By Kevin Downey
   
     After much stumbling, the Fox Network seems even closer to regaining its edge with younger viewers.
     The network nearly pulled an upset in the just-concluded February sweeps by coming within two-tenths of a rating point of NBC in attracting the coveted adult 18-49 demo.
    The network’s rating of 5.2, against NBC's 5.4, was up eight percent over last year.
     Moreover, the network was first in adults 18-34, according to Preston Beckman, executive vice president for strategic program planning at Fox and a former NBC programming strategist.
    "What’s encouraging is that among the younger 18-34s, who are generally forming their viewing habits, we seem to be the largest beneficiary."
    At the same time, ABC sidestepped an embarrassing last-place finish, at the very last minute, by tying CBS with a 4.4 adult 18-49 rating.
    The finale of "The Mole" kept ABC from landing in the basement, improving its rating on the last night of the sweeps by 11 percent over its previous episode.
    Certainly, Fox’s strong performance through sweeps was attributable to some degree to its reality series, "Temptation Island." The show was among the top five shows for much of its seven-week run and had a 9.4 rating in the demo on Wednesday.
    But while Fox announced yesterday that "Temptation" has been renewed for a second season, network executives were quick to discount the show's importance in its overall sweeps performance.
    They point to its regular series as reason for its ratings rebound.
    "The impression is that without ‘Temptation Island,’ where would Fox be? The opposite is true," says Beckman. "Over the last year we’ve added five new scripted programs that look like long-term prospects for us."
    In fact, Fox relied less on stunt programs for the sweeps than it has in years past. The sweeps occur four times a year, when ratings are used to negotiate local advertising rates.
    Furthermore, the stunts it did put on didn't do all that well. Its highest-profile stunt, the "Timeless" special with Barbra Streisand, was an outright disaster that lost 72 percent of "Temptation’s" time slot rating from the week before.
    Beckman says the network isn’t sweating that misstep but says the network would have done better among the 18-49 demo without it.
    "We won four nights – Saturday, Sunday, Monday, Tuesday – and if you exclude the one week with the Barbra Streisand special, we would have won [Wednesday] night as well," he says.
    Overall, Fox’s 6.6 household rating and 10 share were flat for the sweeps while its average viewers rating was up five percent, to just over 10.6 million.
    CBS, which had the No. 2 show of the sweeps with "Survivor: The Australian Outback," was up two percent and won the sweeps with a 9.3 rating and 15 share. The network was up three percent to a little under 13.7 million viewers.
    NBC was the No. 2 network with an 8.6/14 and 12.6 million viewers, although it was down in all key measures.
    The network’s "ER" was the highest-rated show, but NBC also has the lowest-watched show among the major networks. The XFL had fewer than 4 million viewers, on average, last week.
    ABC came in third for the sweeps with an 8.4/13 and 12.6 million viewers.
    The network, which is still dominated by "Who Wants to be a Millionaire," had a 19 percent loss in its household rating compared to last February. It was down 21 percent in viewers and 27 percent in its adult 18-49 rating.
    "We're in a position that you're comparing us to where we were when ‘Millionaire’ was a monster hit," Lloyd Braun, co-chairman of ABC Entertainment, told reporters earlier this week.
    "We are feeling very bullish about where we are right now. It is so competitive among the networks that anyone can catapult from fourth to first on the shoulders of one show. "
    ABC did fairly well with "The Mole," but its highest-rated show of the sweeps was "Part 1" of the Judy Garland movie, "Me and My Shadows."
    Meanwhile, the WB beat UPN with a 2.6/4, 3.9 million viewers, and a 1.7 adult 18-49 rating. UPN had a 2.5/4, 3.7 million viewers, and a 1.5 among adults 18-49.