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A strong showing from its "Wonderful Word of Disney" movie series along with drama hits "Alias" and "The Practice" provided ABC with the win among adults 18-49 on Sunday night. ABC averaged a 4.2 in the demo, Fox had a 4.0, CBS a 3.1 and NBC a 2.9, based on preliminary Nielsen ratings. At 8 p.m. CBS's "60 Minutes" came away with a solid 3.7 adult 18-49 rating, topping a 3.1 from the first half of ABC's movie "Snow White: The Fairest of Them All" and a 3.0 from "Futurama" and "King of the Hill" on Fox. The next hour belonged, as usual, to Fox's "The Simpsons" and "Malcolm in the Middle," which bested ABC's movie by more than a full rating point. At 9 p.m. ABC's "Alias" garnered a 4.6 adult 18-49 rating, while Fox's "The X-Files" and NBC's "Law & Order: Criminal Intent" tied with a 3.9 in the demo. At 10 p.m. ABC's "The Practice" was the highest-rated program of the night, drawing a 5.3 adult 18-49 rating. The average household rating and share for Sunday night were: CBS 8.6/14, ABC 7.1/11, NBC 6.4/10, and Fox 4.8/8. Over the weekend, it became apparent that NBC should have tried harder to get "The Matthew Shepherd Story" on the air ahead of HBO's rival "Laramie Project," which aired a week earlier. "Shepherd" averaged a measly 2.4 adult 18-49 rating on Saturday. Fox won the night in the demo with a 3.1, CBS had a 3.0, ABC a 2.3 and NBC a 2.1, based on preliminary Nielsen ratings. CBS won the first hour with its coverage of the NCAA college basketball tournament, but Fox took the next hour with "America's Most Wanted" and ABC finished off the night with a strong last third of the 1974 James Bond flick "The Man with the Golden Gun." The average household rating and share for Saturday night were: CBS 5.3/10, Fox 5.0/9, NBC 4.9/9 and ABC 4.2/8. On Friday night, NBC handily took adults 18-49 and households as "March Madness" college basketball on CBS failed to ignite viewers. NBC posted a 4.0 adult 18-49 rating, CBS a 3.1, ABC a 2.9 and Fox a 2.4, based on preliminary Nielsen ratings. Though it edged the first "Dateline" on NBC by a tenth of a rating point, CBS's NCAA basketball coverage lost by a full rating point the next hour by the second "Dateline." NBC's "Law & Order" cleaned up at 10 p.m. by almost two full rating points over ABC's "20/20" and the end of basketball on CBS. The average household rating and share for Friday night were: NBC 8.7/16, ABC 6.3/11, CBS 5.4/10, CBS 3.4/6.
Gloves come off in nasty Oscar race
When the award for best picture is handed out at next Sunday's Academy Awards, it will be the culmination of a bitter weeks-long struggle between rival studios, who accuse each other of stooping to vote buying and smear-campaigning in the quest for a little golden man. Most of the ugliness has centered on "A Beautiful Mind," Universal's biopic "inspired by" the life of schizophrenic mathematician John Nash. Just before the Academy began accepting ballots, articles on the Drudge Report and elsewhere suggested that the filmmakers had left out unpalatable episodes of Nash's life including anti-Semitic tirades, an illegitimate son and alleged homosexual tendencies. Universal officials, countering that much of the erratic behavior was a direct result of Nash's paranoid schizophrenia, have suggested the other studios are behind the negative press. Miramax, in particular, is considered an aggressive Oscar campaigner. Miramax pushed its best picture candidate, "In The Bedroom," with a 24-page insert in Variety. Sylvia Nasar, author of the book on which "A Beautiful Mind" is based, wrote an op-ed in the Los Angeles Times last week refuting allegations that Nash is anti-Semitic or a homosexual, and Nash appeared last night on "60 Minutes" to defend himself.
New toppers at Infinity Radio and MTV Networks
Infinity Broadcasting and MTV Networks have new honchos this week following a round of executive promotions at Viacom on Friday. John Sykes, who was president of VH1, will oversee 183 radio stations as head of Infinity. He succeeds Farid Suleman, who departed last month to join Citadel Communications Corp. as CEO. MTV chairman Judy McGrath has been named to the new position of MTV Networks Group president. In her new job, she’ll be in charge of MTV, MTV2, VH1 and Country Music Television.
GQ big cheese Cooper gets smaller
Fad diets are usually the province of women's magazines, but that hasn't deterred GQ editor Art Cooper from putting himself on a weight-loss regimen aimed at helping him lose 50 pounds. Cooper, 64, is in his second month of a program that forbids him from drinking alcohol and eating cheese, butter, red meat, bread and pasta, according to USA Today. The inspiration to slim down came to him at the January fashion shows in Milan, where he fell in love with the clothes in Ralph Lauren's new Purple Label collection. Several days later, he had dinner with literary agent Ed Victor, who happens to be the author of an upcoming book called "The Obvious Diet." Two days after that, he was on the road to weight loss. The six-foot-tall Cooper has lost 22 pounds and must lose 28 more to reach his target weight of 170 pounds.
The lowdown on Oscar's ad rules
How prestigious and "dignified" are the Academy Awards? Enough that a certain hot dog maker better look elsewhere to advertise. As part of its deal 10-year, multimillion dollar broadcast deal with ABC, the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences is given the power to censor the advertisers and the ads during what's now called the "Super Bowl for Women." The dead-serious rules are part of the Academy's attempt to keep commercial content demure, inoffensive and strictly separate from the show. No ads can use the word "Oscar," "Oscars" or "Academy Award" or the trademarked image of the Oscar. No ads may feature nominees, performers or presenters scheduled to appear on the Oscars telecast. No nominated films may advertise. No ads may refer to the Oscars, let alone refer to the event. An internal Academy team often obtains early storyboards of commercials before production has begun and frequently sends back ads several times along with editing suggestions. But in a rough ad year this fastidiousness has left ABC's bottom line wanting: The average price of a 30-second spot fell 7 percent this year to $1.2 million.
March 18, 2002 © 2002 Media Life
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