‘Millionaire,’ Golf Help ABC Improve Its Average

There was no post-”Survivor” bounce in the Nielsen polls, as ABC returned to the winner’s circle after CBS’ big week with the series finale thanks to its own phenomenon, “Who Wants to Be a Millionaire,” based on viewing estimates issued Wednesday by Nielsen Media Research.

ABC’s prime-time golf showcase featuring Tiger Woods and Sergio Garcia dominated its time slot on Aug. 28, proving one of the week’s most popular attractions, especially among males. The network also posted solid ratings with the premiere of its six-part documentary “Hopkins 24/7,” set inside a hospital, and saw “Millionaire” deliver its biggest Tuesday audience in 11 weeks.

NBC continues to rerun “Law & Order” twice each week, and the program keeps delivering, with both episodes finishing among the Top 10. By contrast, dramas such as “NYPD Blue,” “ER,” “Ally McBeal” and “The X-Files” have taken more precipitous drops with their summer repeats.

CBS remained second in overall viewing but slipped back to third place, barely ahead of Fox, in adults age 18 to 49, suggesting the young audience that gravitated to “Survivor” has quickly moved on to other fare. The network remains hopeful all those on-air promotions that ran during the program will translate into more eyeballs come fall.

National Nielsen Viewership

Here are the rankings for national prime-time network television last week (Aug. 28-Sept. 3) as compiled by Nielsen Media Research. They are based on the average number of people who watched a program from start to finish. Nielsen estimates that there are 260 million potential U.S. viewers age 2 and older. Viewership is listed here in millions.

