Summer Series Are Paying Off

The combination of preseason football and original unscripted summer series helped every major network except ABC increase its audience last week versus the corresponding period in 2001, as the unscripted shows continue to fare especially well among younger viewers, based on viewing estimates issued Tuesday by Nielsen Media Research.

Those wanting to know why networks are keen on these properties, in fact, need look no further than demographic breakdowns for adults 18 to 49, the primary age bracket coveted by advertisers. By that standard, summer replacements--Fox’s two plays of “American Idol,” NBC’s “Dog Eat Dog” and “Meet My Folks,” and a pair of CBS’ “Big Brother” episodes--accounted for the top half-dozen shows.

ABC, meanwhile, is still lagging behind the field, down 27% compared with the same week last year, while CBS, NBC and Fox all improved their viewership by more than 10%. ABC’s most-watched program, “My Wife and Kids,” ranked No. 27 overall.

NBC also used the week to jump-start its third entry in the “Law & Order” franchise, “Criminal Intent,” running three episodes of the crime drama in the time slots regularly occupied by its two predecessors and “ER.” The series responded with its highest ratings of the summer. CBS also benefited from a double dose of “CSI,” which won its time period both Thursday and Sunday.

Brian Lowry

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National Nielsen Viewership

Here are the rankings for national prime-time network television last week (Aug. 12-18) 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 there are 269 million potential viewers in the U.S. age 2 and older. Viewership is listed in millions.

*--* Program Network Viewers 1 Everybody Loves Raymond CBS 12.98 2 CSI CBS 12.68 3 American Idol (Tue.) FOX 12.67 4 American Idol (Wed.) FOX 12.05 5 60 Minutes CBS 11.73 6 Law & Order: Criminal Intent (Wed., 10 p.m.) CBS 11.65 7 Dateline NBC (Tue.) NBC 11.35 Dog Eat Dog NBC 11.35 CSI (Sun.) CBS 11.35 10 Becker CBS 11.09 11 48 Hours (Mon.) CBS 10.70 12 Law & Order: Criminal Intent (Fri., 10 p.m.) NBC 10:66 13 Law & Order: Criminal Intent (Sun., 9 p.m.) NBC 10.64 14 Big Brother 3 (Wed.) CBS 10.58 15 48 Hours (Wed.) CBS 10.22 16 Meet My Folks NBC 9.81 Yes, Dear CBS 9.81 18 King of Queens CBS 9.74 19 Big Brother 3 (Thu.) CBS 9.69 20 Law & Order: Criminal Intent (Thu., 10 p.m.) NBC 9.57 21 Friends NBC 9.48 22 Fear Factor NBC 8.91 60 Minutes II CBS 8.91 24 “Three Blind Mice” CBS 8.60 25 Big Brother 3 (Fri.) CBS 8.49 26 Dateline NBC (Sun.) NBC 8.41 27 My Wife and Kids (Wed., 8:30 p.m.) ABC 8.38 28 Scrubs (Thu., 8:30 p.m.) NBC 8.18 29 JAG CBS 8.16 30 Law & Order: SVU NBC 8.07 31 Bernie Mac Show FOX 7.74 32 Malcolm in the Middle (9:30 p.m.) FOX 7.72 33 The West Wing NBC 7.68 34 The Simpsons FOX 7.64 35 48 Hours (Fri.) CBS 7.61 36 Law & Order: Criminal Intent (Sun., 8 p.m.) NBC 7.54 According to Jim (8:30 p.m.) ABC 7.54 38 Crime and Punishment NBC 7.46 39 The Guardian CBS 7.38 40 My Wife and Kids ABC 7.37 41 Malcolm in the Middle FOX 7.36 42 Frasier NBC 7.16 43 Monk ABC 7.10 44 King of the Hill FOX 7.03 45 Will & Grace NBC 7.02 46 Primetime Thursday ABC 6.92 47 The Agency CBS 6.91 48 48 Hours CBS 6.88 49 20/20 (Fri.) ABC 6.87 50 Dog Eat Dog (Wed.) NBC 6.74 51 30 Seconds to Fame (8:30 p.m.) FOX 6.69 52 Judging Amy CBS 6.64 53 The Simpsons (Tue.) FOX 6.61 54 Dateline NBC (Fri.) NBC 6.55 According to Jim (8 p.m.) ABC 6.55 56 “NFL Preseason Pre-Kick” CBS 6.54 57 The Drew Carey Show ABC 6.52 “The Associate” ABC 6.52 59 That ‘70s Show FOX 6.43 60 The Drew Carey Show (9:30 p.m.) ABC 6.36 61 “NFL on Fox: Pre-Season” FOX 6.34 62 America’s Most Wanted FOX 6.16 63 “The Wedding,” Part 2 ABC 6.14 64 “NFL Preseason Football” CBS 6.04 65 America’s Funniest Home Videos ABC 6.04 66 30 Seconds to Fame FOX 5.94 67 Cops (8:30 p.m.) FOX 5.91 68 Beyond Belief: Factor/Fiction FOX 5.65 69 “Speed 2: Cruise Control” ABC 5.57 70 Rerun Show (Thu.) NBC 5.32 71 “Loving You” NBC 5.26 72 Whose Line Is It Anyway? (Fri., 9:30 p.m.) ABC 5.23 73 WWE Smackdown! UPN 5.12 74 Just Shoot Me NBC 5.02 75 Rerun Show (Tue.) NBC 4.98 76 Widows ABC 4.94 77 “D. Blaine: Frozen in Time” ABC 4.74 78 The Practice ABC 4.71 79 Pulse FOX 4.58 80 Cops FOX 4.52 81 Futurama FOX 4.43 82 Whose Line Is It Anyway? (Fri., 9 p.m.) ABC 4.35 83 ICU: Arkansas Children’s Hospital ABC 4.21 84 Dateline NBC (Sat.) NBC 4.11 85 Grounded for Life (SP) FOX 4.07 86 Alias ABC 4.03 87 “The X-Games VIII” ABC 3.89 88 Titus (9:30 p.m.) FOX 3.57 89 One on One UPN 3.41 90 Girlfriends UPN 3.40 91 Boston Public FOX 3.39 92 7th Heaven WB 3.32 93 One on One (9:30 p.m.) UPN 3.22 94 Titus (9 p.m.) FOX 3.07 95 Smallville WB 3.04 96 The Parkers UPN 2.89 97 Reba WB 2.79 98 Smallville (Mon.) WB 2.78 99 Enterprise UPN 2.66 100 Gilmore Girls WB 2.57 101 Sabrina, Teenage Witch (8:30 p.m.) WB 2.53 102 Raising Dad WB 2.48 103 Reba WB 2.44 104 Sabrina, Teenage Witch WB 2.32 105 Enterprise (9 p.m.) UPN 2.14 106 “Fair Game” UPN 2.06 107 Buffy the Vampire Slayer UPN 1.95 108 “ ‘N Sync Live: The Atlantis” UPN 1.88 109 “Sol Goode” WB 1.74 110 Jamie Kennedy (9 p.m.) WB 1.71 Jamie Kennedy (8:30 p.m.) WB 1.71 112 Charmed (8 p.m.) WB 1.60

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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.

*--* Network Last week Season To date CBS 8.89 11.20 NBC 8.13 12.08 FOX 6.35 8.33 ABC 5.71 8.70 UPN 2.95 3.90 WB 2.16 3.41

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