News Shorts

Fox's 'Idol' sashays, in an easy Tuesday win
Fox had an easy time beating the other Big Four networks on Tuesday with a two-hour “American Idol” that competed mostly with repeats. The network ranked No. 1 in the adult 18-49 demographic with an average 10.2 rating. ABC had a 3.1, NBC had a 2.8 and CBS had a 2.5, based on preliminary Nielsen data. Fox won each half-hour from 8 p.m. to 10 p.m. and improved its rating 47 percent from beginning to end. The final hour of “Idol,” in fact, averaged an 11.7 rating that was about 4 points ahead of the Big Three networks’ combined rating. ABC and NBC competed with dueling reality shows at 10 p.m., after Fox wrapped its primetime lineup, with NBC’s “Meet My Folks” winning with a paltry 3.4 rating. A repeat of CBS’s “Judging Amy” ranked No. 2 in the time slot with a 3.1, while ABC’s “The Family” trailed with a 2.8 rating.

NBC takes Monday with super-sized 'Fear Factor'
Even as most new reality shows are slumping, NBC used two 90-minute unscripted specials to win Monday in the adult 18-49 demographic. A special “Fear Factor” from Las Vegas was the night’s highest rated show with an 8 rating. The reality show ranked No. 1 in every half-hour in its time slot and improved its rating 48 percent from beginning to end. NBC’s newest “Meet My Folks,” this time with the kids choosing a guy for their mother, didn’t do nearly as well. That show averaged a 5.9 rating but had stiffer competition in CBS’s “CSI: Miami,” which ranked No. 1 at 10 p.m. Meanwhile, Fox’s “Married by America” is continuing to founder in the time slot vacated by “Joe Millionaire.” The reality show ranked No. 3 in its 9 p.m. time period. ABC was in last place for all of primetime with “Veritas: The Quest,” “The Practice” and “Miracles.” NBC had a 6.9 adult 18-49 rating and a 9 household rating and 14 share, based on Nielsen overnights. CBS had a 5.7 and an 11.1/17, Fox had a 3.6 and a 5.2/8 and ABC had a 2.2 and a 4.6/7.

Kent orders major reorganization at Turner
Philip Kent is rearranging more than just the furniture at Turner Broadcasting. In only his second day on the job, Kent, who replaced Jamie Kellner as head of Turner, introduced a thorough restructuring of the group yesterday. Under the new system, Turner will be organized into three units: the CNN News Group, the Turner Entertainment Group and a cartoon group. The entertainment group will consist of the cable channels TNT, TBS and Turner Classic Movies, while the cartoon unit will comprise Cartoon Network, Boomerang and cartoon production. Brad Siegel, Turner's entertainment president, is leaving the company in what appears to be a voluntary move.

ABC unveils 24-hour broadband news service
Left behind by NBC and Fox in the cable news race, ABC is hoping to jump out ahead of them on the web. Today the network launches a C-Span-like news service available only to broadband users. ABC News Live will have a 24-hour feed and will mesh live breaking news with half-hour news summaries and rebroadcasts of “World News Tonight” and “Nightline.” There will be some extra content not seen on TV news shows, such as live feeds of United Nations debates and White House briefings. Only ABC News On Demand and Real Networks RealOne Superpass service broadband subscribers will have access to the channel initially. ABC owner Disney may make the channel accessible by other broadband providers at a later date. ABC News apparently is approaching this as a possible permanent internet news network.

Take that, 'Seinfeld' curse! 'Watching Ellie' returns
“Watching Ellie” will return for a limited second season run on NBC, minus many of the more quirky first-season elements. The show, which stars “Seinfeld” actress Julia Louis-Dreyfus, has dropped the ticking clock in the corner of the screen and added a studio audience. Most of the single-camera treatment has been eliminated and action will no longer take place in real time. Also, fewer scenes will be set in Ellie’s workplace, a jazz cabaret. NBC has ordered six episodes of the show. They will air post-“Frasier” Tuesdays at 9:30 p.m. when the limited run of “AUSA” has finished. Depending on how “Ellie” does this spring, NBC will consider bringing it back during the fall for the first time. The show had modest ratings last year.

Stern: 'Are You Hot' was my idea and I'm suing
For weeks, Howard Stern has been claiming that the idea for "Are You Hot? The Search for America's Sexiest People" was his, and now he plans to do something about it. The radio shock jock said yesterday on his show that he plans to sue the producers of the ABC reality show. Stern says he was in talks with another TV network about producing an attractiveness-rating show when news of "Are You Hot?" broke. "It was all a done deal and then after the ABC show came out, they called me up and said: 'No deal,'" he said. The creators of the web site HotorNot.com have also talked about suing over "Are You Hot?" but have yet to take legal action in the matter.

UPN renews 'Smackdown,' takes over ad sales
UPN liked the ratings it was getting with “WWE Smackdown” but didn’t like the advertising agreement. The network renewed the pro wrestling show for another two seasons Tuesday. But instead of receiving payment from the WWE and allowing it to sell the commercials, UPN will assume ad sales duties and pay the WWE $500,000 per episode. That should get the network a better return on its most-watched show. WWE had been paying UPN about $300,000 per week while making about $1 million per episode with commercials. With UPN now in charge of selling ad time, rates will probably increase from the current $15,000 to $15,000 per spot. UPN ratings have deteriorated this season, so securing “Smackdown’s” return, even with fewer viewers than it’s had in the past, was a priority. When “Smackdown” debuted in 1999, it averaged 7.2 million viewers per episode. That’s fallen to 5.6 million this year, although the show still ranks third in its Thursday time slot among adults 18-34.

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