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Last night’s terrorist-related special premiere episode of NBC’s “The West Wing” pulled the highest numbers for a program for the night, earning a preliminary 16.0/24 household rating and share and 9.5 adult 18-49 rating. “Law and Order” held onto most of that audience at 10 p.m., giving NBC an easy win for the night. At 8:30 p.m., the series premiere of ABC’s “According to Jim” drew the highest numbers for a sitcom for the night, building on “My Wife and Kids’” lead-in audience slightly in households and by 14 percent among adults 18-49. Wednesday’s other rookie, CBS’s “Wolf Lake,” slid another 10 percent in households and 7 percent in adults 18-49 from the week before to finish last at 10 p.m. The preliminary Nielsen household rating and share and adult 18-49 rating for Wednesday night were: NBC 12.0/19 and 7.1, ABC 7.2/11 and 4.7, CBS 6.7/11 and 3.3, and Fox 3.9/6 and 3.0. On Tuesday, old favorites won again, despite the addition of two more rookie shows to the Tuesday lineup. At 8 p.m., CBS’s “JAG” had a solid win in households, winning the hour by seven household shares. Fox’s “That '70s Show” was similarly successful among adults 18-49, winning the demographic by nearly two rating points. At 9 p.m., NBC’s “Frasier” won both households and adults 18-49, as ABC’s “Bob Patterson” premiered to third place in households and second among adults 18-49. But at 9:30 p.m., NBC’s “Scrubs” bucked the trend with an incredibly strong debut, keeping 94 percent of “Frasier’s” lead-in household rating and actually building on the veteran’s adult 18-49 audience. At 10 p.m., CBS’s “Judging Amy” and NBC’s “Dateline” split households and adults 18-49. Among rookie series in their second week, Fox’s “Undeclared” had the most impressive second run, retaining 100 percent of its adult 18-49 rating and 96 percent of its household rating from its premiere last week. CBS’s 9 p.m. drama “The Guardian” also kept most of its premiere audience, dropping only 6 percent in household rating and 17 percent among adults 18-49, while NBC’s “Emeril” did surprisingly well, slipping only 13 percent in households and 9 percent among adults 18-49. ABC’s “Philly” was the show with the biggest second-week drop, losing 23 percent of its household rating and 21 percent of its adult 18-49 rating from its premiere. The preliminary Nielsen household rating and share and adult 18-49 rating for Tuesday were: CBS 10.6/17 and 3.9, NBC 8.6/14 and 5.3, ABC 6.6/10 and 4.0, and Fox 5.3/8 and 4.5.
Nasty Shannen sentenced to trash pick-up
Notorious TV brat Shannen Doherty has talked plenty of trash over the years. Now's her chance to pick some up. Doherty, former star of "Beverly Hills 90210” and “Charmed,” was sentenced on Tuesday to five days of work release for her drunken driving arrest. The judge says Doherty will most likely serve her time picking up garbage on freeways. Doherty, 30, was caught driving on Dec. 28 with a blood-alcohol level of 0.13 percent, above the legal limit of 0.08 percent. The judge lightened Doherty’s sentence, taking into consideration recent lectures she gave to teens on the dangers of drunken driving. Doherty's erstwhile co-stars will no doubt be cruising the interstates hoping to catch a glimpse of her in orange. “Charmed” star Alyssa Milano recently told Seventeen magazine, “It was always civil between us. That's what was so bizarre. It's just unfortunate that Shannen was so hurtful to so many people.”
NBC has sold 90 percent of Olympic ad time
Fresh concerns about security threats at the 2002 Winter Olympics don’t seem to be affecting NBC, which says it has sold 90 percent of its ad inventory for the telecasts. While the general effect of the Sept. 11 attacks has been a further softening of an already-slack TV ad market, NBC Sports may actually end up benefiting from expectations that the raging patriotism now in vogue will translate into big ratings for the games, which are to be held Feb. 8-24 in Salt Lake City. Universal Pictures and Volkswagen are among the recent additions to a list of advertisers that already included Visa, Xerox, Coca-Cola, Anheuser-Busch and Delta Airlines. NBC says it hopes to bring in $750 million in ad revenue, and spots are said to be selling for about $400,000 apiece.
More layoffs at tech publisher CMP
With tech advertising still bottomed out and showing no signs of rebound, CMP Media was forced to make more layoffs this week, cutting perhaps 200 jobs, according to one report. The Manhasset, N.Y.-based trade publisher dispatched about that many employees in an earlier round of cuts, and now employs around 2,100 worldwide. CMP’s titles, which include Information Week, are collectively down by 18 percent in advertising pages this year. Rival technology publisher Ziff Davis Media has also had a rough time of it, making multiple rounds of layoffs and firing its CEO, Jim Dunning.
Darn, no Rivers gals at this year's Emmys
"Personally, I feel a moratorium on the proliferation of awards shows should be declared for no other reason than to reduce public exposure to E! Entertainment Television's deadly duo of Melissa and Joan Rivers." So wrote Media Life TV critic Andrew Wallenstein after the Golden Globes in January, and he and others will be pleased to learn that "the Scylla and Charybdis of the red carpet" won't be schticking it up at the upcoming Emmy Awards. Citing the solemn nature of the ceremony in light of the Sept. 11 events, E! decided to cut coverage of the red-carpet entrances, instead assigning anchors Steve Kmetko and Jules Asner to conduct the pre-show as a news event. Joan Rivers, whose usual role is to stand with her daughter and deride the stars' outfits, stood by the decision. The Emmys were rescheduled from Sept. 16 to Oct. 7 and substantially retooled. Eighty-five-year-old veteran newsman Walter Cronkite will open the ceremony, and tributes to those who died that day will pepper the broadcast. The show will also be broadcast from New York and Los Angeles for the first time since the 1970s. Security will be tight; an extra $1 million has been spent on keeping TV's finest safe.
Terrorism bill lets cops inspect cable records
The House Commerce Committee in the U.S. Congress yesterday passed a terrorism bill drawn up by Attorney General John Ashcroft that will allow federal investigators to look into cable and internet records without the companies' notifying customers. The legislation reassigns cable telephone and internet laws to the same status now shared by regular telephone companies. Federal law enforcement was given the power to inspect telephone records without customers' approval under the Electronic Communications Protection Act of 1986. Video purchases, which include pay-per-view and adult channels, will still be off limits without consent. Privacy advocates raised alarm over the move, but urgency to empower the government against terrorists pushed the legislation through. The bill must still be approved by the Senate, though it shares the backing of cable companies.
October 4, 2001 © 2001 Media Life
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