'Friends' shows 'Survivor' its stuff

NBC's 'Friends'

CBS's 'Survivor 3'

CBS's 'Gilligan's Island' special

'Friends' shows
'Survivor' its stuff

Pulls off switcheroo in season's first matchup

By Kevin Downey

    Anyone looking for evidence that the reality TV fad is on its way out got plenty of it last week in the first matchup between "Friends" and "Survivor: Africa."
   "Friends" beat "Africa" by over five million viewers, in a complete reversal from the battle between the NBC sitcom and last season’s "Survivor: The Australian Outback."
    Last Thursday, "Friends" had 29.2 million viewers to "Africa’s" 23.8 million.
    On Feb. 1, 2001, the first time that the two shows went head-to-head, "Friends" only managed 22.2 million to "Outback’s" 29.0 million viewers. And "Outback" went on to become the most-watched show of the season with an advantage of 10 million viewers.
"Africa," of course, did not do badly last week.
   It ranked No. 4 in the adult 18-49 demo, a lot of viewers that CBS all but gave up on prior to the introduction of reality shows.
    More troubling, though, is that "Africa’s" rating in the demo was 4.4 points lower than "Friends’" rating, which was up one-tenth of a point from the week before.
    There is still a whole season of "Survivor" to go, however, with "Survivor 4" set to premiere early next year.
    And perhaps the true test of the show’s strength is yet to come. While "Friends" has rebounded from a minor slump last year, with some of its highest ratings in six years, both shows were preempted for nearly an hour for an address to the nation by President Bush.
   That led to a reshuffling of schedules with a last-minute repeat of "Will & Grace," for example, filling in for the preempted "Inside Schwartz" on NBC on the West Coast.
    With six of the top-10 shows in the adult 18-49 demo, NBC continued its winning streak for a third straight week in the demo, with a 5.3 rating.
    CBS had a 4.4.
    That’s an improvement of nearly 26 percent from the previous week. The network was helped out by "Africa" and, perhaps surprisingly, the "Surviving Gilligan’s Island" movie on Sunday, which ranked No. 13.
   ABC had a 4.0, Fox had a 3.1, UPN had a 2.1, and the WB had a 1.8.
    For the season so far, NBC and UPN are the only networks with ratings increases in the 18-49 demo.
     NBC is up 8.9 percent to a 5.4. It has been helped by shows like "Scrubs," which is still a top-15 show, even though it fell 17 percent last week and lost over 12 percent of "Frasier’s" lead-in rating.
   After a slow start, "Law & Order: Criminal Intent" went up almost 46 percent. And even NBC’s maligned "Emeril" held its 3.1 rating for a second week in a row.
    "Weakest Link" is beating out "Millionaire" on Monday by two-tenths of a rating point. And "Ed" premiered last week with a rating that was 59 percent higher than "Lost’s," the show it replaced.
    UPN is up this season by 25 percent, to a 2.5, almost entirely on the strength of "Enterprise."
    The latest in the "Star Trek" series fell another 9 percent, to a 4.2 rating, which doubled UPN’s average in the demo last week.
    UPN has some major problems, though.
   "Special Unit 2" lost 55 percent of "Enterprise’s" lead-in. "Buffy" fell 32 percent from the prior week but still had an audience 25 percent higher than it averaged on the WB last year. And the season premiere of "Roswell" ranked No. 95 with an average audience that was almost 5 percent lower than it had been on the WB.
    Meanwhile, ABC’s 18-49 rating is down 14.6 percent this season to a 4.1.
   The network has already canceled "What About Joan," put "The Mole" on hiatus, and moved the Jason Alexander sitcom, "Bob Patterson," to Wednesday.
    That show dropped 33 percent from its premiere and ranked No. 63 last week.
    CBS is down about 5 percent to a 3.9 rating and has been hampered by a slew of sinking new shows.
    Despite heaps of critical praise, "The Education of Max Bickford" tumbled 30 percent from its last episode to tie at No. 68.
    "Ellen" bettered its last performance by 9 percent but ranked a lowly No. 77.
    That show tied with CBS’s "Wolf Lake," which fell another 14 percent. And "Citizen Baines," at No. 90, was the lowest-ranked regularly scheduled show on the Big Four networks.
    Much of CBS’s strength in the demo comes from "CSI" and "Everybody Loves Raymond," which is now a top-10 show in both syndication and in network primetime.
    Fox is down 22 percent this season to a 3.2, adult 18-49, rating.
    The network is premiering many of its shows after the World Series. Fox had five baseball divisional playoffs last week but none ranked higher than No. 50.
    Fox is also having trouble with its second season of "Dark Angel." That show, executive-produced by "Titanic’s" James Cameron, was down 27 percent on Friday from its average audience last season, when it was still on Fox’s strong Tuesday night.
   The WB is down almost 16 percent, to a 1.6 rating, with none of its new shows ranking higher than No. 97.
   In household ratings last week, NBC won with an 8.8 rating and 14 share. CBS had an 8.6/14, ABC had a 6.7/11, Fox had a 5.3/9, UPN had a 3.0/5, and the WB had a 2.9/4.

