Globe Awards Help Give NBC a Golden Victory

With most hit series in reruns, the Golden Globe Awards and “Temptation Island” floated to the top of the prime-time standings, as the former helped NBC snap a four-week ABC winning streak, based on viewing estimates issued Tuesday by Nielsen Media Research.

Buoyed by an all-star turnout, including Al Pacino, who was honored with a lifetime achievement award, the Globes again surpassed viewing of the most recent Nighttime Emmy Awards, despite unusually stiff competition on TNT from the Tom Selleck western “Crossfire Trail,” one of the highest-rated made-for-cable movies ever.

“Temptation Island,” meanwhile, capitalized on a rerun of “The West Wing” in the same time slot to increase its audience by 1.5 million viewers over its debut; however, two other “reality” shows headed in the opposite direction, with ABC’s “The Mole” and the WB’s “Popstars” losing more than 2 million and 1 million viewers, respectively, from their initial installments.

ABC’s weaker Tuesday ratings--where NBC’s new sitcom “Three Sisters” hammered “The Geena Davis Show” at 9:30 p.m.--appeared to take its toll on “NYPD Blue,” which declined 13% compared to its season premiere, finishing behind CBS’ competing “Judging Amy.”

First-year dramas “Ed” and “Gilmore Girls” drew their highest ratings since October, while coverage of the U.S. Figure Skating Championships scored 14% higher with the Nielsen judges than a year ago.

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 NBC 13.12 million 12.19 ABC 12.15 13.27 CBS 11.53 11.84 FOX 10.77 9.96 UPN 3.53 4.02 WB 3.42 3.97

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