‘Millionaire’ Outshines Golden Globes, Streisand

In a ratings story grown very familiar, ABC’s “Who Wants to Be a Millionaire” continued to beat out all comers, including the Barbra Streisand-fueled Golden Globe Awards on NBC Sunday night, based on viewing estimates issued Tuesday by Nielsen Media Research.

It was a period marked by “Millionaire’s” continued success airing three nights a week (Tuesday, Thursday and Sunday) and the two awards shows, including the American Music Awards, which gave ABC strong numbers Monday night.

Streisand, honored with a career achievement award at the Golden Globes, boosted NBC on Sunday night, drawing an estimated 22 million viewers,though not enough to challenge Sunday night’s installment of “Millionaire.”

For Fox, “Malcolm in the Middle” appears to be holding its ground as the 1999-2000 TV season’s one emerging comedy hit, finishing with nearly 20 million viewers its third week out among healthy competition Sunday night.

CBS continues to get strong performances from its sitcoms, fueled largely by “Everybody Loves Raymond,” but its much-hyped midseason drama “City of Angels” has had disappointing performances so far.

Cable Top 10

Here are Nielsen’s top 10 cable programs in prime time last week, also ranked by total viewers (in millions).

*--*

Net- View- Program work ers 1. Wrestling (Mon., 10 p.m.) USA 7.04 2. Wrestling (Mon., 9 p.m.) USA 6.79 3. “Mary Kay Letourneau Story” USA 6.10 4. “Letourneau Live” USA 5.46 5. The Sopranos HBO 5.33 6. Wrestling (Mon., 8 p.m.) TNT 4.01 7. “Conspiracy Theory” TNT 4.00 8. “Jack Frost” HBO 3.84 9. Wrestling (Sun., 7 p.m.) USA 3.62 10. Walker, Texas Ranger USA 3.55

*--*

Network Averages

Here is the number of viewers that each network averaged per hour of prime time, for last week and for the season.

*--*

Last Season week to date ABC 15.82 million 13.03 CBS 12.99 12.99 NBC 12.86 12.98 FOX 11.37 9.31 UPN 3.94 3.88 WB 3.63 3.85

*--*

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.

*--*

Sta- House- Program tion holds 1. Who/Millionaire (Thur.) KABC 1,042,425 2. Who/Millionaire (Tue.) KABC 975,669 3. Friends KNBC 878,102 4. American Music Awards KABC 801,076 5. Jesse KNBC 703,509 6. Ally McBeal KTTV 657,293 7. Providence KNBC 636,752 8. Frasier KNBC 626,482 9. Dateline NBC (Fri.) KNBC 585,401 10. “The Birdcage” KABC 528,915

*--*