ABC Holds Up Best During Republican Convention

With the Republican National Convention disrupting viewing patterns, ABC again won the most votes from viewers, while NBC relived a nightmare by repeating its fantasy miniseries “The 10th Kingdom,” based on viewing estimates issued Tuesday by Nielsen Media Research.

CBS’ summer smash “Survivor” maintained a slow build toward its conclusion and is providing a weekly boost to the network’s other “reality” show, “Big Brother,” which spikes upward on Wednesdays after “Survivor” but tends to be more earthbound with its other five weekly installments.

NBC, meanwhile, sought to recoup some of its investment in “10th Kingdom,” which fizzled in its initial play and fared even worse this time around, sinking to an all-time ratings low for the network. Indeed, Sunday’s installment was obliterated by cable channel TBS’ showing of the Jack Nicholson film “As Good as It Gets.”

Pushed up to a 4 p.m. kickoff due to convention coverage, ABC’s “Monday Night Football,” featuring the debut of Dennis Miller, dropped 27% compared to last year’s Hall of Fame contest. Overall, the year continues to be bountiful for the major networks. Dating back to September, ABC--thanks to “Who Wants to Be a Millionaire”--is up 22% over the previous year, while NBC and CBS are down a mere 2% and 3%, respectively.

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. Wrestling (Mon. 10 p.m.) USA 8.91 2. “As Good as It Gets” TBS 7.98 3. Wrestling (Mon. 9 p.m.) USA 7.42 4. The Jackal USA 4.72 5. “Deep Blue Sea” HBO 4.04 6. Real World MTV 3.67 7. Wrestling (Mon. 8 p.m.) TNT 3.56 8. Sex and the City HBO 3.50 9. Wrestling (Sun. 7 p.m.) USA 3.41 10. Walker, Texas Ranger USA 3.12

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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 9.28 million 13.20 CBS 8.63 11.77 NBC 6.21 11.54 FOX 5.99 8.31 UPN 3.43 3.79 WB 2.60 3.35

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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. Survivor KCBS 806,144 2. Millionaire (Sun.) KABC 748,562 3. Millionaire (Thur.) KABC 617,695 4. Millionaire (Tue.) KABC 575,817 5. The Practice KABC 560,113 6. Big Brother KCBS 497,297 7. 60 Minutes KCBS 455,419 8. Dateline: NBC (Wed.) KNBC 434,480 9. WWF Smackdown! KCOP 418,776 10. 20/20 (Fri.) KABC 413,541 Every. Loves Raymond KCBS 413,541

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