Baseball Has Star Appeal

Baseball’s All-Star Game proved to be a hit, topping the list of prime-time programs with an 8% increase over ratings for the previous year’s contest, based on estimates issued Tuesday by Nielsen Media Research.

Viewers probably were attracted in part by the final All-Star appearance of Baltimore Oriole third baseman Cal Ripken Jr., who hit a home run for the American League and walked off with the game’s most valuable player award.

Aside from baseball, the most valuable players in prime time were game shows such as ABC’s “Who Wants to Be a Millionaire” and NBC’s “Weakest Link,” as well as newsmagazines, which always enjoy a ratings hike during the rerun-laden summer.

CBS’ unscripted “Big Brother 2,” which has come under heavy fire from critics, saw a boost in viewership for Thursday’s installment covering the ouster of a male contestant who had held a knife to the throat of a female occupant in the house. Viewing again dropped sharply, however, on Saturday.

The curiosity surrounding Thursday’s installment doubtless contributed to a slow start for “Night Visions,” the new Fox horror anthology, which scared up only modest numbers with its two-hour debut.

NBC came up a winner on Saturday night by repeating the original “Jurassic Park.”

Network Averages

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

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Last Season Network week to date NBC 8.34 million 11.07 million CBS 8.00 11.75 ABC 7.49 11.55 FOX 7.23 8.90 UPN 3.18 3.64 WB 2.23 3.52

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