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“The Facts of Life Reunion” movie on “The Wonderful World of Disney” gave ABC a ratings boost on Sunday in both its adult 18-49 and household ratings. The movie, which brought back most of the cast of the “Different Strokes” spinoff now seen on TV Land, increased its rating in every half-hour from 7:00 p.m. until 9:00 p.m. Its adult 18-49 rating, in fact, went up a full point from its first to its last half-hour and averaged a 4.6 rating.
Fox, however, dominated Sunday with an overrun of NFL football and its lineup of “The Simpsons,” “Malcolm in the Middle,” and “The X-Files.” The network averaged a 6.4 adult 18-49 rating to ABC’s 5.0. Both networks far outpaced the competition. NBC was in third or fourth place for most of the night and averaged a 3.4 rating while CBS trailed with a 2.7. The networks were more competitive in household ratings with CBS edging out Fox with its lineup of “60 Minutes,” “The Education of Max Bickford,” and a “Hallmark Hall of Fame” movie.
CBS averaged an 8.5 household rating and 13 share, based on preliminary Nielsen ratings. Fox had an 8.4/13, ABC had an 8.2/13, and NBC had a 6.6/10. On Friday night, Barbara Walters visited her old 10 p.m. stomping ground with a “Barbara Walters Special,” but her comeback tour wasn’t enough to knock NBC’s “Law and Order: Special Victims Unit” from its top perch. “SVU” won both half-hours in households and adults 18-49, as did NBC’s other two Friday programs, “Providence” at 8 p.m. and “Dateline” at 9 p.m. ABC’s reruns of “Charlie Brown Thanksgiving” and “Winnie the Pooh Thanksgiving” placed second in households and adults 18-49 for the 8 p.m. hour, beating out both Fox’s “Dark Angel” and CBS’s “The Ellen Show.” On Saturday, in what might be the most lazily programmed night of the year, only five different programs aired on the Big Four networks. ABC ran the feature film “A Time to Kill,” NBC ran the feature film “Rocky,” CBS ran the Florida-Florida State college football game, and Fox ran “Cops” and “America’s Most Wanted.” ABC won the night, winning every half-hour among both households and adults 18-49. The preliminary Nielsen household rating and share and adult 18-49 rating for Friday night were: NBC 9.2/16 and 4.1, ABC 6.1/11 and 3.6, CBS 5.2/9 and 2.0, and Fox 4.1/7 and 2.7. For Saturday night: ABC 6.7/12 and 3.5, Fox 4.7/9 and 2.5, CBS 4.3/8 and 2.1, and NBC 2.6/5 and 1.8.
Bad boy Brit joins the NY Post in No. 2 job
The New York Post has a new No. 2, and he’s a classic Rupert Murdoch appointee, hailing from the Commonwealth and bringing with him a history of misbehavior. Colin Myler, former editor of the London-based Sunday Mirror, will start at the Post as managing editor by the end of the year, filling the empty slot left by Jon Auerbach, who left this month for CNN. A Liverpool man by birth, Myler left the media business in 1998 to become the chief executive of the Rugby Super League but returned two years later to run the Sunday Mirror. The Daily News has already started in on Myler, observing that his journalistic record includes "several famous controversies." In 1993, he got in trouble for publishing a picture of Princess Diana in her workout clothes, taken through a hole in the ceiling of her gym. Myler resigned from the Sunday Mirror this past April after a judge declared a mistrial in an assault case, ruling that an interview the paper had published with the victim’s father may have prejudiced the jury.
Martha Stewart to workers: Have a party or else
She made a career out of telling people how to entertain. Now Martha Stewart is moving on to where, when and with whom. After canceling Martha Stewart Omnimedia's Christmas party, the mistress of all things domestic has come up with a new plan for spreading holiday cheer. In a group email, she asked 65 employees to host 10-person holiday parties in their own homes, according to a report in Women's Wear Daily. To ensure maximum mingling, Stewart said she would draw up the guest lists herself at random, and she offered each host $300 to put towards refreshments and decorations. When her proposal elicited more grumbles than "Ho, ho, ho"’s, Stewart reportedly played the patriotism card. "To me, the terrorists have certainly succeeded if so few of you participate in a company-wide effort to 'get together.'"
Gasp! Hard news comes to morning shows
A new sense of seriousness has infiltrated that great bastion of frivolity, morning television. ABC's "Good Morning America," NBC's "Today" and CBS's "Early Show" devoted an average of 58 percent of their time to "hard news" such as U.S. government and foreign affairs during a two-week period in October, according to the Washington D.C.-based Project for Excellence in Journalism. Compare that to a two-week period in June, when hard news made up only 7 percent of the three shows' coverage, with the bulk of stories falling into the celebrity and lifestyle categories. "Good Morning America" leads the charge, spending 63 percent of its time on hard news issues in October. "Today" came in at 59 percent, while "The Early Show," home of the morning-after "Survivor" interview, did 53 percent hard news.
Red Herring pink slips 27% of staff
Business and technology publications have been hit hard by the vicious ad downturn, and Red Herring has seen some of the worst of it. Its parent company, Red Herring Communications, has been forced to close down its conference division and lay off 27 percent of its staff. The pink slips will affect online, business and editorial departments in addition to the shuttered conference division. Depending on the advertising and general economic climate, the conference group might make a comeback sometime in the first half of next year. In a bit of good news, Broadview Capital Partners, the company's largest shareholder, has pumped in $10 million additional funding. Ad dollars for Red Herring have dropped nearly 40 percent year-to-date to October this year, down to $41.9 million from last year's $69.5 million, according to the Publishers Information Bureau. Its ad pages have plummeted 60 percent.
November 19, 2001 © 2001 Media Life
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