When the White House said Monday that President Bush would be giving a speech Tuesday night, several networks balked, wondering if carrying the speech would be worth rearranging their entire schedule.
   NBC, Fox and CBS finally relented late yesterday, but the speech did indeed throw off television viewership, with low numbers for the speech and low numbers for several premieres. 
   President Bush's 8 p.m. update on the war in Iraq averaged just 19.13 million total viewers on the big four broadcast networks, ABC, CBS, NBC and Fox, according to Nielsen overnights.
   That’s down 41 percent from the 32.75 million who watched Bush on the Big Four during a primetime press conference in April, though that speech took place on the first night of May sweeps, when television viewership overall was higher.
   Last night’s address drew 21.8 percent fewer viewers than Bush’s State of the Union address in January, which brought in 26.6 million total viewers via the Big Four.  
   For NBC the speech forced a quick switch for the premiere of “Average Joe: The Joes Strike Back,” which moved from 8 p.m. to 10 p.m. on the East Coast.  
   The change definitely hurt. "Joe" averaged a third-place 2.0 adults 18-49 rating last night, less than half the rating for its third-season finale last year.
   ABC's "Empire" also premiered to poor numbers without a strong lead-in. It averaged just 6.4 million total viewers and a 2.0 18-49 rating.
   For the presidential address, CBS led the away among the Big Four with 5.77 million total viewers, followed by NBC’s 5.30 million, ABC’s 4.97 million and Fox’s 3.09 million.  
   CBS led the night in 18-49s with a 2.1 average rating and a 6 share, according to Nielsen overnights. Final numbers will change as overnights measure time period and not program data, but the presidential address leaked over into the 8:30 hour. Fox finished second at 1.9/6, NBC third at 1.8/5, ABC fourth at 1.7/5, and the WB and UPN tied for fifth at 0.8/2.  
   NBC led during the 8 p.m. hour among 18-49s with a 1.6 average for its coverage of the Bush speech. CBS was second with a 1.4 average for the speech (1.3) and a repeat of “The King of Queens” (1.4), while ABC and Fox tied for third, each with a 1.3 average.  
   CBS and Fox tied for the lead during the 9 p.m. hour, CBS with a 2.5 average for “Fire Me, Please” and Fox with an identical rating for a repeat of “House.” Meanwhile ABC and NBC tied for third, each with a 1.8 average rating, NBC for “I Want to Be a Hilton” and ABC for the first hour of part one of “Empire.” 
    CBS led at 10 p.m. with a 2.5 average for “48 Hours.” ABC was second with a 2.1 for the second hour of “Empire” and NBC third with a 2.0 average for “Joe.”  
   Among households, CBS led the night with a 4.3 average rating and a 7 share. ABC was second at 3.9/7, Fox and NBC tied for third at 3.5/6, UPN fifth at 1.7/3 and the WB sixth at 1.4/2.