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"ER" Premiere Pumps NBC, But ABC Still Rules
In fact, those geezers obliterated the new fall shows last week, as NBC's seven-year-old medical drama premiered on top with 29.3 million viewers (19.2 household rating, 30 share), according to Nielsen Media Research. The Thursday-night staple was joined by an equally powerful debut from the Peacock's aging-but-unstoppable Friends, whose back-to-back new episodes averaged 28.6 million viewers. (Friends nabbed a 16.6 household rating and 27 share at 8 p.m., followed by an 18.0/28 at 8:30 p.m.)
With Emmy-winner Will & Grace premiering fourth in Nielsen's rankings (24.3 million viewers, 15.8/23 in households), it ended up an invigorating night for NBC's Thursday lineup. But in the end, NBC couldn't take down ABC, whose continued strength from Who Wants to Be a Millionaire and Monday Night Football--coupled with a powerful Sunday-night showing from The Practice--put ABC on top last week in total viewers (14.5 million viewers) and households (10.0/16).
NBC slipped into third, behind CBS, in viewers and households, but the network topped them all in the crucial adults 18-49 demographic (NBC snagged a 5.5/15, beating ABC's 5.0/14 and CBS' 3.9/11). The news is even better for the network, considering it didn't even air new episodes of The West Wing or Law & Order, two of its biggest hits.
CBS, meanwhile, had its own bit of good news: Among the 22 dramas or comedies in Nielsen's top 30, 13 were on CBS, five were on NBC and four were on ABC.
As the new fall TV season continues to take shape, more winners and losers are becoming apparent. Everybody Loves Raymond was CBS' highest-rated show of the week (13.7 household rating, 20 share), while new sitcoms from Bette Midler and Geena Davis turned in respectable debut performances and James Cameron's futuristic series Dark Angel remained Fox's highest-rated show. Meanwhile, the WB's critically hailed comedy Grosse Pointe ended up the network's lowest-rated program of the week, and ABC's weak Friday-night sitcom, The Trouble With Normal, may simply have trouble with surviving.
Overall, with ABC in front, CBS dropped into second place, averaging 12.72 million viewers (9.0 household rating, 15 share), followed by NBC with 12.7 million viewers (8.8 rating, 14 share). Fox was fourth with 8.9 million viewers (6.2 rating, 10 share), UPN remained in fifth with 4.4 million viewers, but tied with the WB in households (2.8 rating, 4 share). The Frog averaged 4.1 million viewers for the week.
(A ratings point represents 1,008,000 households, or 1 percent of the nation's estimated 100.8 million TV homes. The share is the percentage of turned-on TVs tuned to a particular show.)
Here's a rundown of Nielsen's top 10 by households:
1. ER, NBC, 19.2 rating, 30 share
2. Friends (8:30 p.m.), NBC, 18.0 rating, 28 share
3. Friends (8 p.m.), NBC, 16.6 rating, 27 share
4. Will & Grace, NBC, 15.8 rating, 23 share
5. NFL Monday Night Football, ABC, 14.9 rating, 25 share
6. Millionaire (Tuesday), ABC, 14.5 rating 23 share
7. Millionaire (Wednesday), ABC, 13.9 rating, 22 share
8. Everybody Loves Raymond, CBS, 13.7 rating, 20 share
9. Millionaire (Sunday), ABC, 13.5 rating, 20 share
10. Just Shoot Me, NBC, 13.3 rating, 20 share
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