Siegfried & Roy special lifts NBC Wednesday
  NBC, home to Siegfried and Roy-inspired “Father of the Pride,” continued to blur the line between news and entertainment Wednesday, but with good results. Wednesday’s Maria Shriver-hosted special “Siegfried & Roy: The Miracle,” came away as the evening’s most-watched program among viewers 18-49, averaging a 4.7 rating during the 9 p.m. hour, including a 5.0 rating for the last half-hour according to Nielsen overnights. That helped NBC finish on top for the night in the demo with a 3.5 average rating and 10 share. ABC and CBS tied for second at 2.7/8, with Fox right behind in fourth at 2.6/8. The WB was fifth at 1.4/4 and UPN sixth at 1.2/4.
   At 8 p.m. Fox led with a 3.1 average for new episodes of “That ‘70s Show” (3.2) and “Quintuplets” (3.0). ABC was second with a 2.9 average for an hour of “My Wife and Kids” repeats, with NBC third with a 2.6 average for week three of “Hawaii.” NBC took the lead at 9 p.m. with the Shriver special posting its 4.7 average. CBS followed with a 2.7 average for an hour of “King of Queens” reruns, while ABC was third with a 2.6 average for the first hour of its telecast of the “World Music Awards.”
   CBS led during the 10 p.m. hour as a repeat of “CSI: Miami” averaged a 3.5 18-49 rating. NBC came away with second during the hour with a 3.2 average for a “Law & Order” repeat, and ABC was third with a 2.6 average for the last hour of the “World Music Awards.” NBC led the night among households with a 7.8 average rating and 13 share. CBS was second at 6.1/10, ABC third at 4.8/8, Fox fourth at 3.7/6, the WB fifth at 2.1/3, and UPN sixth at 2.0/3.

'Amazing Race' paces CBS to Tuesday victory
   CBS’s “Amazing Race” is starting to wind down, and that’s a good thing for the network’s ratings. A new “Race” was the most-watched program of the night on Tuesday among viewers 18-49 with a 4.7 average rating. Not all season-enders mean good things, though – UPN’s “The Player” ended its season with a 0.8 average in the demo, sixth in its 9 p.m. time slot. According to Nielsen overnights CBS finished first for the night in 18-49s while averaging a 3.8 rating and 11 share. NBC was second at 3.2/9, Fox third at 2.8/8, ABC fourth at 2.4/7, the WB fifth at 1.2/4, and UPN sixth at 0.9/3.
   At 8 p.m. Fox’s “Trading Spouses” led among viewers 18-49 with a 3.3 average rating. ABC finished second during the hour with a 2.8 average for a repeat of “Extreme Makeover: Home Edition” while CBS was third with a 2.6 average for “Navy NCIS.”
   CBS took the lead at 9 p.m. with “Big Brother” averaging a 4.2 rating. NBC moved to second with a 3.8 average for the combination of ”Father of the Pride” (4.0) and “Scrubs” (3.5), both fairly close to last week’s overnight averages. ABC was third with an hour of “According to Jim” averaging a 2.8 18-49 rating.
   CBS led again at 10 p.m. with “Amazing Race’s” 4.7 average. NBC averaged a 3.5 for a repeat of “Law & Order: SVU” and finished second, while ABC was third with a 1.7 average for a second airing of the premiere episode of Mark Cuban’s “The Benefactor.” CBS finished first for the night among households with a 6.9 average rating and 11 share. NBC came in second at 5.7/9, ABC third at 4.5/7, Fox fourth at 4.0/6, the WB fifth at 2.3/4, and UPN sixth at 1.6/3 .

