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Last night’s audience was divided into two groups: those that watch football and those that don’t. Those who watch football tuned into the national championship Orange Bowl game on ABC and gave that network the win for the night. Those that don’t divided their attention among the counter-programming options on the other networks. Fox’s repeat showing of "Mrs. Doubtfire" placed second among adults 18-49 and third among households. NBC took second place among households with reruns of "Ed," "The West Wing," and "Law and Order." And CBS finished last with its Bette Midler-centric night featuring an episode of "Bette" and Midler’s movie "The First Wives Club." The Nielsen overnight household rating and share and adult 18-49 rating for Wednesday night were: ABC 16.7/25 and 10.4, NBC 8.0/12 and 4.3, Fox 7.3/11 and 4.8, and CBS 6.7/10 and 3.2. Meanwhile, the Sugar Bowl on ABC dominated the ratings on Tuesday up against mostly repeats as the networks sit back in preparation for midseason. The network won every half-hour in households and adults 18-49. Ratings peaked at 9:30 p.m. with a 13.6 household rating and 20 share. On the West Coast, ABC’s lineup also consisted of repeats of its usual lineup of "Millionaire," "Dharma," and "Geena." ABC averaged a 12.7/20 among households and averaged a 7.6 adult 18-49 rating, based on preliminary Nielsen data. CBS, meanwhile, had an 8.3/17 and a last place 3.4 adult 18-49 rating with repeats of "JAG" and "Judging Amy. The network lost some steam at 9:00 p.m. in households with an original episode of "60 Minutes II" though. That’s when it faced a repeat of "Frasier" on NBC, which scored the second-highest rating for the night with a 9.3/14. NBC averaged a third place finish with a 7.3/11 and a 4.1 adult 18-49 rating. Fox tied NBC among the younger demo but finished last with a 5.0/8 with repeats of its younger-skewing "That 70s Show," "Titus," and "Dark Angel."
Zucker's first day as NBC entertainment big
NBC’s new entertainment president, Jeff Zucker, starts his new job at the network's West Coast headquarters in Burbank this week. Zucker, who most recently served as “The Today Show’s” executive producer, is getting right down to business, scheduling several meetings concerning the network's development slate for next fall’s line-up. But it's not all work and no fun for Zucker. Scott Sassa, NBC’s West Coast president, is throwing a welcoming party for Zucker at the posh Hollywood hot spot Spago. The guest list is rumored to include several of Tinseltown’s top TV studio executives and agents. Zucker has reportedly temporarily set up shop in NBC's executive quarters. He will work from there until former NBC entertainment president Garth Ancier vacates his old office. Ancier, who has previously worked at the WB and Fox, is reportedly currently considering offers from several studios.
Marines tell it to Wallace: You're insensitive
On the list of organizations you don’t want to tick off, the Marine Corps has got to be near the top. But that didn’t stop "60 Minutes" correspondent Mike Wallace from calling the widow of Lt. Col. Keith Sweaney less than 48 hours after her husband perished in the crash of a V-22 Osprey airplane Dec. 11. In response, U.S. Marine Corps Commandant Gen. James Jones wrote a letter to CBS News president Andrew Heyward demanding that Wallace apologize, but the network says Wallace had already sent a personal apology note. It’s thought that Marines brass are less worked up over the newsman’s insensitivity than over the focus of his report: the lousy safety record of the Osprey, a wildly costly vehicle that can take off and land vertically and has killed nearly 30 Marines since 1992.
National Geo Channel debuts this Sunday
After a four-month delay, the National Geographic Channel is set to premiere on Sunday in 10 million homes, with about 400 hours of original programming lined up. The channel, which is 67 percent owned by News Corp.’s Fox Cable and 33 percent owned by the National Geographic Society, is launching amidst a cooling advertising market and a highly competitive cable market. At launch the network will be about one-eighth the size of its most obvious rival, The Discovery Channel, and network executives say they only expect to hit about 28 million homes by 2004. That would still leave it about half the size advertisers consider necessary for a network to draw serious consideration for big ad dollars. While the relatively small size of the network is in line with other recent launches, it falls far short of what many had expected to be among the biggest launches ever when it was still in early development. The network will primarily be available in DirecTV households but is also being carried by AT&T and Adelphia. The National Geographic Channel will produce much of its own programming, in conjunction with Fox Television Studios, and has a news hour at 7:00 p.m. called "National Geographic Today."
'Survivor II' contestants on free-range diet
So much for CBS winning friends in PETA with "Survivor II." The animal rights group was irate enough last summer watching the original castaways grill and eat tropical rats at the behest of the show’s producers. So how will they react when the new crop of contestants, striving to outdo each other in the Australian outback, chow down on live grasshoppers and earthworms and sample cow brains? That’s exactly what they’ve been up to, according to a report in the New York Daily News. Perhaps animal lovers will find some comfort in knowing that this time around the humans just might be the ones getting eaten. Predators native to the region where "Survivor" concluded taping in early December include crocodiles, dingoes and 11 species of venomous or otherwise dangerous snakes. Even the plants pose a danger, oozing poisonous sap onto passersby. And to top it off, a rocky gorge on the "Survivor" premises is said to be haunted by the ghosts of Aborigines slaughtered there by European miners a century ago. And you thought Richard Hatch in the nude was scary.
Two more stations pull plug on plucky Dr. Laura
The new year has not, thus far, brought good tidings for controversial radio and television talk show host Laura Schlessinger. Two TV stations, NBC affiliate KGW-TV in Portland, Ore., and CBS affiliate WISC-TV in Madison, Wisc., have said that they will stop airing Schlessinger’s TV show, citing low ratings and lack of local advertisers. "Dr. Laura" has now been downgraded to overnight timeslots or pulled in 50 of the country's media markets, including 30 of the top 40. To make matters worse for the conservative host, "Dr. Laura" was remembered not-so-fondly by a number of television critics in year-end worst-of-TV lists. A 52-critic poll conducted by trade publication Electronic Media ranked Schlessinger’s talk show as the ninth worst show on television, and USA Today’s Robert Bianco named "Dr. Laura" one of the two worst shows of the year, saying, "Is it unhealthy to enjoy someone else's failure, no matter how well deserved? If I want to know the answer, I'll ask a real doctor."
Rabbi: 'Temptation Island' an insult to matrimony
A Dallas rabbi is speaking out against Fox's new reality show "Temptation Island," protesting to the local Fox affiliate to keep the show off the air in that city. Calling the show "part of an assault on marriage and relationships," Rabbi Kenneth Roseman has told reporters he will put pressure on the station not to broadcast "Island," which follows the trials of four couples at a resort in Belize fighting off the advances of 36 singles looking to break them up. Roseman says he is "scandalized and offended" by the premise of the highly-hyped series, which premieres next Wednesday at 9 p.m. Fox infamously made reality show fodder of committed relationships last January with "Who Wants to Marry a Multimillionaire?", the special that drew a storm of criticism for the network. But "Island" executive producer Chris Cowan, in a recent interview with Media Life, defended the integrity of his show. "We did not try to break these couples up, and we didn’t manipulate the game," he said. "They all agreed to be there, to test their relationships."
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