New Series, Sunday Lineup Put CBS on Top

CBS’ Sunday lineup and strong class of new series have lifted the network to its second consecutive weekly ratings win, based on viewing estimates issued Tuesday by Nielsen Media Research.

A handful of new programs made their debut last week, with the WB’s “Roswell,” starring Jason Behr, and “Angel” both exhibiting promise, exceeding tune-in for their respective lead-in shows “Buffy, the Vampire Slayer” and “Dawson’s Creek.” CBS’ sitcom “Love & Money” also drew OK numbers, while ABC’s “Wasteland” pretty much lived down to its name and “Harsh Realm” continued Fox’s tough-luck streak this season.

Rookie shows holding up well thus far include CBS’ “Judging Amy” and “Now and Again,” which out-muscled “Harsh Realm” on Friday, as well as NBC’s “The West Wing” and “Law & Order: Special Victims Unit.” By contrast, there’s a lengthy list of malnourished sitcoms, including such returning shows as NBC’s “Veronica’s Closet” and “Suddenly Susan,” which--exiled to Mondays--slid to record-low ratings last week.

Prime-time scheduling of baseball’s divisional playoffs on NBC and Fox has drawn only modest crowds, opening the door for certain shows to flourish. Viewing of “Dharma & Greg,” for example, shot up with competing sitcom “Will & Grace” preempted by baseball.

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 CBS 13.08 million 13.46 NBC 12.67 13.41 ABC 11.77 11.46 FOX 8.71 7.95 WB 4.81 4.49 UPN 4.04 3.72

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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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Sta- House- Program tion holds 1. Friends KNBC 914,048 2. Frasier KNBC 826,751 3. ER KNBC 785,670 4. Dharma & Greg KABC 708,644 5. Jesse KNBC 652,158 Law & Order KNBC 652,158 7. The Practice KABC 631,617 8. 60 Minutes KCBS 611,077 9. Law & Order: SVU KNBC 600,807 10. Stark Raving Mad KNBC 580,266

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