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Program Network Viewers 1. Millionaire (Tue.) ABC 21.72 2. Millionaire (Thur.) ABC 19.46 3. Millionaire (Sun.) ABC 18.28 4. Every. Loves Raymond CBS 12.53 5. Law & Order NBC 12.26 6. Hopkins 24/7 (Tue.) ABC 12.08 7. Dharma & Greg ABC 11.62 8. Big Brother (Wed.) CBS 11.49 9. Becker CBS 11.35 10. Law & Order (Mon.) NBC 11.26 11. 60 Minutes CBS 11.15 12. Friends NBC 10.46 13. Dateline NBC (Tue.) NBC 10.41 14. Will & Grace NBC 10.39 15. Golf: Woods vs. Garcia ABC 10.38 16. The Practice ABC 10.37 17. Dateline NBC (Wed.) NBC 10.24 18. Will & Grace (8:30 p.m.) NBC 10.12 19. 60 Minutes II CBS 9.79 20. Just Shoot Me (9:30 p.m.) NBC 9.72 21. The West Wing NBC 9.42 22. Whose Line Is It? (8:30 p.m.) ABC 9.27 23. Just Shoot Me NBC 9.26 24. Big Brother (Mon.) CBS 9.23 25. Judging Amy CBS 9.11 26. Frasier NBC 9.08 27. Mysterious Ways NBC 8.87 28. King of Queens CBS 8.76 29. Law & Order: SVU NBC 8.71 30. ER NBC 8.57 31. Hopkins 24/7 (Wed.) ABC 8.48 32. “Dear God” CBS 8.46 33. The Simpsons FOX 8.45 34. Third Watch NBC 8.35 35. Cops (8:30 p.m.) FOX 8.33 36. America’s Most Wanted FOX 8.27 37. WWF Smackdown! UPN 8.22 38. “John Stossel Special” ABC 8.11 39. “World’s Funniest Special” FOX 8.09 40. Touched by an Angel CBS 8.04 41. Malcolm in the Middle FOX 8.02 42. The Drew Carey Show ABC 7.99 43. Family Law CBS 7.92 44. Dateline NBC (Fri.) NBC 7.77 45. Spin City ABC 7.53 46. “Seven” FOX 7.47 Nash Bridges CBS 7.47 48. Big Brother (Tue.) CBS 7.44 Big Brother (Thur.) CBS 7.44 50. “The Rockford Files” CBS 7.35 51. Cops FOX 7.32 52. “Dave” CBS 7.30 53. Norm (9:30 p.m.) ABC 7.24 54. “A Step Toward Tomorrow” CBS 7.17 55. “Flipper” ABC 6.96 56. Dateline NBC (Sun.) NBC 6.78 57. Whose Line Is It Anyway? ABC 6.59 58. King of the Hill (Wed.) FOX 6.49 59. Big Brother (Fri.) CBS 6.48 60. “A Walk in the Clouds” ABC 6.39 61. “Access Hollywood” NBC 6.24 62. Family Guy FOX 6.05 63. King of the Hill FOX 6.00 64. The X-Files FOX 5.93 65. Making the Band ABC 5.92 66. Two Guys and a Girl ABC 5.87 67. That ‘70s Show FOX 5.84 68. Big Brother (Sat.) CBS 5.80 69. Titus FOX 5.77 70. “Jack Reed:/Vengeance” NBC 5.73 71. JAG (Fri.) CBS 5.71 72. NYPD Blue ABC 5.70 73. Family Guy FOX 5.59 74. “Drop Zone” NBC 5.57 75. Ally McBeal (9 p.m.) FOX 5.56 76. Providence NBC 5.49 77. Boy Meets World (8:30 p.m.) ABC 5.39 78. Candid Camera CBS 5.33 79. “Source Hip-Hop Awards” UPN 5.27 80. Making the Band (9 p.m.) ABC 5.23 81. Boy Meets World (8 p.m.) ABC 5.18 82. Norm ABC 4.99 83. Ally McBeal (8 p.m.) FOX 4.98 84. PJs (9:30 p.m.) FOX 4.92 85. Ladies Man CBS 4.63 86. “Geraldo Rivera Reports” NBC 4.62 87. “TV Show With John Henson” ABC 4.35 88. Charmed WB 3.88 89. Futurama FOX 3.56 90. The Jamie Foxx Show WB 3.49 The Parkers UPN 3.49 92. 7th Heaven WB 3.42 93. “Ali: An American Hero” FOX 3.39 94. Moesha UPN 3.28 95. For Your Love WB 3.24 96. Star Trek: Voyager UPN 3.14 97. Grownups UPN 3.05 98. Charmed (8 p.m.) WB 2.97 99. For You Love WB 2.65 Angel WB 2.65 101. Young Americans WB 2.63 102. The Steve Harvey Show WB 2.57 103. Dawson’s Creek WB 2.49 104. Roswell WB 2.41 105. 7 Days UPN 2.39 106. Buffy, the Vampire Slayer WB 2.35 107. 7th Heaven Beginnings WB 2.23 108. Malcolm & Eddie UPN 2.18 109. Secret Agent Man UPN 1.60 110. The Strip UPN 1.33

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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. Sunday Night Football ESPN 9.97 2. NFL Prime Time ESPN 4.87 3. “Random Hearts” HBO 4.65 4. Wrestling (Mon., 9 p.m.) TNT 4.58 5. “Star Wars” TBS 4.14 6. Wrestling (Mon., 8 p.m.) TNT 3.53 7. “Custody of the Heart” LIFE 3.51 8. Sex and the City (Sun.) HBO 3.12 9. Sex and the City (Wed.) HBO 2.98 10. Real World MTV 2.95

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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 9.39 million 12.91 CBS 8.27 11.62 NBC 7.87 11.24 FOX 6.18 8.13 UPN 4.15 3.78 WB 2.70 3.29

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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. Millionaire (Tue.) KABC 658,727 2. Millionaire (Thur.) KABC 648,016 3. Millionaire (Sun.) KABC 562,328 4. Law & Order KNBC 498,062 5. The Practice KABC 476,640 Friends KNBC 476,640 7. Will & Grace KNBC 471,284 8. WWF Smackdown! KCOP 460,573 9. Everybody Loves Raymond KCBS 455,218 10. Dateline NBC (Wed.) KNBC 444,507 Hopkins 24/7 KABC 444,507 Will & Grace KNBC 444,507

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