoffs, Both ’60 Minutes’ Help CBS Score Big

The NFL playoffs handed off a big audience to “60 Minutes” on Sunday, which teamed with its new Wednesday edition to help CBS run up the biggest weekly audience of any network this season, based on results issued Tuesday by Nielsen Media Research.

The second “60 Minutes,” featuring Dan Rather, is part of what thus far has been an impressive crop of midseason programs Nielsen-wise, with NBC’s “Providence” and Fox’s “The PJs” both significantly improving ratings in the time periods they inherited. The same can’t be said for the premiere of “Zoe, Duncan, Jack & Jane,” which posted just so-so ratings Sunday on the WB network.

While pro football scored for CBS, ABC is feeling the loss of “Monday Night Football,” as the American Music Awards hit a sour note Jan. 11 in falling to that award show’s lowest rating ever. CBS and Fox have benefited from the absence of football that night, recording viewing gains for “Everybody Loves Raymond,” the new comedy “King of Queens” and “Ally McBeal.”

Fox’s first-year comedy “That ‘70s Show” also drew its biggest audience yet Sunday, while NBC’s showing of “The Fugitive” chased “The X-Files” to its lowest tune-in this season for a new episode.

Cable Top 10

Because of the Martin Luther King Jr. holiday, the Cable Top 10 has been delayed.

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 15.30 million 13.32 NBC 13.07 12.46 ABC 11.30 12.34 FOX 10.68 10.71 WB 4.99 4.54 UPN 2.42 2.69

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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 929,453 2. American Music Awards KABC 878,102 3. Frasier KNBC 852,427 4. 60 Minutes KCBS 795,941 5. Jesse KNBC 785,670 6. The X-Files KTTV 775,400 7. Law & Order KNBC 718.914 8. The Simpsons KTTV 682,968 ER KNBC 682,968 10. 60 Minutes II KCBS 672,698

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