"Survivor" Thrives; Miss America Dives

Miss America missed her subjects. Whoopi went whoops. Fox's new Friday flailed.

Leave it to a gritty Survivor to gut out a big ratings win.

Survivor: Pearl Islands, the seventh edition of CBS' reality TV standard-bearer, began its journey with 21.5 million armchair enthusiasts along for the adventure. The 90-minute, Thursday premiere was the most watched show for the prime-time week ended Sunday, according to Nielsen Media Research.

Last week marked the final week of the 2002-03 TV year. Fall, which began Tuesday in the real world, commenced Monday night in the TV world.

Speaking of things that fall: Whoopi Goldberg's new NBC sitcom was off by nearly 4 million viewers from its September 9 debut, down to 11.3 million, for a 12th-place finish. Whoopi's Tuesday night companion, Happy Family, fared even worse in its sophomore outing, down by nearly 5 million viewers, to 10 million (23rd place).

Both shows were up against impossible competition: An hourlong ABC News tribute to John Ritter, late of the Alphabet network's 8 Simple Rules... The special was the week's seventh-most watched show, with nearly 14 million fans tuned in.

ABC begins its tricky 8 Simple Rules... experiment Tuesday night, airing the first of three episodes that Ritter completed before his death on September 11. The show is being retooled to reflect the absence of its star.

Producers of the Miss America pageant had a less grim task before them as they retooled the long-running scholarship contest and bathing-suit parade. By booking American Idol's Clay Aiken and The Bachelorette's Trista Rehn and Ryan Sutter, they hoped to restore the crown's ratings luster.

Didn't work.

The three-hour telecast was watched by 10.3 million (18th place)--tops among Saturday night programming, but an all-time low for the pageant. Viewership was down from the 12 million who caught last year's show, and from the 25.3 million who paid attention to such things just eight years ago.

Looking on the bright side, ABC said the telecast offered the network "a sizable promotional platform." Next time, though, a sizable audience would be appreciated, too.

Fox likely also would appreciate more support from Friday-night shut-ins. With Friday pegged as the new trendy network battleground, the network sought to stake its claim by moving two returning shows, Boston Public and Wanda at Large, and launching a third, Luis, on the date night.

Not working so far.

Boston Public began its fourth school session with 5.3 million in attendance (74th place), off about 40 percent from its year-to-date average. Wanda at Large bombed just about as bad as star Wanda Sykes at the Emmys--86th place, 4.4 million viewers, down from the 12.2 million it averaged last spring on American Idol Wednesday night.

Big-screen character actor Luis Guzman began his life as Luis' namesake sitcom star in anonymous fashion: 92nd place, 4.2 million viewers.

As it was during the TV year, CBS was the week's most-watched network, averaging 10 million viewers. ABC, boosted by another high-scoring Monday Night Football (second place, 18.3 million), finished second, with 9.4 million. NBC, reserving most of its premieres for the start of the fall season, trailed with 8 million. Emmy host Fox flopped in fourth, averaging 7.9 million, despite an influx of about 18 million viewers (third place) for the awards-show telecast.

Among the netlets, the WB, led by the eighth-season premiere of 7th Heaven (42nd place, 8.1 million), leapt past UPN, 3.9 million to 3.6 million. Not counting wrestling (which UPN definitely counts), the outlet's biggest success was All of Us (81st place, 4.7 million), the new Tuesday sitcom loosely based on the extended family of Will Smith and wife Jada Pinkett Smith.

In other ratings matchups:

The season finale of Cupid aimed high with 9.5 million viewers (29th place), the CBS reality show's best-ever numbers. The summer closer for Fox's The O.C. was not quite as hot--34th place, 8.8 million. The drama series is set to return in November.

ABC's new terrorist-tracking drama Threat Matrix wasn't the Thursday night disaster of last season's Dinotopia. But debuting against mostly repeats, it wasn't a Thursday night savior, either: 47th place, 7.6 million. The network had better results from its 9-10 p.m. entry, the season premiere of Extreme Makeover (36th place, 8.5 million).

UPN got relatively strong numbers from the season openers of Half and Half (96th place, 4 million) and The Parkers (99th place, 3.7 million). Its new Eve vehicle, the aptly named Eve, premiered in 95th place (4 million), while its new Dan Cortese vehicle, Rock Me Baby, fell asleep in 108th place (2.8 million). Buzz show Jake 2.0 backslid from its premiere, down to 2.9 million viewers (106th place).

Monday's Tonight Show stunt, featuring 81 candidates from the California gubernatorial recall election, was stunted by a visit from Dr. Phil to Late Night With David Letterman. Per overnight ratings, the NBC late-night entry was edged by its CBS rival for the first time on a season premiere night since 1993.

Here's a rundown of the 10 most watched shows for the week ended Sunday, according to Nielsen Media Research:

1. Survivor: Pearl Islands, CBS, 21.5 million viewers
2. Monday Night Football, ABC, 18.3 million viewers
3. 55th Annual Primetime Emmy Awards, Fox, 17.9 million viewers
4. MNF Pregame, ABC, 14.5 million viewers
5. Everybody Loves Raymond, CBS, 14.4 million viewers
6. CSI: Crime Scene Investigation, CBS, 14.1 million viewers
7. A Life of Laughter: Remembering John Ritter, ABC, 14 million viewers
8. Friends, NBC, 12.9 million viewers
9. Law & Order, NBC, 12.2 million viewers
10. CSI: Miami, CBS, 11.6 million viewers