News Shorts

'Richter' debut leads Fox to an 18-49 win
Fox took advantage of a strong premiere from its new "Andy Richter Controls the Universe" and a bevy of repeats on CBS and NBC to snatch a win in adults 18-49 last night. Fox posted a 4.6 rating in the demo, NBC had a 4.2, ABC a 3.8 and CBS a 2.8, based on preliminary Nielsen ratings. Falling only a tenth of a point from its lead-in of "That '70s Show," the new "Andy Richter
Controls the Universe" scored a 4.8 adult 18-49 rating. NBC came in second with a 3.9 in adults 18-49 from a repeat of "Frasier" and a new "Watching Ellie," which dropped 21 percent from last week. The Julia-Louis Dreyfus comedy lost 10 percent of the "Frasier" rerun's audience and has now fallen 48 percent from its debut three weeks ago. Any more falls and it could be the end for yet another "Seinfeld" alum. At 9 p.m. reruns of "Frasier" and "Scrubs" edged ABC's "NYPD Blue" by just a tenth of a rating point, while Fox's "24" was another two-tenths behind. NBC's "Dateline" took the next hour, defeating ABC's "Philly" by half a rating point. The average household rating and share for Tuesday night were: NBC 7.5/12, CBS 7.0/11, ABC 6.8/11 and Fox 6.0/9. On Monday night, NBC's 90-minute, extended "Fear Factor" paid off big again as the network handily beat out CBS for the win in adults 18-49. NBC logged a solid 5.9 rating in the demo, CBS had a 4.9, Fox a 4.1 and ABC a 2.9, based on preliminary Nielsen ratings. While "Fear Factor" dominated the first hour with a 6.6 adult 18-49 rating, CBS nonetheless debuted its new "Baby Bob" comedy to a strong 5.1 among adults 18-49, losing none of the audience from lead-in "King of Queens." At 9 p.m. a new "Everybody Loves Raymond" suffered its first defeat in ages, as the last third of "Fear Factor" topped the CBS family comedy by nearly a full rating point. Though it still suffered a 53 percent drop from the last half-hour of "Fear Factor," the new "Colin Quinn Show" on NBC edged up two-tenths of a rating point from last week's premiere. Fox's "American Embassy" similarly experienced a slight uptick from last week but still only managed a 3.6 adult 18-49 rating for the hour. At 10 p.m. NBC's "Crossing Jordan" bested CBS's "Family Law" and ABC's "Once and Again" by two full rating points. The average household rating and share for Monday night were: CBS 9.6/15, NBC 8.1/13, Fox 6.5/10, and ABC 4.7/7.

MSNBC's Matthews apologizes to Koppel, Lehrer
As host of MSNBC's "Hardball," Chris Matthews makes his living by being, well, kind of a jerk to his guests. But this week, Matthews showed that he can also be a gentleman -- at least, after he's done being a jerk. On Monday, Matthews was quoted in the Washington Post saying some rather uncharitable things about two of his broadcast news colleagues, Ted Koppel and Jim Lehrer. Of Koppel's demands that ABC officials make a commitment to "Nightline," he said "Koppel, if you can't make it in the market, go work for public television for 200 [thousand dollars] a year instead of $7 million." Of Lehrer's show, "NewsHour," he asked, rhetorically, "What is it -- eight hours long? I never sat all the way through it." Only hours after suggesting in print that they were washed up, however, Matthews humbled himself before both men, apologizing in person to Lehrer and in a letter to Koppel, according to the Post. "I've always felt that I am trying to be an iconoclast and to sail against the wind," Matthews told the Post. "But sometimes the establishment is right. I was wrong."

Post reporter fired for being tough on Disney?
As rivals in the arena of giant, world-devouring media conglomerates, one would think that Disney and News Corp. would enjoy sticking it to one another, but a former New York Post reporter who is suing News Corp. claims that she was fired for writing articles that embarrassed Disney. Entertainment reporter Nikki Finke wrote two stories for the Post about a breach of contract lawsuit filed against Disney in 1991 by the company that owns the rights to the Winnie the Pooh character. Included in Finke's reports, which ran on Jan. 29, was the news that a judge had fined Disney $90,000 for destroying documents that may have had some bearing on the case. Disney executives called the Post to complain, and one rumor had it that CEO Michael Eisner griped directly to Rupert Murdoch, according to the Village Voice. Not long after, Finke was fired. Post officials claim she was fired over inaccuracy in her reporting, but Finke’s lawyers, noting that the paper never ran any corrections to her stories, say it was a case of News Corp. kowtowing to Disney. The two companies are partnering on a new web venture, Movie.com, slated to launch this year.

CNN struggles to make Zahn investment pay
Just a little bit sexy she may be, but Paula Zahn hasn't quite lived up to expectations at CNN, where she’s still playing catch-up in the ratings with her old employer, Fox News Channel. Zahn’s "American Morning" regularly loses to the slapdash "Fox & Friends" by as many as 200,000 viewers, and CNN, which tripled her salary to $2 million a year when it hired her away, isn't happy about it, according to the New York Daily News. The network sees a possible partial solution in hiring Michael Bass as executive producer. As right-hand man to Jeff Zucker, Bass helped build NBC's "Today Show" into an a.m. ratings powerhouse. Earlier, CNN tried to boost Zahn’s ratings with a promo in which it touted her as "provocative, super-smart, oh yeah, and just a little sexy?" The spot, which featured a sound effect resembling a zipper being undone, was pulled after Zahn and others complained.

NFL plan will eliminate weak 'MNF' matchups
Looking to eliminate lame-duck late-season games between mediocre teams nowhere near the playoff race, National Football League commissioner Paul Tagliabue has said the league is looking to move some games from Sunday to Monday in the last four weeks of the season. ABC is obviously behind the effort, which would bring in marquee games to its "Monday Night Football" in place of dreary, low-rated affairs. CBS and Fox appear hesitant, as they would end up losing match-ups between playoff contenders. Tagliabue insists a win-win situation can be arranged each week which would leave no network saddled with a dud. Currently, TV schedules are drawn up in the preseason based on expectations rather than real results. Just this last season, eventual Super Bowl champs the New England Patriots never made it to Monday night, while the lottery-bound New York Giants appeared three times.

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