Tony Awards Losing Its Connection With Viewers

Ratings for CBS’ Sunday night telecast of Broadway’s Tony Awards, which honored playwright Arthur Miller, didn’t exactly bomb, but the celebration of the Great White Way was down some 2.5 million viewers from last year, according to results issued Tuesday by Nielsen Media Research.

The decline in viewers continues a trend seen last year, when the Tonys experienced a 9% audience drop.

In a week dominated by reruns of prime-time programs, NBC accounted for six of the 10 highest-rated shows, led by the Thursday night trio of “Friends,” “Frasier” and “ER.”

Two series on HBO had season premieres, to mixed results. “Sex and the City” drew 2.9 million viewers, down from the 3.7 million who tuned into the show’s debut last year. “Arli$$,” meanwhile, gained a little ground over last year, with an audience of 2.7 million.

National Nielsen Viewership

Here are the rankings for national prime-time network television last week (May 31-June 6) 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 7.69 2. Wrestling (Mon., 9 p.m.) USA 6.72 3. NBA Playoffs TNT 6.14 4. “Dr. Dolittle” HBO 5.20 5. Boxing (Sat., 10:30 p.m.) HBO 5.17 6. Wrestling (Sun., 7 p.m.) USA 4.59 7. Boxing (Sat., 10 p.m.) HBO 4.43 8. Wrestling (Mon., 10 p.m.) TNT 4.37 9. Wrestling (Thur., 9:04 p.m.) TBS 4.30 10. Boxing (Sat., 9:30 p.m.) HBO 3.74

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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 9.80 million 12.54 CBS 9.36 12.85 ABC 8.28 11.60 FOX 6.92 10.46 WB 3.10 4.43 UPN 2.18 2.72

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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 785,670 2. Frasier KNBC 749,725 3. 60 Minutes KCBS 641,888 4. Will & Grace KNBC 600,807 5. Spin City KABC 595,672 6. Dharma & Greg KABC 585,401 7. Jesse KNBC 580,266 Two Guys, Girl, Pizza Place KABC 580,266 9. Dateline NBC (Tue.) KNBC 564,861 ER KNBC 564,861

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