Oscar Programming, ‘Millionaire’ Give ABC Honors

The second-most-watched Oscar telecast of the past five years and an extra movie edition of “Who Wants to Be a Millionaire” made ABC the big winner last week, based on viewing estimates issued Tuesday by Nielsen Media Research.

In addition to solid results for the Academy Awards, ABC drew big numbers for Oscar-adjacent programming. Both the annual Barbara Walters interview special and a half-hour national Oscar preview show, with Walters’ “The View” co-host Meredith Vieira, exceeded their year-ago audience as well.

ABC used a pre-Oscar “Millionaire” Friday to introduce its new documentary series “Making the Band,” which drew more viewers than the network’s usual sitcoms but gave away almost half of the quiz show’s audience. A truer test of the show’s appeal will come next week.

Several new sitcoms also premiered last week, with Fox’s “Titus,” ABC’s “Then Came You” and NBC’s “Daddio” showing promise in retaining viewers from the show preceding them, while “Millionaire” battered NBC’s post-”Frasier” tryout “Battery Park.” Two other newcomers, “God, the Devil and Bob” and “Grapevine,” are also dying on the vine.

NBC’s “The West Wing,” meanwhile, keeps solidifying its hit credentials, last week amassing its largest block of Nielsen voters since the White House drama’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. Wrestling (Mon., 10 p.m.) USA 7.65 2. Wrestling (Mon., 9 p.m.) USA 7.45 3. The Sopranos HBO 5.51 4. Wrestling (Sun., 7 p.m.) USA 3.59 5. Wrestling (Mon., 8 p.m.) TNT 3.36 6. Walker, Texas Ranger USA 3.26 7. Ripley’s Believe It or Not TBS 3.18 8. Rocket Power NICK 3.14 9. Lost and Found HBO 3.13 10. Rocket Power NICK 3.10

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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 17.68 million 14.29 NBC 11.12 12.59 CBS 11.01 12.75 FOX 7.95 9.24 UPN 4.04 3.94 WB 3.11 3.76

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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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Sta- House- Program tion holds 1. Academy Awards KABC 2,256,156 2. Barbara Walters Special KABC 1,240,624 3. Friends KNBC 999,828 4. Millionaire (Fri.) KABC 994,593 5. Millionaire (Tue.) KABC 952,715 6. Frasier KNBC 931,777 7. Millionaire (Thur.) KABC 884,664 8. ER KNBC 842,787 “Making the Band” KABC 842,787 10. “Evening/Academy Awards” KABC 827,083 Daddio KNBC 827,083

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