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CBS and Fox again split the household and adult 18-49 wins last night, with CBS winning every half-hour in households except for one. The 8:30 p.m. half-hour was the exception, when NBC's "Weakest Link," improving slightly upon its ratings from last week, won both households and adults 18-49. "Weakest Link's" lead-out, part two of "Steve Martini’s The Judge," also bettered its performance from Sunday night's part one and gave NBC a second-place finish in households for the night. ABC finished last with a repeat of the movie "Air Force One." The preliminary Nielsen household rating and share and adult 18-49 rating for Monday night were: CBS 9.3/15 and 4.9, NBC 7.9/13 and 3.8, Fox 7.4/12 and 5.5, and ABC 6.7/11 and 3.8. On Sunday night, CBS’s made-for-TV movie "Follow the Stars Home" held onto enough of its lead-in audience from "Touched by an Angel" to lead the network to a win in households on Sunday night. ABC's "Who Wants to Be a Millionaire" and "The Practice" actually beat the CBS movie in household rating, but ABC's movie "Ace Ventura: Pet Detective" hurt the network's average, finishing in fourth place from 7 to 9 p.m. Among adults 18-49, Fox swept all of its half-hours in the demographic and easily won for the night. NBC finished in last place in both households and adults 18-49, due to a poor performance by part one of "Steve Martini’s The Judge." The preliminary Nielsen household rating and share and adult 18-49 rating for Sunday night were: CBS 10.0/17 and 3.5, ABC 8.4/14 and 4.8, Fox 6.4/11 and 5.6, and NBC 6.1/10 and 2.9.
U.S. News is a-roil, and Drasner's stirring the pot
The news issuing from U.S. News just gets stranger and stranger. Yesterday, the talk was of a new editor. Today, the buzz is of a whole new magazine. Editor Stephen Smith traveled from the magazine’s editorial offices in Washington, D.C., yesterday to New York to meet with the magazine’s owners. The subject of the meeting was not, as expected, Smith’s contract, which expires in July, but the need to set a new editorial direction for the magazine. If rampant speculation is any indication, U.S. News may leave the newsweekly game altogether and adopt a new focus, possibly on science and history, and very likely a new frequency as well. Interestingly, though Fred Drasner and Martin Krall were present at the meeting, Mort Zuckerman, the most prominent co-owner, was not, according to Inside. What’s more, a call to Zuckerman’s office by Media Life yesterday was returned by Drasner's office. All this is especially intriguing given the report yesterday in the New York Post that Drasner, who a year ago had withdrawn almost entirely from day-to-day management of U.S. News and the New York Daily News, is back in force. Could it be that the long-silent partner is once again stepping up his involvement to set right the increasingly dire ad revenue situation at U.S. News?
Top 'Survivor's' struggle: rheumatoid arthritis
Tina Wesson had to suffer through more than just heat, hunger, backstabbing and inane questions during her 39 days in the Australian Outback. The "Survivor 2" winner, a 40-year-old nurse and mother of two from Tennessee, also had a chronic disease, rheumatoid arthritis, to contend with. The ultimate survivor, who lasted 42 days with little food or shelter, will speak out about her illness in the July/August issue of Arthritis Today, the magazine of the Arthritis Foundation. Wesson, who was diagnosed with the disease eight years ago, became involved in the organization in 1998. "The article will focus on what a remarkable accomplishment she’s made while having arthritis," the magazine’s publisher Cindy McDaniel told Media Life. CBS, which originally chose Wesson as an alternate, was aware of the winner's arthritis diagnosis, but trusted that Wesson, who has run several marathons, was up for the challenge.