CBS stands behind Bush story, hedges on docs 
The documents may be bogus, but the story is real. That’s the stance CBS is maintaining in light of growing criticism of its story questioning President Bush’s Vietnam-era service in the National Guard. CBS’s “60 Minutes” reported last week that it had obtained six memos from the personnel files of Lt. Col. Jerry Killian suggesting he had been pressured to lie about Bush’s performance ratings. Since then numerous outlets, including ABC and the Washington Post, questioned the validity of those documents based on interviews with experts and comparisons to other 1970s-era files. In a release to the press yesterday, CBS said two of the four document experts it hired had since “misrepresented their conversations and communication with CBS News,” while two others stood by their previous assessments. The network also featured an interview last night with former National Guard secretary Marion Carr Knox, who said she believed the documents were not genuine, but their sentiments were. Some members of the Republican National Committee have suggested the Kerry campaign might be responsible for forging the documents, which a campaign spokesman dismissed.

NHL lockout turns pressure on hockey carriers
Now that professional hockey has come to a standstill, TV sports broadcasters are scrambling for programming alternatives. Following yesterday’s decision by the National Hockey League to lock out players starting today, the NHL’s broadcast and cable partners – including Fox, ESPN2 and NBC – are shifting into contingency mode. Fox regional sports networks will replace the NHL with collegiate hockey and primetime sports programming in big hockey markets, but may choose to air other sports or non-sports programming in markets where hockey has less of a presence. ESPN2 will substitute college football, basketball and ESPN original programming, including poker. NBC is more optimistic. The network, which takes over NHL broadcast rights from ABC in January, says it is proceeding with its original plan to air NHL games beginning Jan. 8. The lockout, long anticipated, is the result of salary control disputes between players and team owners.

Fox shelves 'O.C.' sibling 'Athens,' for now
After the Olympics, maybe Fox figured audiences need a little break from Athens. Last May the network announced “Athens,” a primetime soap from “O.C.” creator Josh Schwartz, which was supposed to launch in January. But because Schwartz wants to devote lots of time to both shows, “Athens” is now on hold until at least early spring 2005. The show has yet to be cast. In other programming news, it appears Fox’s summer sitcom “Method and Red” is over. Rapper Method Man, one of the show’s stars, told the New York Post, “The show is done. It's on the long hiatus.” He added, “They're like: ‘don't call us, we'll call you,’ ” which is usually a sure sign a show has been canceled. Fox has aired three new episodes since it came back from a short post-summer break. And Cartoon Network has picked up 15 episodes of “Boondocks,” based on the politically savvy Aaron McGruder's comic strip of the same name. Just like the newspaper comic, “Boondocks” will focus on Riley and Huey, two boys who experience a culture clash after moving from inner city Chicago to the suburbs to live with their grandfather. The series is scheduled to premiere next fall during Cartoon Network’s Adult Swim block.

U.S. Open ratings soar on USA Network
Though ratings for the U.S. Open finals were down, USA Network’s early-rounds coverage was up. The network averaged a 1.1 household rating in primetime, 15 percent higher than last year’s 0.96. The network was also up 21 percent in total primetime viewers over last year, from an average of 1.05 million in 2003 to 1.3 million this year. USA’s highest-rated night came Sept. 7, when the women’s quarterfinal match between Serena Williams and Jennifer Capriati averaged a 2.23 household rating and 2.6 million viewers. In other sports ratings, Notre Dame’s impressive 28-20 win over No. 8 Michigan Saturday helped NBC deliver the highest-rated season-opening Notre Dame game since 1998. The game averaged a 4.0 among households, the highest-rated season opener since the network registered a 5.1 rating in 1998 for another game versus Michigan. This year’s rating is a 29 percent increase over last season’s opener, when NBC averaged a 3.1 rating for Notre Dame’s 29-26 overtime win over Washington State.

'Monk's' new sidekick is a sitcom veteran
“Monk” is getting a new partner in crime – well, crime-solving. Traylor Howard has been cast as the new sidekick to Tony Shalhoub’s obsessive-compulsive detective on USA Network’s popular detective series “Monk.” She replaces Bitty Schram, who left the show last month. Howard will portray Natalie, a single mother and former bartender. She formerly appeared on such short-lived TV series as “Bram and Alice,” “Boston Common” and “Two Guys, A Girl and a Pizza Place,” and made her big-screen debut in “Me, Myself & Irene.” Production on new episodes begins Sept. 23.