March 20-26



	Posted at 12:02 p.m. PST Tuesday, March 28, 2000 Oscars, ``Millionaire'' help ABC to another ratings win BY DAVID BAUDER AP Television Writer NEW YORK (AP) -- ABC used the Academy Awards and its companion shows to handily win for the 13th straight week in Nielsen Media Research's prime-time rankings. The Oscars, traditionally the year's top-rated entertainment special, drew 46.3 million viewers Sunday night, a slight increase over last year. The half-hour ``Countdown to Oscar 2000'' special preceding it had 30 million people tuning in to see what the stars were wearing. Barbara Walters' Oscar-themed interview special at 7 p.m. Sunday was watched by 18.1 million people and was one of the rare shows to outrate ``60 Minutes'' in its time slot. Even Regis Philbin got into the Oscar act. The movie-themed ``Who Wants to Be a Millionaire'' special on Friday drew nearly 22 million people. While below the game show's typical viewership, it was enough to finish among the week's 10 most popular programs. It was another big week for networks to try out new shows. Fox was encouraged by the premiere of ``Titus,'' a comedy seen by 14.1 million people. In NBC's trial of two new shows on Thursday night, ``Daddio'' performed far better than ``Battery Park.'' ``Daddio'' lost 2 illion viewers from its lead-in, ``Friends,'' while ``Battery Park'' lost more than 5 million from its predecessor, ``Frasier.'' ABC's limited-run series on a pre-fab singing group, ``Making the Band,'' drew 11.5 million viewers on Friday. But that meant roughly half the audience from its preceding show, ``Millionaire,'' either changed the channel or turned off the TV. ABC had an average of 17.6 million viewers in prime-time last week (11.8 rating, 20 share). NBC was second with 11.1 million viewers (7.9, 13), narrowly beating CBS' 11 million viewers (7.8, 13). Fox had 7.9 million viewers (5.2 rating, 8 share), UPN had 4 million (2.8 rating, 4 share), the WB had 3.1 million viewers (2.3, 4) and Pax-TV had 1.1 million viewers (0.8, 1). On a rare week when the three evening news anchors traveled overseas, NBC's ``Nightly News'' won a narrow victory with 10.1 million viewers (7.6 rating, 16 share). ABC's ``World News Tonight'' had 10 million viewers (7.5, 16), while the ``CBS Evening News'' had 8.1 million viewers (6.3, 13). A rating 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 in-use televisions tuned to a given show. For the week of March 20-26, the top 10 shows, their networks and ratings were: Prime-time Nielsen ratings BY THE ASSOCIATED PRESS Prime-time ratings compiled by Nielsen Media Research for March 20 to 26. Top 20 listings include the week's ranking, with rating for the week and season-to-date rankings in parentheses. An ``X'' in parentheses denotes a one-time-only presentation. The rating is the percentage of the nation's estimated 100.8 million TV homes. Each ratings point represents 1,008,000 households. 1. (X) ``The Academy Awards,'' ABC, 29.2, 29.4 million homes. 