By Kevin Downey

    The word phenomenon is being bandied about with great abandon to describe CBS’s "Survivor: The Australian Outback."
    But if the new series, which debuted Sunday night, is a phenomenon, it's one that pales in comparison to the power ABC’s "Who Wants to be a Millionaire?" had last year at this time.
    While "Survivor 2" racked up impressive ratings following "Super Bowl XXXV," it was a one-two punch that did little for the network’s weekly ratings compared to last year’s Super Bowl week on ABC.
    In fact, CBS’s 12.0 household rating was 23 percent lower than ratings for ABC’s Super Bowl week. 
    CBS’s 8.5 adult 18-49 rating was 24 percent lower than ABC’s.
    That’s because outside of the "Super Bowl," the post-game show, and "Survivor 2," CBS had no other shows in the top 10 and only two others, "Everybody Loves Raymond" and "CSI," in the top 25.
     In comparison, ABC had nine of the top 10 shows last year and 11 of the top 25. 
    As a result, the network averaged 27.7 million viewers, which is 6.4 million more than CBS averaged last week.
    It comes down to this: three episodes of a so-called phenomenon are better than one.
     "Millionaire," which first began airing as a regular series last January, averaged 30 million viewers on three nights, none of which were on Super Bowl Sunday. And the show bumped up the ratings of other shows, like "Dharma & Greg," on other nights of the week.
    The "Super Bowl" and "Millionaire," in other words, amounted to a full-week strategy for ABC while CBS had a one-night strategy.
    "Survivor 2," which benefited from following the game, did manage 45 million viewers. That's nothing to sneeze at, to be sure.
    But it’s quite possible that CBS would have done even better for the week if it had premiered "Survivor 2" on a night other than Sunday, when it could have boosted a whole other night of programming.
    The result of sticking with Sunday was a good, but not great, Super Bowl week for CBS, which had a 12.0 household rating and 19 share and an 8.5 adult 18-49 rating.
     ABC was No. 2 with a 7.7/12 and a 3.9.
     The network was helped out by "Millionaire," three episodes of which were ABC’s highest-rated shows for the week. That is, even though the episodes not going head-to-head with the "Super Bowl" averaged only a bit over 18.3 million viewers.
    NBC had a 7.2/11 and a 4.2, while Fox was No. 4 in households with a 5.9/9 but No. 2 among adults 18-49 with a 4.5 rating.
    Fox, in fact, continues to do well this season with a strong lineup of new shows and successful reality shows of its own.
    "Temptation Island" was No. 12 in household ratings, making it Fox’s highest rated show, and No. 9 in total viewers last week.
     And the network won Saturday night with "America’s Most Wanted," which had its best adults 18-49 rating in two years because of the role the show played in capturing the "Texas Seven" escaped prisoners.
    For the season so far, ABC remains in the lead with an 8.7 household rating and 14 share but is in second with a 4.7 adult 18-49 rating.
     CBS has an 8.5/14 but is still in last place among the big networks in adults 18-49 with a 3.9 rating, despite the 8.3 percent boost last Sunday’s "Super Bowl" and "Survivor 2" gave the network for the season.
     NBC has an 8.2/13 and a 4.9.
     Fox has a 6.4/10, which is up just under 5 percent compared to last year, and a 4.5 adult 18-49 rating, which is up 4.7 percent.
    The WB, meanwhile, has a 2.7/4 for the season compared to UPN’s 2.6/4. The networks are tied with a 1.7 adult 18-49 rating.
     Last week, UPN edged out The WB with a 2.5/4 to a 2.4/4, respectively, and the networks tied at a 1.6 adult 18-49 rating.

-Kevin Downey is a staff writer for Media Life

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