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CBS was unable to take the lead in adults 18-49 last night, despite NBC's lineup of mostly repeats. That's because CBS's new drama, the "Big Apple," only managed one-third the 18-49 rating of an "ER" original episode. The new cop drama, starring Ed O'Neill, lost 16 percent of its rating in its second half-hour, though it improved on the time slot rating formerly occupied by "48 Hours" by 45 percent. CBS, however, won the night in households and beat NBC in adults 18-49 for most of the night. "Survivor 2" averaged a 13.5 rating in the 8:00 p.m. hour, which was 77 percent better than two repeats of "Friends." "CSI" won its time period as well but its average was only 16 percent better than repeats of "Will & Grace" and "Just Shoot Me." Both ABC and Fox trailed with a mix of repeats and specials. For the night, based on preliminary Nielsen ratings, NBC had a 9.7 adult 18-49 rating. CBS averaged a 9.2, ABC had 3.4, and Fox had a 2.0. CBS won in households with a 13.7 rating and 22 share. NBC followed with a 12.6/20. ABC had an 8.3/13 and Fox had a 3.3/5. On Wednesday, the season finales of ABC's "The Mole" and Fox's "Temptation Island" pulled in good numbers for their networks, but neither enjoyed the kind of ratings spike that accompanied CBS's "Survivor" finale. In fact, both final episodes garnered ratings less than 15 percent higher than their respective premiere episodes. For "The Mole," those numbers were good enough to win the 8 p.m. hour in both households and adults 18-49. But for "Temptation Island," which easily won the 9 p.m. hour among adults 18-49 with a 9.4 rating, not even a 17 household share was enough to overtake NBC's "The West Wing" in households. On the premiere side of things, CBS debuted its new sitcom, "Some of My Best Friends," at 8 p.m. as a lead-in to "Bette." Unfortunately for "Some," it did even worse than "Bette," making the new series the lowest-rated show of the night in both households and adults 18-49. NBC and Fox split wins for the night, with NBC winning households and Fox winning the demographic. The preliminary Nielsen household rating and share and adult 18-49 rating for Wednesday night were: NBC 11.2/18 and 6.4, ABC 9.1/14 and 5.4, Fox 8.8/14 and 7.4, and CBS 5.9/9 and 2.6.
Inc. and Fast Company get new publishers
Yesterday saw a flurry of activity at Gruner + Jahr’s newly-formed business division, with both Fast Company and Inc. getting new publishers. Former Inc. publisher Gary Mirkin will move over to head up Fast Company, whose publisher, Julian Lowin, is leaving the company. Replacing Mirkin at Inc. will be Lee Jones, longtime publisher of Entrepreneur magazine and most recently publisher of Ziff-Davis’ Smart Business for the New Economy. Steve Thompson, who lost his job as publisher of the Industry Standard amid a round of layoffs in January, signs on as vp/western region for the Business Information Group. Thompson’s charge will be to create ad packages that exploit the synergies between Fast Company, which reaches readers at mid-size to large companies, and Inc., which speaks to readers at smaller companies, says David Carey, president of G + J’s business unit.
The numbers in, Fox
green-lights 'Temp Island 2'
Fox has ordered a second season
of its controversial reality show, "Temptation Island." Gail
Berman, president of entertainment at Fox, announced the renewal yesterday
but said that a date has not been set for "Temptation Island 2." The renewal comes as little surprise since it’s the sixth-highest-rated show in primetime for the season among Fox’s core audience
of adults 18-49. Still, network executives were hesitant to commit to it
earlier in the week when they told reporters that they were holding out
for ratings from the final episode on Wednesday. The finale ended up with
a 9.4 adult 18-49 rating on the last night of the February sweeps. That’s
about 5 percent better than the show averaged in its seven-week run and
was its third best rating ever. "Temptation" put four
couples onto a Caribbean island and tested their commitments by separating
them and having them go out on dates. The show has been protested by the
likes of the Parents Television Council because of its premise.