2. (X) ``Countdown to the Oscar,'' ABC, 20.6, 20.8 million homes. 3. (1) ``Who Wants to be a Millionaire-Tuesday,'' ABC, 19.5, 19.6 million homes. 4. (4) ``ER'' NBC, 18.3, 18.4 million homes. 5. (2) ``Who Wants to be a Millionaire-Thursday,'' ABC, 17.3, 17.4 million homes. 6. (X) ``Who Wants to be a Millionaire-Friday,'' ABC, 14.4, 14.5 million homes. 7. (5) ``Friends,'' NBC, 14.3, 14.4 million homes. 8. (7) ``Frasier,'' NBC, 13.7, 13.8 million homes. 9. (7) ``Daddio,'' NBC, 13.5, 13.6 million homes. 10. (14) ``Law and Order,'' NBC, 13.4, 13.5 million homes. 11. (X) ``Barbara Walters Special,'' ABC, 13.1, 13.2 12. (11) ``Everybody Loves Raymond,'' CBS, 12.0, 12.1 million homes. 13. (19) ``Becker,'' CBS, 11.5, 11.6 million homes. 13. (28) ``The West Wing,'' NBC, 11.5, 11.6 million homes. 15. (20) ``Dharma & Greg,'' ABC, 11.4, 11.5 million homes. 16. (16) ``NYPD Blue,'' ABC, 10.7, 10.8 million homes. 17. (21) ``Judging Amy,'' CBS, 10.5, 10.6 million homes. 18. (21) ``Battery Park,'' NBC, 10.2, 10.3 million homes. 19. (27) ``60 Minutes,'' CBS, 9.6, 9.7 million homes. 19. (33) ``Ally McBeal,'' Fox, 9.6, 9.7 million homes. 19. (X) ``The John Stossel Special: You Can't Say That!'' ABC, 9.6, 9.6 million homes. --------------- 22. ``60 Minutes II,'' CBS, 9.4, 23. ``The Drew Carey Show,'' ABC, 9.3 23. ``Family Law,'' CBS, 9.3 25. ``Dateline Wednesday,'' NBC, 9.2 26. ``Law and Order: SVU,'' NBC, 9.0 27. ``King of Queens,'' CBS, 8.8 28. ``Titus,'' Fox, 8.6 29. ``JAG,'' CBS, 8.5 30. ``Spin City,'' ABC, 8.4 30. ``Sports Night,'' ABC, 8.4 32. (X) ``CBS NCAA Post Gun Sunday,'' CBS, 8.2 32. ``Touched by an Angel,'' CBS, 8.2 34. ``Two Guys and a Girl,'' ABC, 7.8 35. (X) ``CBS NCAA Basketball Championship: Iowa State vs. Michigan State,'' CBS, 7.7 36. ``20/20-Friday,'' ABC, 7.6 36. ``Third Watch,'' NBC, 7.6 38. (X) ``CBS Wednesday Movie: Primal Fear,'' CBS, 7.5 38. ``Dateline Friday,'' NBC, 7.5 38. ``Making the Band,'' ABC, 7.5 38. ``Then Came You,'' ABC, 7.5 42. ``20/20-Wednesday,'' ABC, 7.4 43. ``Dateline NBC-Tuesday,'' NBC, 7.3 43. ``Just Shoot Me,'' NBC, 7.3 45. ``That '70s Show,'' Fox, 7.1 46. (X) ``CBS NCAA Basketball Championship: Michigan State vs. Syracuse / Purdue vs. Gonzaga,'' CBS, 7.0 46. ``The Simpsons,'' Fox, 7.0 46. ``Will & Grace,'' NBC, 7.0 49. ``Twenty-one,'' NBC, 6.9 49. ``Walker, Texas Ranger,'' CBS, 6.9 49. ``Whose Line is it Anyway,'' ABC, 6.9 52. ``ABC Monday Night Movie: A Tale of Two Bunnies,'' ABC, 6.8 52. (X) ``CBS NCAA Post Gun Saturday,'' CBS, 6.8 54. ``AMW: America Fights Back,'' Fox, 6.7 54. ``CBS Sunday Movie: Passenger 57,'' CBS, 6.7 54. ``Providence,'' NBC, 6.7 57. ``Grapevine,'' CBS, 6.5 58. ``CBS NCAA Basketball Championship: Duke vs. Florida / Miami vs. Tulsa,'' 6.4 59. ``City of Angels,'' CBS, 6.1 59. ``Pretender,' NBC, 6.1 59. ``Whose Line is it Anyway?'' ABC, 6.1 62. (X) ``CBS NCAA Basketball Championship: Iowa State vs. UCLA / LSU vs. Wisconsin,'' CBS, 6.0 62. (X) ``Early