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With repeats on CBS, ABC won last night in households and adults 18-49 with “Who Wants to be a Millionaire” and “Monday Night Football.” Without adjusting for time zone differences, the game averaged a 10.9/17 household rating and share and a 6.4 adult 18-49 rating. A rerun of CBS’s “Everybody Loves Raymond” won the 9 p.m. half-hour in households and adults 18-49, and CBS finished second in households for the night. On Fox, “Boston Public” won the 8 p.m. hour among adults 18-49, and Fox placed third for the night in the demographic. The preliminary Nielsen household rating and share and adult 18-49 rating for Monday night were: ABC 10.3/16 and 5.7, CBS 9.5/15 and 5.0, NBC 6.7/10 and 3.5, and Fox 6.9/10 and 4.8. On Sunday, the remake of “Brian’s Song” helped push ABC to a win in households and an almost win among adults 18-49. The TV movie about two football players won both households and adults 18-49 during the 8 p.m. hour, after losing to CBS’s “60 Minutes” and Fox’s “NFL Postgame” and “King of the Hill” at 7 p.m. At 9 p.m., ABC’s “Alias” won adults 18-49, while part one of CBS’s “Jack and the Beanstalk: The Real Story” won households. At 10 p.m., ABC’s “The Practice” swept its hour in households and adults 18-49. NBC finished fourth for the night in both households and adults 18-49, with a lineup of the animated movie “The Prince of Egypt,” a repeat of “Law and Order: Criminal Intent” and “UC: Undercover.” The preliminary Nielsen household rating and share and adult 18-49 rating for Sunday night were: ABC 9.0/14 and 5.6, CBS 8.0/12 and 3.5, Fox 7.6/12 and 5.8, and NBC 5.3/8 and 2.8.
Enquirer publisher threatens to leave Florida
American Media chief David Pecker, fed up with the attitude and inaction of local officials, says he just might teach them a lesson by taking his 390-person operation elsewhere, maybe even to another state. Pecker's company, which publishes the National Enquirer and a variety of other tabloids and magazines, was where anthrax first turned up back in early October, with Robert Stevens, a photo editor for the Sun, dying from the inhaled form of the disease. American Media's offices were sealed off, and the company has spent $10 million on decontamination, new equipment and temporary office space, Pecker told the Miami Herald. He turned down an offer of nearly $400,000 in aid from the Palm Beach County Commission after the county's chief corporate recruiter accused American Media of trying to extort money from the local government by threatening to take its business elsewhere. "They can keep their money," Pecker told the Herald. "I would consider staying in Palm Beach, but if we're not going to be treated like a good corporate citizen, we're not staying."
Supremes won't reconsider cable caps
The U.S. Supreme Court refused yesterday to hear arguments appealing a lower court ruling that struck down programming and audience restrictions for cable operators. Backing the appeal was a coalition of consumer groups, filmmakers and others who believe that the power of cable giants like AOL Time Warner and AT&T limits the ability of smaller operators to compete. Under old FCC regulations, no cable operator was allowed to reach more than 30 percent of the market or to fill more than 40 percent of its channels with its own programming. In striking down those regulations, the Washington, D.C., Circuit Court of Appeals recognized in principle the agency's right to set such caps but said the FCC has to provide better justification if it wants to restrict free speech.
Watch out, Taliban: Geraldo's packing heat
Geraldo Rivera, who seems to have chugged a bucketful of testosterone on Sept. 11, has new cause for macho posturing: He's got a gun. Reporting from Afghanistan for Fox News Channel, Rivera says he armed himself for protection against the stray Taliban soldiers and bandits who roam the country. "If they're going to get us, it's going to be in a gun fight," he told viewers in a broadcast. "It's not going to be a murder. It's not going to be a crime. It's going to be a gun fight." Eight journalists working for Western news agencies have been killed so far, and a Canadian reporter is still missing and presumed kidnapped. Rivera says that he and his brother Craig, who serves as his producer, would rather be killed as combatants then as victims. "We're not the victim types." Apparently he's not counting that whole chair-to-the-nose thing.
'Talk' and 'Power' head off to syndie heaven
The hobbled and bleeding syndication market suffered two casualties last week: novice relationship series "Talk or Walk" and court show "Power of Attorney." Dismal ratings doomed both efforts, with "Talk" hovering around a 0.7 national household rating. "Attorney," hosted by Golden Globe winner Brian Dennehy, has done better with a 1.8, but that's after a 25 percent drop from last season. Both will be allowed to limp to some kind of finish: "Talk" by Jan. 25 and "Attorney" by Jan. 4. The absence of the two will provide additional space for Twentieth Television's new entry "The Rob Nelson Show." Host Nelson was a fixture on Fox News with "The Full Nelson" after gaining notoriety as a children's advocate with his "Lead or Leave" program. "Entertainment Tonight" supervising producer Linda Ellman will executive produce.
Tom Cruise drops suit against Bold publisher
Bold magazine publisher Michael Davis's ploy for publicity came to an end last week as Davis retracted his claim that he possessed a tape of Tom Cruise engaged in sex with another man. Los Angeles Superior Court Judge Emilie Elias accepted the stipulation, which read: "Cruise does not appear on the videotape to which said defendant referred, [and Cruise] is not, and never has been, homosexual and has never had a homosexual affair." Cruise subsequently dropped the $100 million lawsuit he filed against Davis in June. The former "Top Gun" asserted in his lawsuit that Davis penned an anonymous letter that found its way to a dozen news organizations, including CNN and Howard Stern's radio show, which alleged there was a tape with Cruise and a male partner in the throes of amorous activity. Davis didn't help his case any by offering $500,000 for any photo or video of Tom Cruise getting it on with a man.
December 4, 2001 © 2001 Media Life
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