Post-sweeps, Fox in No. 2 tie for 18-49s

By Kevin Downey

     ABC won last week in household ratings by a thin margin as the networks went back to airing mostly repeats following the February sweeps.
   Its lead was only one-tenth of a rating point ahead of CBS for the week. At the same time, Fox won the week in the adults 18-49 demo partially due to the last episode of "Temptation Island."
   Although the two networks’ wins were marginal, they were enough to change the networks’ rankings for the season, which ends in May.
    ABC was boosted to a tie for No. 1 in household ratings with CBS for the season. And Fox moved up to a second-place tie with ABC in the 18-49 demo for the season.
   Much of ABC’s success was due to "Amy & Isabelle." The Oprah Winfrey produced film was the second highly rated Sunday movie for the network in as many weeks.
   The movie was the fourth highest rated show of the week with a 13.4 household rating and 19.4 million viewers.
    It did nearly as well as the first part of "Me and My Shadows," the movie about Judy Garland, from the week before. That biopic had a 13.8 household rating and 20.3 million viewers.
    Part 2 of "Me and My Shadows" did not fair quite as well. It lost about 30 percent of part 1’s rating and almost 7 million viewers but still ranked among last week’s top-25 shows.
    In head-to-head competition, NBC’s Sunday movie, "Jackie, Ethel, Joan: Women of Camelot," was easily beaten by ABC’s movie. The Kennedy family movie failed to make the top-25 and had little better than half the viewers of "Amy & Isabelle."
     ABC was also helped out by "Who Wants to be a Millionaire," as usual. And its move of the Tuesday episode to Friday has proven to be a fairly smart one.
    In its place, the two final episodes of "The Mole" were both among the highest rated shows in the adult 18-49 demo and the finale ranked No. 21 overall. The Friday episode of "Millionaire" was No. 12 and managed 15.9 million viewers on a night with little competition.
    Fox, meanwhile, benefited from the anticlimactic but still highly rated "Temptation Island" finale, an okay premiere of the "X-Files" spinoff, "The Lone Gunmen," and its regular shows, which did well competing with mostly repeats on the other networks.
    "Temptation" was Fox’s highest rated show at No. 11. It was the third highest in the network’s adult 18-49 demo, though, and did a bit better than it has averaged over its seven-week run.
    The premiere of "The Lone Gunmen" had a 6.6 in the demo, compared to the "X-Files'" 9.3 from the week before.
    Fox also did well with "Malcolm in the Middle" and "Ally McBeal," which included the return of Robert Downey Jr. and the departure of Anne Heche.
    CBS last week was not surprisingly dominated by "Survivor: The Australian Outback." It was the No. 1 show of the week because NBC’s sitcoms were in repeats following the sweeps and because of added interest over the emergency ouster of "Survivor" contestant Michael Skupin, who burned himself.
    While NBC’s ratings for its Thursday shows took a typical ratings tumble for repeats, UPN’s "WWF Smackdown" continued to suffer against the increased competition on Thursday. Its 18-49 ratings have fallen over 12 percent since pre- "Survivor 2" days.
   Overall for the week, ABC had an 8.6 household rating, 14 share, and a 4.3 adult 18-49 rating.
    CBS had an 8.5/14 and a 4.2 while NBC had an 8.4/14 and a 4.8.
    Fox was last among the major networks in households with a 6.6/10 but was No. 1 in adults 18-49 with a 5.0.
   The WB continued to beat UPN with a 2.6/4 and 1.7 to 2.3/4 and 1.5.
    For the season so far, ABC has an 8.6/14 and 4.6 while CBS has an 8.6/14 and a 4.0. NBC has an 8.3/13 but still leads in adults 18-49 with a 5.0. Fox has a 6.4/10 and a 4.6.
    The WB and UPN are tied for the season at 2.6/4 and a 1.7 adult 18-49 rating.

-Kevin Downey is a staff writer for Media Life

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