"8 Simple Rules" for Ratings

Wed., Sep. 18, 2002 6:05 PM PDT by Marcus Errico

Getting ratings lately hasn't been anywhere near as easy as A-B-C for ABC--the network has languished in the Nielsens since Who Wants to Be a Millionaire? went into the tank last season, taking the Alphabet net with it.

So ABC totally revamped its 2002-03 roster (dropping shows like Dharma & Greg, Spin City and The Job), launched a promotional campaign with McDonald's to hawk the new lineup alongside Big Macs and jumped the gun on the fall season, previewing keys shows a full week before rivals CBS and NBC in hopes of ensnaring eyeballs.

And, based on the Nielsens for Tuesday night, the gambit is paying off.

The network premiered three of its heavily-hyped new shows--John Ritter's unfortunately titled gagfest 8 Simple Rules for Dating My Teenage Daughter, Bonnie Hunt's well-reviewed sitcom Life with Bonnie and the Ben Affleck-produced Twin Peaks-esque mystery series Push, Nevada--to its best ratings in ages.

Ritter's 8 Simple Rules, debuting in its regular 8 p.m. slot, dominated the night, attracting 17.3 million viewers, according to Nieslen Media Research numbers released Wednesday. That was the best viewership figure for ABC in 17 months and far ahead of Fox's season premiere of That '70s Show, which drew 10 million viewers.

ABC spinmeisters reported that Ritter's sitcom was up 6.3 million viewers over last year's time slot occupant, Dharma & Greg, and helped power ABC to an overall prime-time win for Tuesday night.

Life with Bonnie, unveiled in the 8:30 p.m. slot, also did well, drawing 16.1 million viewers. (The show, starring Hunt as woman who must juggle her duties as Chicago morning talk show host with her maternal chores, moves to the 9 p.m. slot next week.) And while dropping some 4 million viewers from its lead in, Push, Nevada still managed 12 million viewers--the best for the time slot since the season finale of NYPD Blue in May. (Push will settle into its Thursdays-at-9 slot tomorrow.)

Those numbers are even more impressive considering that last week, the only network show to have more than 12 million viewers was Monday Night Football.

"Everyone at ABC is absolutely delighted," ABC Entertainment President Susan Lyne said in a statement. "A lot of hard work went into this, and our strategy of premiering early for advanced audience sampling worked."

Of course, we'll see if everyone at ABC is still delighted next week, when the season officially kicks off and the ABC slate is up against serious competition in the form of first-run episodes from all other networks.