PRIMETIME AVERAGES BY NETWORK RANKED ON HOUSEHOLDS Week Ending October 14, 2001
	HOUSEHOLDS			PERSONS 2+			ADULTS 18-49
Net	Rtg %	(000)	SHR	Rtg %	(000)	SHR	Rtg %	(000)	SHR
NBC	8.8	9320	14	4.9	13340	13	5.3	6720	14
CBS	8.6	9100	14	4.8	13040	12	4.4	5580	11
ABC	6.7	7070	11	3.8	10200	10	4.0	5030	10
FOX	5.3	5550	9	2.9	7790	7	3.1	3930	8
UPN	3.0	3190	5	1.8	4800	4	2.1	2720	5
WB	2.9	3040	4	1.6	4320	4	1.8	2310	5
PAX	0.9	970	1	0.5	1250	1	0.3	430	1
Source: Nielsen Media Research

SEASON-TO-DATE PRIMETIME AVERAGES BY NETWORK RANKED ON HOUSEHOLDS Sept. 24, 2001 through Oct.14, 2001
	HOUSEHOLDS			PERSONS 2+			ADULTS 18-49
Net	Rtg %	(000)	SHR	Rtg %	(000)	SHR	Rtg %	(000)	SHR
NBC	9.0	9450	14	4.9	13350	13	5.4	6850	14
CBS	8.2	8670	13	4.5	12160	12	3.9	4980	10
ABC	7.0	7410	11	3.9	10590	10	4.1	5240	11
FOX	4.8	5050	8	2.7	7200	7	3.2	4050	8
UPN	3.3	3510	5	2.0	5460	5	2.5	3130	6
WB	2.5	2650	4	1.4	3850	4	1.6	1990	4
PAX	1.0	1010	2	0.5	1350	1	0.3	440	1
Source: Nielsen Media Research

NETWORK TV RANKED ON HOUSEHOLDS Week Ending October 14, 2001
			HOUSEHOLDS			PERSONS 2+
#	PROGRAMS	Net	Rtg%	Shr	(000)	#	Rtg%	(000)
1	FRIENDS	NBC	17.9	26	18877	1	10.8	29202
2	WEST WING	NBC	15.3	23	16102	2	8.8	23645
3	E.R.	NBC	14.4	23	15155	6	8.0	21681
3	LAW AND ORDER	NBC	14.4	24	15243	5	8.2	22066
5	EVERYBODY LOVES RAYMOND	CBS	14.1	21	14875	7	7.9	21438
6	CSI	CBS	13.8	21	14567	4	8.4	22726
7	SURVIVOR: AFRICA	CBS	13.2	19	13935	2	8.8	23844
8	WILL & GRACE	NBC	12.4	18	13112	8	7.3	19641
9	LAW AND ORDER:SVU	NBC	11.7	20	12354	10	6.4	17203
10	BECKER	CBS	11.6	17	12189	10	6.4	17266
11	JUST SHOOT ME	NBC	11.5	17	12087	9	6.8	18326
12	60 MINUTES	CBS	11.3	19	11882	13	6.1	16560
12	JAG	CBS	11.3	18	11962	12	6.3	17042
14	NFL MONDAY NIGHT FOOTBALL (St. Louis vs. Detroit)	ABC	11.1	18	11695	13	6.1	16451
15	JUDGING AMY	CBS	11.0	18	11594	15	5.9	16002
16	PRACTICE, THE	ABC	10.3	17	10884	16	5.6	15239
17	FRASIER	NBC	10.1	15	10700	16	5.6	15104
18	GUARDIAN, THE	CBS	10.0	15	10527	18	5.5	14843
19	NFL MONDAY SHOWCASE	ABC	9.8	15	10326	18	5.5	14858
20	LAW AND ORDER:CRIM INTENT	NBC	9.5	14	10047	21	5.4	14499
21	KING OF QUEENS	CBS	9.4	15	9932	18	5.5	14897
22	CROSSING JORDAN	NBC	9.2	15	9744	24	4.9	13263
23	YES, DEAR	CBS	9.1	14	9653	22	5.2	14113
24	DATELINE FRI	NBC	8.9	15	9421	26	4.8	12993
25	60 MINUTES II	CBS	8.8	14	9254	30	4.5	12025
Source: Nielsen Media Research

