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CBS and Fox split Sunday night on the strength of their regular programming. CBS won households with “60 Minutes” and a repeat of “Touched by an Angel,” while Fox won among adults 18-49 with repeats of “Futurama,” “King of the Hill,” “The Simpsons,” and “Malcolm in the Middle.” ABC’s “Who Wants to be a Millionaire” won the 9 p.m. hour in households, and a repeat of NBC’s “Weakest Link” won the 10 p.m. hour among adults 18-49, but neither game show boosted their networks’ ratings enough to overtake CBS and Fox. The preliminary Nielsen household rating and share and adult 18-49 rating for Sunday night were: CBS 6.6/12 and 2.1, ABC 5.5/10 and 2.3, NBC 5.3/10 and 2.7, and Fox 3.7/7 and 3.0. Meanwhile over the weekend, Fox’s “Cops” and “America’s Most Wanted” won a dull Saturday night of repeats in both households and adults 18-49 for the network. The two programs swept all four of their half-hours among adults 18-49 and all but the first half-hour in households. On Friday night, ABC won households thanks to "20/20" at 10 p.m., and NBC won adults 18-49 thanks to "Dateline" at 9 p.m. At 8 p.m., ABC’s "Making the Band" finished third in its time slot in households and third among adults 18-49, averaging just one-tenth of a rating point more for the demographic than a repeat of CBS’s "Diagnosis Murder." The preliminary Nielsen household rating and share and adult 18-49 rating for Friday night were: ABC 6.0/12 and 2.4, NBC 5.3/11 and 2.5, CBS 4.7/9 and 1.7, and Fox 2.9/6 and 1.6. For Saturday night: Fox 4.3/9 and 2.5, CBS 4.3/9 and 1.4, ABC 3.9/8 and 2.2, and NBC 3.6/8 and 2.2
Time Inc. shakeup boosts two
Two Time Inc. executives have found their fiefdoms enlarged and two others have found themselves taken down a peg following another redrawing of the organizational chart at the nation’s largest magazine publisher. Winning out in the reshuffling were People Group President Anne Moore and Sports Illustrated Group President Michael Klingensmith. Moore has been given oversight of Time magazine and of Time Inc.’s consumer marketing operations. Klingensmith will take on responsibility for Entertainment Weekly as well as for the company’s legal department and its management of American Express Publishing. Thanks to the shakeup, Entertainment Weekly President John Squires and Time President E. Bruce Hallett no longer find themselves reporting to Don Logan, chairman of Time Inc. Some redistribution of responsibilities was made necessary by the recent retirement of executive vice presidents Elizabeth Valk Long and Jim Nelson and David Long, president of media sales and marketing.
Slate: We got duped on 'Monkeyfishing' story
After standing by a sketchy author and his dubious story for more than two weeks, Slate editor Michael Kinsley has finally conceded he was wrong. In a letter posted today on the web site, Kinsley apologized to readers and admitted that "key details" of a June 7 article titled "Monkeyfishing" appear to have been inventions of the writer, Jay Forman. Ever since its publication, evidence has been mounting that the story, which concerns an expedition to a monkey-infested island in the Florida Keys, was at least in part a hoax. Forman says he looked on as a friend hooked a rhesus monkey on a fishing line and cut it loose. He claims this form of recreation was practiced by a number of local fisherman. But after much digging by a number of skeptical news agencies, it looks like that number was no higher than one. In a story published today, a reporter for The New York Times contacted the fisherman who took Forman "monkeyfishing." The fisherman admitted that he had only gone fishing for monkeys once or twice, that he had never succeeded in hooking one, and that he didn’t know of anyone else who had ever tried it.
Court OKs 'carry all' rule for satellite providers
A U.S. District Court in Virginia has upheld the so-called "carry one, carry all" rule that is slated to take effect for satellite television providers at the beginning of 2002. This rule, part of the Satellite Home Viewer Improvement Act passed in Congress in 1999, requires satellite TV providers such as DirecTV to offer all the local TV stations in a given market if they want to offer any of them. The rule was intended to help satellite providers to be more competitive with cable TV. But apparently the Satellite Broadcasting and Communications Association believes that with friends like the government, who needs enemies? The SBCA wants no part of the "carry one, carry all" provision. It filed a challenge in September in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Virginia, asserting that the rule violated satellite providers' right to decide what they want to air on their systems and what they don't. But the court has backed the provision. As of now, satellite providers will be carrying all, as scheduled.
'Frasier' star becomes highest-paid TV actor ever
Kelsey Grammer has signed a deal with Paramount that will keep him on NBC's "Frasier" through 2004 at a record $1.6 million per episode, the most ever for a TV actor. That would amount to about $75 million for 48 episodes in the show's 10th and 11th seasons. It includes the studio's deal with Grammer's production house, Grammnet Productions. The other "Frasier" star, David Hyde Pierce, is currently still talking with Paramount about his extension, with a deal expected soon. NBC agreed to shell out $5.2 million per episode through May 2004 for the NBC comedy three months ago. Over at ABC, Drew Carey has signed a new contract with Warner Bros. to keep audiences laughing at between $600,000 and $750,000 per episode. ABC has forked over $152 million to keep making 26 episodes a season through 2004. The network has also agreed to a syndication deal that will include two runs per episode in the time period, and 14 more "Drew" repeats in other time periods. "The Drew Carey Show" is ABC's top-rated comedy.
Regis: I got plenty of time for syndie 'Millionaire'
Who needs to sleep? Regis Philbin, already committed to host "Who Wants to be a Millionaire" twice a week and "Live! with Regis and Kelly" five days a week, wants to put more on his plate. Philbin has reportedly expressed interest in hosting the syndicated daytime version of the once immensely popular ABC game show. His agent has confirmed to the press that Philbin communicated his availability to the network. But ABC has yet to take him up on his offer, likely worried about either overexposing Philbin or overtaxing the still-manic but soon-to-be 70-year-old TV personality. The syndicated "Millionaire" will air in New York on Channel 2, a CBS affiliate.
June 25, 2001 © 2001 Media Life
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