A race to the finish for sweeps crown

The new television season and November rating sweeps have emulated the college football season, yielding two networks -- CBS and NBC -- with legitimate No. 1 claims, while ABC has at least begun the rebuilding process and Fox can do little more at this point than chant, “Wait till next year.”

Network officials put their respective spins on the numbers Tuesday because of the sweeps, a four-week ratings survey conducted on behalf of local TV stations that concludes tonight.

The prime-time rating race finds CBS narrowly edging NBC in overall viewership, with two nights yet to be tabulated, while NBC holds a commanding advantage by the measuring stick that network sales departments care about most -- the young adults used as currency in dealing with advertisers.

“That’s how we judge ourselves, and how advertisers judge us,” said NBC Entertainment President Jeff Zucker.

By that measure, CBS -- which traditionally appeals to an older audience -- will settle for third place behind ABC, which has exhibited some signs of life after a dismal 2001-02 season, thanks primarily to its unscripted dating show, “The Bachelor,” as well as the new comedy “8 Simple Rules for Dating My Teenage Daughter.”

As for charting public tastes, few patterns have emerged other than an appetite for what might be called “brand extensions,” with all three versions of “Law & Order” performing well and CBS spinoff “CSI: Miami” quickly becoming TV’s most-watched new drama.

Although networks weigh their performance versus the previous year to gauge progress, or lack thereof, such comparisons have been skewed by the events of Sept. 11, which played havoc with last fall’s schedules.

CBS -- the most-watched network all but two weeks this season -- will likely eke out a narrow first-place finish for November. Through Monday, the network has been averaging about 13.3 million viewers during an average minute of prime time, based on Nielsen Media Research data, versus 13.2 million for NBC. ABC has achieved small gains in overall viewing and young adults, to 10.9 million viewers, while Fox -- laboring to plug holes left by “The X-Files” and “Ally McBeal” -- is down sharply, to 8.3 million.

The WB network is also having an impact -- particularly on Mondays and Tuesdays, with the youth-oriented dramas “7th Heaven,” “Everwood,” “Gilmore Girls” and “Smallville.” For November, the network’s audience has risen to 4.9 million viewers -- surging more than 15% year to year -- to pass UPN, which slipped to 4.2 million. (The WB is part-owned by Tribune Co., owner of The Times.)

Despite several gaps in its lineup, ABC has enjoyed more triumphs than many anticipated, given the hole the network found itself in last season. Thanks to “8 Simple Rules” and the Damon Wayans sitcom, “My Wife and Kids,” the network has solid lead-off shows Tuesday and Wednesday, and the latest “The Bachelor” became a bona-fide sensation. “We’ve had more success early on than we had any right to expect coming into the season,” said Lloyd Braun, chairman of ABC Entertainment.

Balancing that enthusiasm is the fact that ABC’s new dramas have been uniformly disappointing and that its most-watched program hits the bench come January once the “Monday Night Football” season ends.

Fox, meanwhile, has gotten off to a slow start after baseball and, as with ABC, has struggled with its new dramas. The network has already canceled “Ally” creator David E. Kelley’s “Girls Club,” and it announced Tuesday that it plans to pull “Firefly,” a high-profile project from “Buffy the Vampire Slayer” creator Joss Whedon.

With little going right, Fox has shifted its focus to 2003, when the network hopes to garner a lift from a second go-round of its summer hit “American Idol.” The talent contest returns Jan. 21 and will air Tuesdays and Wednesdays, letting the network move “The Bernie Mac Show” back to 9 p.m. -- away from competing with ABC’s “My Wife and Kids,” another comedy about an African American family. Sandy Grushow, chairman of the Fox Television Entertainment Group, said it is “no coincidence” that “Idol” will lead directly into “Bernie Mac” and Fox’s other critically acclaimed second-year show, “24.”

This fall’s rating woes have fueled apprehension at Fox, where Rupert Murdoch -- chairman of parent company News Corp. -- isn’t renowned for his patience.

Still, if any lesson is to be gleaned from recent seasons, it is that even the leading networks can hardly rest easy. NBC, for example, has seen some long-running hits exhibit signs of aging this fall, including “The West Wing” and “Frasier,” although the latter rallied in November thanks to a story line involving Niles’ heart problems.

CBS’ inroads Thursday -- with “CSI: Crime Scene Investigation” becoming TV’s most-watched program -- also don’t bode well for the “Must-See TV” franchise if “Friends” does indeed conclude its run this spring. Even with “Survivor” invading its turf, TV’s top-rated sitcom has proved remarkably resilient, averaging more than 26 million viewers this month -- its best November since 1996.CBS, meanwhile, can point to solid results across the week but has seen its Sunday movie languish, causing TV movie producers to fear the network will try series that night in its place. Only a few years ago, all three major networks programmed movies on Sundays, but the cost-to-reward ratio, high-profile cable fare and what some characterize as sheer mismanagement have combined to undermine the genre.

“It’s a time period we’re looking at very carefully,” said CBS Television President Leslie Moonves, who blamed the movie’s decline in part on audience being siphoned away by HBO’s “The Sopranos.”

In general, the competitive landscape facing the networks is increasingly challenging, with cable programs demonstrating the ability to register previously unimaginable ratings. Both “The Sopranos” and ESPN’s Sunday-night pro football reach 10 million viewers a week, with the latter helping ESPN rank as November’s most-watched basic cable network, averaging 2.8 million viewers. TNT, Nickelodeon, USA and Lifetime followed, all averaging from 1.8 million to 2 million viewers.