News Shorts

Another NBC Olympics sweep
The Salt Lake City games retained all of Sunday's 18-49 audience last night, giving NBC another dominating win in the demo with an 11.1. Fox had a 4.2, CBS a 3.9 and ABC a 2.2, based on preliminary Nielsen ratings. The Olympic 18-49 audience surged from an 8.9 at 8 p.m. to an 11.5 at 9 p.m. before easing to an 11.4 at 9:30 p.m. At 10 p.m. viewership expanded to a 12.4 and fell only slightly to a 12.0 at 10:30. From 8 p.m. to 10 p.m. only Fox aired new programming, though its "Boston Public" and "Ally McBeal" experienced substantial ratings declines, falling to a 4.4 from last week's 5.2 for "Public" and to a 4.0 compared to last week's 5.7 adult 18-49 rating for "Ally." For CBS, repeats of "King of Queens" and "Yes, Dear" managed only a 4.0 for the hour, while reruns of "Everybody Loves Raymond" and "Becker" scraped together a 4.9 among adults 18-49. ABC tanked with a repeat of the Jim Carrey movie "Ace Ventura: When Nature Calls," which drew only a 2.3 adult 18-49 rating for its two hours. At 10 p.m. neither ABC's "Who Wants to Be a Millionaire" nor CBS's "48 Hours" captured more than a quarter of the Olympic audience. The average household rating and share for Monday night were: NBC 19.6/29, CBS 7.2/11, Fox 5.9/9, ABC 3.8/6. On Sunday night, beefier competition from rival networks did little to hinder another strong night of Olympic coverage on NBC. The 18-49 rating for the night's winter Olympics grew to a 11.1 from a 10.0 on Saturday night, though it was still down from the record-breaking 15.4 on Friday. NBC won the night with a 9.7 adult 18-49 rating. Fox had a 4.7, ABC a 4.2 and CBS a 2.3, based on preliminary Nielsen ratings. At 7 p.m. NBC easily took 18-49s with a 5.5 for the second half of the NBA All-Star Game, while CBS's "60 Minutes" came in second with a 3.4. ABC and Fox tied for the hour as the first half of the movie "Ace Ventura: Pet Detective" and Fox's "Futurama" and "King of the Hill" hauled in a 3.2 adult 18-49 rating. Olympic coverage faced its biggest challenge at 8 p.m. as Fox's "Simpsons" and "Malcolm in the Middle" combined for a 6.3 to the Olympics' 10.3 adult 18-49 rating. At 9 p.m. reruns of "The Simpsons" and "Bernie Mac" on Fox tied ABC's "Alias" with a 4.7 among adults 18-49, though that was dwarfed by a 12.3 from the winter Olympics. At 10 p.m. ABC's "The Practice" mustered a 5.2, less than half of the Olympics' 10.9. CBS struggled to capture an audience after 8 p.m. as a rerun of "The Education of Max Bickford" and the TV movie "Guilty Hearts" never topped a 2.3 adult 18-49 rating. The average household rating and share for Sunday night were: NBC 15.6/24, CBS 7.5/11, ABC 6.0/9 and Fox 5.7/9.

'Friends' stars sign for season nine
Are you prepared for one more season of your favorite forty-somethings…er, twenty-somethings? You guessed it: NBC is bringing "Friends" back for a ninth and presumably final season. The show's six stars--Jennifer Aniston, Courteney Cox, Lisa Kudrow, Matt LeBlanc, Matthew Perry and David Schwimmer--have reportedly negotiated a raise from $750,000 to close to $1 million per episode, meaning NBC will pay out somewhere in the neighborhood of $140 million over the course of the 24-episode season. As recently as last summer, the "Friends" actors were saying they would call it quits after season eight. But then the show's ratings, which had been sagging, took off again, while the cast members' respective film careers remained notably earthbound. Meanwhile, the former stars of "Seinfeld" have helpfully demonstrated that repeat sitcom success isn't as easy as it seems.

Suspect caught, cops expect Pearl's release
With the prime suspect now in custody, the release of kidnapped Wall Street Journal reporter Daniel Pearl may be only hours away, say Pakistani law enforcement authorities. Ahmad Omar Saeed Sheikh, an Islamic militant who has served time for kidnapping, was arrested today in the eastern Pakistani city of Lahore, according to published reports. A number of suspects arrested in the past two weeks have pointed to Sheikh as the main figure behind Pearl's abduction, including three men who sent the emails filled with demands to the U.S. government. Born in the U.K., Sheikh served several years in an Indian jail after being convicted of kidnapping, but was freed in exchange for the release of passengers from an Indian Airlines jet that was hijacked in 1999. Pakistani investigators say they believe Pearl, who disappeared three weeks ago while working on a story about alleged "shoe bomber" Richard Reid, is alive and may be released as early as today.

ABC dumps Monday 'Millionaire' in revamp
ABC, retooling its Monday and Wednesday night schedules for the months ahead, has killed the Monday edition of "Who Wants to Be a Millionaire." "Millionaire," once the network's golden goose but now more of a red-headed stepchild, will make way for "My Wife & Kids" in the Monday 8 p.m. slot. The show will inaugurate its move with a new episode on March 4 before easing into reruns for the next six weeks. Last summer's variety/sketch comedy "The Wayne Brady Show" will slip into the 8:30 p.m. slot. Midseason reality entry "The Chair" will head over to the 9 p.m. slot from its Tuesday 8 p.m. perch, to be reclaimed by "Dharma & Greg" and "Spin City," which have been on hiatus. The struggling "Once and Again" will relocate to the Monday 10 p.m. spot. On Wednesday night, midseason comedies "The George Lopez Show" and "The Web" will replace "According to Jim" and "The Job" in their respective 8:30 and 9:30 slots starting March 27. "George Lopez" follows the eponymous popular comedian as a factory worker plagued by his intransigent mother. "Jack and Jill" star Ivan Sergei plays a young Midwestern guy who becomes an executive at a Big Four network in "The Web."

'Fellowship' tops in Oscar nominations
Better get your tux cleaned, Frodo. "The Fellowship of the Ring," the first installment in the "Lord of the Rings" trilogy, set the high mark for Academy Award nominations this year with 13, including those for best film, directing, cinematography and adapted screenplay. "Moulin Rouge," Baz Luhrmann’s musical melodrama, and "A Beautiful Mind," Ron Howard’s adaptation of a book about mathematician John Nash, each received eight nominations including best picture. The other best picture nominees were "Gosford Park" and "In the Bedroom." Ridley Scott’s "Black Hawk Down" and David Lynch’s "Mulholland Drive" were among the films nominated for best directing. The Oscars will air on ABC March 24 at 8 p.m. EST.

Rumor mill has Rosie coming out any time now
Rosie O'Donnell has a secret--but not for long. Okay, so maybe it's not much of a secret to anyone who has read a magazine in the past five years. Still, the gossip columns are salivating over the news that O'Donnell will state plainly in her upcoming autobiography that she is a lesbian. Now the hot question is: How much sooner will she tell viewers of her morning talk show and readers of her magazine? Pretty soon, some say. With the book due out in April, O’Donnell will notify Rosie readers of her sexuality ahead of time with an editor’s note in the April issue, which comes out in March. And though her publicist is being coy, don't be surprised if she blurts it out on the air before then. It's not as though O'Donnell has taken great pains to hide her preference, thanking her longtime companion at an awards show last year and playing a lesbian mother on "Will & Grace."

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