'Temp Island's' Mandy says no way to Playboy
Mandy Lauderdale may have
exercised questionable taste in volunteering for "Temptation
Island," but even she has limits. The 22-year-old aspiring actress
and singer has rejected a $1.5 million offer to model for Playboy, saying
she fears it would tarnish her image and get in the way of her showbiz
ambitions. Lauderdale discussed the offer on Howard Stern’s radio show.
Fellow guest Jessica Hahn—the former mistress of evangelist Jim Bakker
and a two-time Playboy model—told her she was making a mistake in
turning it down. "Mandy, whatever you decide, it’s the best
experience I ever had in my life," Hahn said. "I swear you’re
beautiful. Just do it." The Playboy offer has become something of a perquisite
for comely female reality stars: Two of the contestants from
the original "Survivor" series, Jenna Lewis and Colleen Haskell,
were asked to pose but said no, while "Who Wants to Marry a
Multimillionaire" bride Darva Conger bared all for the magazine last
year.
XFL announcer 'The
King' exits in a snit
Yet another setback for the XFL: Jerry "The King" Lawler has
quit his job as announcer for the league’s No. 2 Saturday night game on
NBC. Lawler, a former wrestler who graduated to the booth, quit after his
wife, Stacy "The Kat" Carter, was fired from her job as a
wrestler for the WWF just before a taping of UPN’s "Smackdown!"
Writers for the show complained that they found Carter hard to work with,
according to Lawler's account of the incident. Retired football great Dick
Butkus, who currently serves as director of competition for the XFL, will
fill in for Lawler behind the microphone until a permanent replacement is
named. Earlier this week, another key XFL post was vacated when Bob
Riordan, vice president of sales for the league, resigned to join College
Television Network.
'Dr.
Laura' hiatus lengthens. Is this the end?
Has "Dr. Laura" been quietly cancelled? Three weeks ago Paramount Television, which produces the
ratings-starved syndicated talk show, announced that "Dr. Laura" would
suspend production for "approximately two weeks." Now, at the end of week
three, the show is still on hiatus, and yesterday affiliates began airing reruns of the controversial program.
So what gives? A Paramount spokesperson told Media Life that when the studio said
two weeks, it really meant two to four weeks. "As previously stated, ‘The Dr. Laura Show’ is on a regularly scheduled hiatus for
approximately two to four weeks. We were first run for February and will resume production early
this month." Meanwhile the Gay & Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation (GLAAD), which has
been closely monitoring the show, says "Dr. Laura" may be cooked. Rumor has it
that a number of "Dr. Laura" staffers have already found other jobs.
TV writers' talks tank
and strike worries deepen
After nearly six weeks of negotiations, talks broke off
yesterday between the Writers Guild of America and the Alliance of Motion
Picture and Television Producers, dashing the industry’s best hopes to
avoid a potentially crippling writers strike this summer. The talks went
on far longer than anyone anticipated; the original negotiating period
began on January 22 and was to last only two weeks. The WGA said at the
time that even if talks were to extend, they would do so for only a few
days. But talks continued for nearly a month thereafter, raising hopes that
perhaps an agreement could be reached in advance of the writers’ May 1
contract deadline. Talks stalled primarily over issues of residuals, the
formulas by which writers are paid for films and programs after their
first showing. The WGA claims that the producers’ final package
contained no residuals money for basic-cable reuse of television programs,
videocassettes or DVDs. The sides had reportedly made significant progress
on issues of "creative rights," which concern what role the
writer plays during the production and post-production phases of a
project. The producers claim that it was the WGA who walked out on the
negotiations, rejecting a package that would have amounted to an 11
percent increase in income for the writers, for a net gain of $30 million.
The specifics of the writers’ final package are not entirely clear; the
WGA claims the package would amount to increases of just under $100 million over
three years, while the AMPTP calculated a bigger total, at $112 million,
which they claim is economically unrealistic. At a press conference
yesterday afternoon, the producers expressed confidence that talks would
soon resume, although the WGA has said that a return to the table is
unlikely before April. The Screen Actors Guild is set to begin
negotiations with the AMPTP soon over its own contract, which will expire
on June 30. Observers speculate that the WGA could delay a work stoppage
until the actors’ contract ends, provided that the SAG has not reached an
agreement, which would amount to a dual strike that could have disastrous
effects on the fall television season, among other things.
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