‘Millionaire,’ ‘Greed’ Have Answers for ABC, Fox

Quiz shows are striking it rich in prime time, as the first night of ABC’s “Who Wants to Be a Millionaire” exceeded all ratings for its summer run while “Greed: The Multi-Million Dollar Challenge” jump-started Fox’s moribund Thursday results, based on viewing estimates issued Tuesday by Nielsen Media Research.

A pair of Emmy-winning shows from producer David E. Kelley also climbed to record heights last week. On Sunday, “The Practice” benefited from strong tune-in for “Millionaire” in the preceding hour, while Fox’s “Ally McBeal,” starring Calista Flockhart, was fueled by the hubbub over a passionate kiss between two female characters.

“Greed” nearly doubled Fox’s average Thursday audience, contributing to the lowest ratings this season for NBC’s “Frasier” and “Stark Raving Mad.” Thursday bookends “Friends” and “ER” proved more resilient, with the former scoring its highest rating since the season premiere, while more than 12 million people switched to NBC at 10 p.m. to view the medical drama.

ABC’s big tune-in Sunday overwhelmed competing miniseries “The Magical Legend of the Leprechauns” and “Shake, Rattle & Roll” and no doubt helped diminish “The X-Files,” which dropped 12% compared to last season’s premiere.

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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Net- View- Program work ers 1. Football: Dolphins vs. Titans ESPN 9.71 2. “Saving Private Ryan” HBO 6.92 3. Wrestling (Mon., 9 p.m.) USA 6.63 4. Wrestling (Mon., 10 p.m.) USA 6.40 5. NFL Primetime ESPN 4.47 6. Wrestling (Mon., 8 p.m.) TNT 4.45 7. Wrestling (Sun., 7 p.m.) USA 4.10 8. “Batman & Robin” TBS 4.00 9. Wild Thornberrys NICK 3.54 10. South Park COMC 3.51

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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 Season week to date ABC 13.51 million 11.52 CBS 12.99 13.17 NBC 12.89 14.21 FOX 9.75 8.78 WB 3.98 4.16 UPN 3.88 3.90

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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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Sta- House- Program tion holds 1. Friends KNBC 1,011,615 2. Ally McBeal KTTV 878,102 3. ER KNBC 872,967 4. “Annie” KABC 837,021 5. Frasier KNBC 826,751 6. Who Wants to Be a Millionaire KABC 821,616 7. 60 Minutes KCBS 790,805 8. The Practice KABC 744,590 9. Jesse KNBC 718,914 10. The X-Files KTTV 708,644

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