NBC chief says fleeing viewers are networks’ fault

The top networks are suffering through a lackluster fall season partly because some programming “is not that good,” NBC’s entertainment chief said Tuesday.

NBC’s Jeff Zucker, who has canned two high-profile new series, said that although networks question some of Nielsen Media Research’s numbers this year, TV executives also need to look in the mirror.

“Our programming is not that good and the Nielsen sample is bad. End of story,” said Zucker, speaking to the International Radio & Television Society Foundation.

During the first week of the important November sweeps period, CBS was the only one of the six major broadcasters to draw a bigger audience than the same week last year, Nielsen said. That’s consistent with the season as a whole. Fox, which benefited from a thrilling baseball postseason, is the only network to see gains season-to-date.

Zucker cited NBC’s “Coupling” -- already canceled -- as NBC’s biggest mistake of the season. Another series the network had high hopes for, Rob Lowe’s “The Lyon’s Den,” also has been taken off the air.

The networks put on too many new shows that appealed to women, Zucker said. “Where’s ‘Chuck & Matt’?” Zucker asked. “If we just keep putting on shows that aren’t necessarily going to appeal to young men, we’re making a mistake. We’re standing at the front of that line.”

CBS’ victory last week was fueled partly by a strong performance by “Survivor,” which defeated “Friends” head-to-head for the first time in a year and a half. The CBS 75th anniversary special on Sunday was seen by 18.2 million viewers.

For the week, CBS averaged 13.7 million viewers. NBC was second with 11.3 million, but won handily among the 18-to-49-year-old viewers that advertisers crave. ABC had 9.4 million viewers; Fox, 8 million; the WB, 3.9 million; UPN, 3.5 million; and Pax, 1 million.

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Here are the rankings for national prime-time network television last week (Oct. 27-Nov. 2) 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 272.04 million potential viewers in the U.S. age 2 and older. Viewership is listed in millions.

*--* 1 CSI CBS 27.35 2 Survivor: Pearl Islands CBS 20.81 3 ER NBC 19.90 4 Friends NBC 19.37 5 Everybody Loves Raymond CBS 18.29

6 “CBS at 75” CBS 18.19 7 CSI: Miami CBS 16.97 8 The Simpsons FOX 16.22 9 Law & Order NBC 16.17 10 Will & Grace NBC 15.89

11 Two and a Half Men CBS 15.82 12 Monday Night Football ABC 15.80 13 Without a Trace CBS 15.58 14 NFL Monday Showcase ABC 14.95 15 The Simpsons (8:30 p.m.) FOX 14.53

16 Still Standing CBS 14.17 17 The Bachelor ABC 13.85 18 Law & Order: Criminal Intent NBC 13.50 Navy NCIS CBS 13.50 20 “Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown” ABC 13.21

21 NFL Postgame FOX 13.18 22 Fear Factor NBC 13.13 23 The West Wing NBC 13.12 24 60 Minutes (Sun., 7:30 p.m.) CBS 12.74 25 King of Queens CBS 12.48

26 60 Minutes II CBS 12.37 27 King of the Hill FOX 12.28 28 JAG CBS 12.19 29 Law & Order: SVU NBC 12.18 30 Yes, Dear CBS 12.17

31 Scrubs NBC 11.94 32 24 FOX 11.57 33 Judging Amy CBS 11.51 34 Dateline NBC (Fri.) NBC 11.25 35 The Guardian CBS 11.19

36 According to Jim ABC 11.15 37 Frasier NBC 11.00 38 NYPD Blue ABC 10.93 39 Law & Order: Criminal Intent (10 p.m.) NBC 10.82 Becker CBS 10.82

41 Joan of Arcadia CBS 10.64 42 Whoopi NBC 10.50 43 Third Watch NBC 10.49 44 Malcolm in the Middle FOX 10.26 45 My Wife and Kids ABC 10.12

46 That ‘70s Show FOX 9.93 47 Less Than Perfect ABC 9.74 48 “Radio Music Awards” NBC 9.62 49 48 Hours Investigates (Wed.) CBS 9.51 50 Primetime Thursday ABC 9.50

51 It’s All Relative ABC 9.43 52 The O.C. FOX 9.27 53 The District CBS 9.18 54 Happy Family NBC 9.17 55 I’m With Her ABC 9.13

56 The Practice ABC 9.03 57 Alias ABC 8.92 58 Extreme Makeover ABC 8.76 59 Good Morning Miami NBC 8.70 Ed NBC 8.70

61 10-8 ABC 8.41 62 20/20 (Fri.) ABC 8.23 63 60 Minutes CBS 8.19 Law & Order: SVU (Sat.) NBC 8.19 65 Dateline NBC (Sun.) NBC 8.02

66 Arrested Development FOX 7.98 67 The Handler CBS 7.94 68 America’s Funniest Home Videos ABC 7.75 69 Hack CBS 7.68 Hope and Faith ABC 7.68

Karen Sisco ABC 7.68 American Dreams NBC 7.68 73 “Fat Like Me” ABC 7.61 74 George Lopez Show ABC 7.34 75 Life With Bonnie ABC 7.20

76 Minute With Stan Hooper FOX 7.11 77 Law & Order: Criminal Intent (Sat.) NBC 7.07 78 Threat Matrix ABC 6.90 79 Cops (8:30 p.m.) FOX 6.86 80 48 Hours Investigates (Sat.) CBS 6.74

81 Smallville WB 6.71 “Phenomenon II” ABC 6.71 83 America’s Most Wanted FOX 6.52 84 Joe Millionaire (Tue.) FOX 6.50 85 Married to the Kellys ABC 6.44

86 Cops FOX 6.13 87 Whoopi (Sat., 8:30 p.m.) NBC 5.97 88 WWE Smackdown! UPN 5.95 89 Joe Millionaire (Mon.) FOX 5.92 90 Whoopi (Sat., 8 p.m.) NBC 5.84

91 Charmed WB 5.19 92 Gilmore Girls WB 5.16 93 Skin FOX 5.08 94 Tru Calling FOX 4.88 95 7th Heaven WB 4.80

96 Angel WB 4.72 97 L.A. Dragnet ABC 4.52 98 Boston Public FOX 4.46 99 The Parkers UPN 3.86 100 Wanda at Large (8:30 p.m.) FOX 3.82

101 Eve UPN 3.80 102 Reba WB 3.77 103 Enterprise UPN 3.70 104 Everwood WB 3.60 105 All of Us UPN 3.59

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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 13.71 12.93

NBC 11.28 11.00

ABC 9.35 9.55

FOX 8.01 12.13

WB 3.86 4.22

UPN 3.46 3.47

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