News Shorts

ABC's 'Family' debut tops NBC's new 'Deal'
While Fox was winning another Tuesday among adults 18-49 and households with “American Idol” and “24,” both ABC and NBC tried out new unscripted shows with mediocre results. ABC premiered yet another reality show, this time it was “The Family,” which won its 10 p.m. time slot with an average 4.2 adult 18-49 rating. The show, hosted by a cardboard looking George Hamilton, faced light competition in NBC’s “Dateline” and the second hour of the CBS movie “Salem Witch Trials.” “The Family” is notable for pitting 10 people from the same New York-area family, placed in a Palm Beach mansion for a month, who compete for $1 million. Meanwhile, NBC premiered the short-run “Let’s Make a Deal” remake against Fox’s “American Idol” and ABC’s No. 2 ranked 8 p.m. block of “8 Simple Rules” and “According to Jim,” both of which were in repeats. NBC’s game show ranked No. 3 in its time slot with a 3.3 adult 18-49 rating. Fox won the night with a 7.3 in the demo and a 9.5 household rating and 15 share. ABC had a 4.1 and a 6.3/10, NBC had a 3.6 and a 7/11 and CBS had a 2.3 and a 5.5/9. Ratings are based on preliminary Nielsen data.

NBC takes Monday with longer 'Fear' and 'Folks'
Super-sized episodes of “Fear Factor” and “Meet My Folks” pushed NBC to an easy win on Monday among adults 18-49. NBC won every half-hour but one in the demo with a 90-minute “Fear Factor” pulling the night’s highest rating on any network. The show averaged a 7 rating and improved from beginning to end by 24 percent. Moreover, its nearest competitor in its last half-hour, a repeat of “Everybody Loves Raymond” on CBS, trailed by more than 2 points. Meanwhile, Fox’s debut of the reality show “Married by America” proved a weak competitor. The two-hour special was in third place for its entire run. More troubling, the show’s rating slumped 7 percent in its final half-hour. NBC dominated with an average 6.2 rating for the night, based on preliminary Nielsen data. CBS had a 4.8 and Fox had a 4. ABC had a 2.6 and ranked last in every time period. Its continuing “I’m a Celebrity” scored its highest rating with an abysmal 2.9. CBS ranked No. 1 in households with a 9.4 rating and 15 share. NBC had an 8/12, Fox had a 5.5/8 and ABC had a 5.2/8.

First-ever losses for scandal-tainted Martha
Those with stock in Martha Stewart's media empire could probably use a few insider tips of their own right now. For the first time ever, Martha Stewart Living Omnimedia reported a quarterly loss, meanwhile predicting an even greater decrease in coming months. Newsstand sales of her flagship magazine were off nearly 22 percent in the second half of last year, and advertising is down 25 percent in the 2003 first quarter of 2003. Stewart came under investigation for insider trading last summer. No charges have been filed in the probe, which is looking into whether she sold her holdings in the biotech company ImClone after getting a tip from its CEO, Sam Waksal. Martha Stewart Living Omnimedia lost $2 million in the 2002 fourth quarter, or 3 cents per share. A big chunk of lost money came from the cutting of Stewart' s annual holiday show, which halved the entertainment division's cash flow to $600,000. TV revenues were down by 33 percent. Legal fees, meanwhile, are running at roughly $1 million per month. The company predicted an even bigger loss, 6 to 8 cents, for first quarter 2003, saying newsstand sales for Martha Stewart Living could decline by 20 percent.

CBS honcho Moonves takes a star turn on ABC
CBS chief executive Les Moonves will finally have a chance to play the role he's spent his entire life rehearsing for: CBS chief executive Les Moonves. In a rare bit of inter-network cooperation, Moonves, a former actor, has agreed to appear as himself on an upcoming episode of David E. Kelley's ABC legal drama "The Practice." Kelley used Moonves for an appearance five years ago on CBS's "Chicago Hope," and the two are working together on Kelley's new CBS pilot, "The Brotherhood of Poland, N.H." Storyline details have not been released, although Moonves will appear in the same episode as guest actress Andie MacDowell. Moonves has done past cameos on CBS's "The Nanny" and "The Young & the Restless" as well as HBO's "Arli$$." He also appeared on a 1974 episode of "Six Million Dollar Man" and the 1980 TV movie "The Men, The Mission, The Atomic Bomb."

'That's My Bush!' star cast in 9/11 telefilm
Timothy Bottoms is making a career out of playing George Bush. Bottoms, who starred as the president in Comedy Central's short-lived White House spoof "That's My Bush!," is set to revisit the character in a somewhat more serious context. He has been cast in "DC 9/11," a Showtime original movie chronicling the inner workings of the Bush administration in the days following the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks. Starring alongside him will be "24's" Penny Johnson as National Security Adviser Condeleezza Rice and "Star Trek" veteran George Takei as Transportation Secretary Norman Mineta. No word yet on who will play Vice President Dick Cheney, Secretary of State Colin Powell or Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld, but it’s a safe bet that the Bush twins, Jenna and Barbara, won’t be depicted as lesbians this time around.

News you can re-use: MSNBC rejiggers lineup
As long as MSNBC is experimenting with new slogans, here's one to try out: "MSNBC: Never the same network twice." In yet another revamp, the No. 3 cable news channel is importing recognizable face from NBC News to ready for war coverage. The talent-borrowing is in keeping with MSNBC's new motto, "NBC News on cable 24 hours a day." "NBC Nightly News" weekend anchor John Seigenthaler has been tapped as the morning anchor, holding down the 9 a.m. to noon shift, along with with MSNBC's Chris Jansing. Forrest Sawyer, the veteran who had been acting as special MSNBC correspondent, joins Natalie Morris in the noon to 2 p.m. slot. For two weeks former ESPN anchor Keith Olbermann has filled in for "Nachman" host Jerry Nachman, and he may soon get his own one-hour weekend afternoon newscast. "Buchanan & Press's" Pat Buchanan and Bill Press will appear as analysts on the expanded "Countdown: Iraq" from 7 to 9 p.m., which will include Pentagon coverage by Jeannie Ohm and Carl Rochelle, formerly of CNN. Bob Kur takes over Ohm's White House beat. And Christy Musumeci becomes MSNBC primetime anchor, in charge of delivering breaking news, while Sam Shane fills the weekend anchor role.

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