‘Joan of Arc’ Sweeps CBS to Win as Viewers Return

“Joan of Arc” lit a fire under CBS’ ratings Sunday, helping the network score its first weekly win during the May rating sweeps, based on results issued Tuesday by Nielsen Media Research.

Starring Leelee Sobieski, “Joan” conquered the competition, delivering CBS’ highest movie rating since December. The other networks held their own, however, as the combined audience for “Joan,” NBC’s miniseries “Atomic Train,” the Diana Ross-Brandy movie “Double Platinum” and the season-ending “The X-Files” dramatically increased viewing of the major networks over their usual Sunday night average.

Against that lineup of sweeps fare, tune-in for “The X-Files” fell 15% compared to its season finale a year ago, which no doubt benefited from hype leading up to last summer’s feature film based on the series. “Ally McBeal,” meanwhile, continues to be red-hot, last week posting the Fox show’s second-highest rating of the season.

“Mad About You” revved up for next week’s final episode with a special telecast Thursday after “Frasier,” which more than doubled the show’s average audience this year. “The Nanny” rather quietly ended its run last Wednesday, though the CBS show’s one-hour send-off did win its time slot.

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 9.58 2. Wrestling (Mon., 9 p.m.) USA 8.71 3. NBA Playoffs (Fri.) TNT 4.52 4. Wrestling (Sun., 7 p.m.) USA 4.38 5. “A Perfect Murder” HBO 4.20 6. NBA Playoffs (Thurs.) TNT 3.59 7. Walker, Texas Ranger USA 3.43 8. NBA Playoffs (Wed.) TNT 3.35 9. Hey, Arnold! NICK 3.15 10. NBA Playoffs (Mon.) TBS 3.14

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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 13.49 million 13.02 NBC 12.85 12.66 ABC 10.12 11.75 FOX 8.95 10.63 WB 4.55 4.47 UPN 2.43 2.76

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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. Frasier KNBC 1,119,452 2. Mad About You (Thur.) KNBC 970,534 3. ER KNBC 965,399 4. Friends KNBC 929,453 5. Ally McBeal KTTV 878,102 6. Will & Grace KNBC 795,941 7. The X-Files KTTV 713,779 8. “Joan of Arc” Part 1 KCBS 693,239 9. 60 Minutes KCBS 682,968 10. Law & Order KNBC 647,023

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