CABLE TV RANKED ON HOUSEHOLDS Week Ending October 7, 2001
BASIC CABLE
			House- holds	House- holds	Persons 2+
#	PROGRAM NAME	Net	(000)	Rtg %	(000)
1	NFL REGULAR SEASON	ESPN	5254	5.0	7540
2	AMERICA STRIKES BACK	CNN	3744	3.5	5300
3	WWF ENTERTAINMENT	TNN	3733	3.5	5127
4	AMERICA STRIKES BACK	CNN	3707	3.5	5058
5	AMERICA STRIKES BACK	CNN	3705	3.5	5060
5	WWF ENTERTAINMENT	TNN	3705	3.5	5458
7	AMERICA STRIKES BACK	CNN	3567	3.4	4839
8	SPL:AMERICA STRIKES BACK(S)-10/07/2001	CNN	3542	3.4	5182
9	AMERICA STRIKES BACK	CNN	3509	3.3	4728
10	AMERICA STRIKES BACK	CNN	3277	3.1	4372
11	LARRY KING WEEKEND	CNN	3221	3.1	4517
12	AMERICA STRIKES BACK	CNN	3167	3.0	4344
13	THE POINT W/GRETA(S)- 10/07/2001	CNN	2920	2.8	4198
14	NFL PRIME TIME	ESPN	2780	2.6	3962
15	MONEY TALKS	TBS	2684	2.5	3966
PAY CABLE
			House- holds	House- holds	Persons 2+
#	PROGRAM NAME	Net	(000)	Rtg %	(000)
1	BAND OF BROTHERS	HBO	3995	3.8	6415
2	MEET THE PARENTS	HBO	3404	3.2	5271
3	WCB: TRINIDAD VS. HOPKINS	HBO	2451	2.3	3866
4	SOPRANOS, THE	HBO	2224	2.1	3477
5	WCB: TRINIDAD VS. HOPKINS (POST)	HBO	2219	2.1	3506
Coverage area ratings are within each cable network's universe. Total U.S. ratings and household projections are based on 105.5 million TV homes. *For inclusion in the rankings, telecasts must be promoted as distinct programs and must be of 5 minutes minimum duration. Source: Nielsen Media Research

SYNDICATION RANKED ON HOUSEHOLDS Week Ending September 30, 2001
			Households	Households
#	PROGRAM NAME	Syndicator	Rtg %	(000)
1	WHEEL OF FORTUNE	KIN	8.8	9319
2	JEOPARDY	KIN	7.2	7585
3	ENTERTAINMENT TONIGHT(AT)	PRM	6.5	6853
4	ESPN NFL REGULAR SEASON	ESP	6.2	6531
5	SEINFELD (AT)	CTS	5.9	6195
6	OPRAH WINFREY SHOW (AT)	KIN	5.7	6034
7	JUDGE JUDY (AT)	PRM	5.4	5738
8	FRIENDS-SYN (AT)	WB	5.2	5465
9	SEINFELD-WKND (AT)	CTS	5.1	5339
10	EVRYBDY LVS RAYMOND-SYN	KIN	4.2	4468
Source: Nielsen Media Research

-Kevin Downey is a staff writer for Media Life.

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