Edition,'' CBS, 6.0 64. ``COPS 2: Indianapolis,'' Fox, 5.9 65. (X) ``CBS NCAA Basketball Championship: Oklahoma State vs. Seton Hall / University of North Carolina vs. Tennessee, CBS, 5.7 66. (X) ``Titus,'' Fox, 5.6 67. ``3rd Rock From the Sun,'' NBC, 5.5 67. ``Profiler,'' NBC, 5.5 69. ``The Others,'' NBC, 5.4 70. (X) ``Peter Jennings Reporting: The Dark Horizon,'' ABC, 5.3 70. ``That '70s Show 2,'' Fox, 5.3 72. ``Beverly Hills, 90210,'' Fox, 5.2 73. (X) ``ABC Saturday Night Movie: Sling Blade,'' ABC, 5.1 74. ``COPS: Fort Worth,'' Fox, 5.0 74. ``Greed,'' Fox, 5.0 76. ``King of the Hill,'' Fox, 4.9 77. (X) ``NBC Sunday Night Movie: Bulletproof,'' NBC, 4.8 77. ``WWF Smackdown!'' UPN, 4.8 79. ``Family Guy,'' Fox, 4.6 80. ``Freaks & Geeks,'' NBC, 4.4 80. ``God, The Devil and Bob,'' NBC, 4.4 82. ``The X-Files,'' Fox, 4.3 83. ``7th Heaven,'' WB, 4.1 84. (X) ``14th Annual American Comedy Awards,'' Fox, 3.9 84. ``Get Real,'' Fox, 3.9 86. ``Futurama,'' Fox, 3.8 87. ``NBA Basketball 2-Sunday: Lakers at Sacramento / Toronto at Minnesota,'' NBC, 3.7 88. ``Party of Five,'' Fox, 3.6 89. ``World's Wildest Police Videos,'' Fox, 3.5 90. ``Buffy the Vampire Slayer,'' WB, 3.2 90. ``Charmed,'' WB, 3.2 92. ``The Parkers,'' UPN, 2.9 93. ``Angel,'' WB, 2.7 93. ``Moesha,'' UPN, 2.7 95. ``Star Trek: Voyager,'' UPN, 2.5 96. ``7 Days,'' UPN, 2.4 96. ``Grown Ups,'' UPN, 2.4 96. ``Malcolm & Eddie,'' UPN, 2.4 99. ``Blockbuster Cinema: Striking Distance,'' UPN, 2.3 99. ``Dawson's Creek,'' WB, 2.3 101. ``The Beat,'' UPN, 2.2 102. ``The Steve Harvey Show,'' WB, 2.1 103. ``For Your Love,'' WB, 2.0 103. ``The Jamie Foxx Show,'' WB, 2.0 103. ``Jamie Foxx Show1,'' WB, 2.0 103. ``Popular,'' WB, 2.0 107. ``Roswell,'' WB, 1.9 108. ``7th Heaven Beginnings,'' WB, 1.8 108. ``Buffy: Monday,'' WB, 1.8 110. ``Secret Agent Man,'' UPN, 1.6 111. ``Diagnosis Murder-Friday,'' Pax, 1.4 112. ``Diagnosis Murder-Monday,'' Pax, 1.3 112. ``Diagnosis Murder-Thursday,'' Pax, 1.3 114. ``Diagnosis Murder-Wednesday,'' Pax, 1.2 114. ``Felicity,'' WB, 1.2 116. ``Touched by an Angel,'' Pax, 1.1 117. ``It's a Miracle,'' Pax, 1.0 117. ``Jack & Jill,'' WB, 1.0 117. ``Touched by an Angel-Friday,'' Pax, 1.0 117. ``Touched by an Angel-Wednesday,'' Pax, 1.0 121. ``Diagnosis Murder-Tuesday,'' Pax, 0.9 121. ``Touched by an Angel-Monday,'' Pax, 0.9 123. ``Touched by an Angel-Thursday,'' Pax, 0.8 124. ``It's a Miracle Encore,'' Pax, 0.6 124. ``It's a Miracle-Friday,'' Pax, 0.6 124. ``Twice in a Lifetime,'' Pax, 0.6 127. ``Chicken Soup for the Soul,'' Pax, 0.5 127. ``Hope Island,'' Pax, 0.5 127. (X) ``PAX TV Sunday Mystery Movie: Return of Sherlock Holmes,'' Pax, 0.5 127. (X) ``Totally Animals 2,'' Pax, 0.5 131. ``Touched by an Angel Weekend,'' Pax, 0.4 132. (X) ``PAXTV Three-Hanky Movie: 300 Miles for Stephanie,'' Pax, 0.3 ------ On the Net: http://www.nielsenmedia.com


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Oscars, ``Millionaire'' help ABC to another ratings win

Prime-time Nielsen ratings