Baseball Dips, but It Scores

Baseball took center stage in prime time last week, though its batting average was decidedly mixed, with strong ratings by cable standards for ESPN’s coverage of the “Home Run Derby” but record-low viewing of the All-Star Game on Fox, based on viewing estimates issued Tuesday by Nielsen Media Research.

Even with a lower slugging percentage--sliding 9% below last year--the All-Star Game topped all programs. Meanwhile, “Home Run Derby” averaged 7.7 million viewers to lead cable fare, which would have placed it No. 33 among programs on the broadcast networks last week.

CBS’ “Big Brother 3,” meanwhile, opened to a respectable audience last Wednesday--beating Fox’s “American Idol” in head-to-head competition--then dropped sharply on Thursday and Saturday. Viewing of the three-times-a-week unscripted series has tended to fluctuate--especially on weekends.

HBO’s Robin Williams special and TNT’s movie “Door to Door,” starring William H. Macy, also attracted significant audiences Sunday.

NBC cashed in with a Saturday telecast of “Men in Black”--timed to the sequel’s release--while ABC corralled its largest Monday night movie summer audience in three years with “The Horse Whisperer.”

Brian Lowry

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National Nielsen Viewership

Here are the rankings for national prime-time network television last week (July 8-14) 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 All-Star Game FOX 14.65 2 CSI CBS 13.04 3 All-Star Pregame Show FOX 12.43 4 Everybody Loves Raymond CBS 11.64 5 Law & Order NBC 11.34 6 “The Horse Whisperer” ABC 10.91 7 60 Minutes CBS 10.80 8 48 Hours (Mon.) CBS 10.24 9 Becker CBS 10.17 10 Dog Eats Dog NBC 10.10 11 “Men in Black” NBC 9.39 12 Big Brother 3 (Wed.) CBS 9.19 13 Fear Factor NBC 8.99 14 American Idol (Wed.) FOX 8.96 15 Crime & Punishment NBC 8.81 16 Law & Order: Criminal Intent NBC 8.80 17 “Holy Joe” CBS 8.73 18 Law & Order: SVU NBC 8.65 19 60 Minutes II CBS 8.38 20 Dateline NBC (Tue.) NBC 8.36 21 Primetime Thursday ABC 8.34 22 “Tonight/10th Anniversary” NBC 8.01 23 20/20 (Fri.) ABC 8.00 Friends NBC 8.00 25 My Wife & Kids ABC 7.95 26 Yes, Dear CBS 7.77 27 The West Wing NBC 7.73 28 Frasier NBC 7.67 29 Will & Grace NBC 7.59 Big Brother 3 (Thu.) CBS 7.59 31 JAG CBS 7.58 32 Judging Amy CBS 7.57 33 King of Queens CBS 7.53 34 Price Is Right: Coast Guard CBS 7.47 35 “Jerry Maguire” FOX 7.46 36 Crossing Jordan NBC 7.42 37 Mole II: The Next Betrayal ABC 7.30 38 The Guardian CBS 7.23 39 The Agency CBS 7.12 40 Spy TV (8:30 p.m.) NBC 7.06 41 Touched by an Angel (Sun.) CBS 7.04 America Fights Back FOX 7.04 43 48 Hours CBS 6.98 Scrubs NBC 6.98 45 Just Shoot Me NBC 6.82 46 State v ABC 6.71 47 Scrubs (8:30 p.m.) NBC 6.67 48 Houston Medical ABC 6.51 49 Datline NBC (Fri.) NBC 6.37 50 Spy TV (8 p.m.) NBC 6.32 51 Cops (8:30 p.m.) FOX 6.24 52 ER NBC 6.12 53 Funniest Home Videos ABC 6.06 54 According to Jim (8:30 p.m.) ABC 6.02 55 According to Jim (8 p.m.) ABC 5.93 56 48 Hours (Wed.) CBS 5.79 57 Weakest Link (Sun.) NBC 5.62 58 WWE Smackdown! UPN 5.50 59 Beyond Belief: Factor or Fiction FOX 5.35 60 The Drew Carey Show ABC 5.33 61 Big Brother 3 (Sat.) CBS 5.32 62 Cops FOX 5.27 63 Bernie Mac (8:30 p.m.) FOX 5.16 64 Bernie Mac Show (8 p.m.) FOX 5.04 65 The District CBS 4.90 66 Whose Line (Fri., 9:30 p.m.) ABC 4.81 Pulse FOX 4.81 68 “Cadet Kelly” ABC 4.79 69 Drew Carey Show (Wed., 9:30 p.m.) ABC 4.69 70 Dateline NBC (Sun.) NBC 4.56 71 Whose Line? (Fri., 9 p.m.) ABC 4.38 72 The Practice ABC 4.20 73 “Star Trek: First Contact” ABC 4.18 74 “You Only Live Twice” ABC 4.12 75 The Agency (Sat.) CBS 3.94 76 Boston Public FOX 3.90 77 Invasion:/Cameras (8 p.m.) FOX 3.78 78 “Marc Anthony: I’ve Got You” CBS 3.76 79 Invasion: Hidden Cameras (8:30 p.m.) FOX 3.70 80 Smallville WB 3.51 81 Alias ABC 3.42 82 Dog Eat Dog (Sat.) NBC 3.19 83 Gilmore Girls WB 3.18 84 The Parkers UPN 3.16 85 One on One UPN 3.07 86 Girlfriend UPN 2.96 87 Reba (Thu.) WB 2.60 88 “Three to Tango” WB 2.59 89 The Hughleys UPN 2.55 90 Reba WB 2.52 91 7th Heaven WB 2.49 92 Raising Dad WB 2.45 93 Ally McBeal FOX 2.42 94 The X-Files FOX 2.40 95 Smallville (Mon.) WB 2.34 96 Sabrina, the Teenage Witch WB 1.98 97 Buffy the Vampire Slayer UPN 1.82 98 Charmed (Sun.) WB 1.79 99 Jamie Kennedy (8:30 p.m.) WB 1.72 100 Enterprise UPN 1.71 101 Jamie Kennedy (9 p.m.) WB 1.66 102 Maybe It’s Me WB 1.56 103 Off Centre WB 1.50 104 Code Name Phoenix UPN 1.49 105 Angel WB 1.46 106 Buffy/Vampire Slayer (Wed.) UPN 1.45 107 Under One Room UPN 1.41 108 For Your Love (7:30 p.m.) WB 1.39 109 For Your Love (7 p.m.) WB 1.34

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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 7.73 11.58 NBC 7.64 12.58 FOX 7.20 8.60 ABC 6.23 9.01 UPN 2.63 4.03 WB 2.25 3.53

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