Dobbs: Come Monday, let the butt-kicking begin
As CNN paves the way for the return of Lou Dobbs to "Moneyline" with a hype-laden ad assault, the 56-year-old one-time king of business news anchors is betting he can restore the faltering show to its former glory. Dobbs will be back in the anchor chair on Monday, some two years after he left the show to launch Space.com, a web site devoted to space news. He has stated publicly that he expects "Moneyline" to be the No. 1 business program again within 12 months. While viewer numbers were declining a bit at "Moneyline" before Dobbs left, ratings have since plummeted 23 percent, allowing CNBC's "Business Center" to become the No. 1 financial news program on TV. "Moneyline" remains the leading moneymaker among business shows, generating $55.8 million in ad revenue last year, according to Competitive Media Reporting. But this was down 11 percent from the year before. One way Dobbs plans to bring "Moneyline" back on top is to refocus the content, concentrating less on the daily ups and downs of the market and more on subjects like taxes and energy policy.
'Real World' star in 'Jackass'-worthy stunt
With all the negative press coverage getting heaped on "Jackass," it's good to know the stars of MTV's other shows can still act like idiots too. Jamie Murray, one of the cast members from "The Real World: New Orleans," was arrested this week after jumping 150 feet from the underside of the Golden Gate Bridge and getting tangled in his bungie cords, according to the Associated Press. The 23-year-old Murray was found by the California Highway Patrol at around 7 a.m. dangling above a piece of land at the north end of the bridge. He called the stunt an effort to "spread love" to members of his generation. "This jump is my way of drawing attention to the need for a positive movement of personal growth and social healing," he said in a statement.
Boston Globe cuts cover price as Metro arrives
Although the Boston Globe says it isn’t worried about Metro invading its turf, its cover says otherwise. Beginning tomorrow, the Globe will cut its newsstand price from 50 to 25 cents. It will also add more newspaper distributors in high traffic areas such as train stations, where Metro, a commuter tabloid which launched its Boston edition last Thursday, is given out for free. The Globe says the cut in the cost of the paper is a temporary reaction to expected buzz about the free daily. Metro, which launched its first U.S. paper in Philadelphia last year, plans to distribute 175,000 copies daily through hawkers and boxes in Boston. The new edition got off to a rocky start last week when state transit officials took 14 of its boxes out of train stations four days before the launch because the company hadn’t asked permission to put them there. A transit spokesman also made a statement on the day of the launch saying commuters had complained of overly aggressive Metro hawkers. Originally, Metro tried to negotiate an exclusive distribution deal in the train stations in Boston, but transit officials rejected the idea. In Philadelphia, established daily newspapers sued Metro International, in a case that’s still pending, over an exclusive distribution deal with the city's transit system.
'Survivor's' Colby: I didn't want to look like Richard
Colby Donaldson, runner-up on last week’s "Survivor 2" finale, told radio host Howard Stern yesterday that he knowingly set himself up for defeat out of concern for his own decency—or something like that. On the show, Donaldson chose eventual winner Tina Wesson to advance into the last round with him rather than the unpopular Keith Famie. "If I would have pulled off and picked Keith and gotten rid of Tina, I would have been just like Richard Hatch and that's the last person I want to be like," Donaldson told Stern. Donaldson, who took home $100,000 vs. Wesson’s $1 million, also said the game was about the experience, not the money. But the Texan did admit he made a deal with Wesson before the final round, possibly violating the game’s rules, to ensure he got what he wanted regardless of the outcome. "She has several motorcycles and I've always wanted a Harley," he told Stern. "So I said, 'Winner buys the loser a brand new Harley.'" During the final tribal council, when asked what he would do with the money if he won, Donaldson said he would help out both his parents financially and buy a Harley.
Kentucky Derby clocks near-record viewers
The Kentucky Derby on NBC drew its largest audience in nearly a decade in the late afternoon on Saturday. The running of the horses hit an 8.3 rating and 20 share, according to Nielsen overnights. That was the highest rating since 1992, when the race scored a 9.5 rating on ABC. It represented a 26 percent jump over the 6.6/17 for last year's Derby. The coverage of the 127th Kentucky Derby peaked between 6 and 6:30 p.m. (ET) at an 11.3/26, which is when the approximately two-minute run went off.
May 8, 2001 © 2001 Media Life
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