‘Practice’ Makes Perfect; Modest Shirley, Marilyn

Made-for-TV biographies of Marilyn Monroe and Shirley Temple yielded relatively modest ratings Sunday, while ABC’s “The Practice” closed its season on a high note, based on viewing estimates issued Tuesday by Nielsen Media Research.

The ABC courtroom drama, starring Dylan McDermott, delivered its second-biggest audience of the season, easily emerging as Sunday’s most-watched program.

Miniseries, meanwhile, continue to struggle, as the opening part of CBS’ “Blonde,” starring Poppy Montgomery as Monroe, delivered mediocre ratings--a performance that doesn’t bode well for tonight’s installment against “The West Wing” season finale. ABC fared slightly better with “Child Star: The Shirley Temple Story,” which danced off with the biggest audience in its Sunday time slot.

The two “Survivor” casts, meanwhile, essentially battled to a draw last Thursday, as a special episode of NBC’s quiz show “Weakest Link” featuring the original contestants held its own opposite a CBS special focusing on those who participated in “The Australian Outback” edition returning home. With the “Survivor” competition over, “Friends” posted its highest rating in six weeks.

Notably, only two sitcoms ranked among the Top 10 last week, while four dramas sat atop the weekly standings. CBS was first in total viewing but slipped to fourth in the younger demographics sought by advertisers.

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 CBS 12.11 million 12.56 NBC 11.37 11.52 ABC 11.27 12.57 FOX 8.47 9.61 UPN 3.54 3.73 WB 3.86 3.72

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