Weakest Link Saves NBC
The show's premiere last Monday drew 15.1 million viewers and the audience jumped to 17.5 million on Wednesday. It was such a solid showing that NBC announced Tuesday it had ordered another 13 episodes of "The Weakest Link," for a total of 26 shows.
While ratings for the XFL championship game on Saturday rebounded a bit from the record depths of the past few weeks, it was still the lowest-rated show of the week among the top three networks.
The good news is, XFL is now off the schedule and will be replaced by movies on Saturday nights.
CBS won the week primarily due to the continued strength of "Survivor" and "CSI: Crime Scene Investigation" on Thursday night. CBS beat NBC on a night that NBC aired original programming Thursday for the first time since at least 1987.
For the week, CBS averaged 11.8 million viewers (8.1 rating, 14 share), NBC had 11 million viewers (7.5, 13), ABC had 10.3 million (7.1, 12), Fox had 8.7 million (5.4, 9), UPN had 3.7 million (2.4, 4), the WB had 3.5 million (2.3, 4) and Pax TV had 1.4 million (1.0, 2).
NBC's "Nightly News" won the evening news race with 9.3 million viewers (6.9 rating, 15 share), followed by ABC's "World News Tonight with 8.6 million viewers (6.8, 15) and the "CBS Evening News" with 7.9 million viewers (6.0, 13).
For the week of April 16-22, CBS's "Survivor II," and NBC's "ER," NBC, tied for fist place in the primetime race at a rating of 16.5. They were followed by "CSI: Crime Scene Investigation," CBS, 14.8; "Who Wants to Be a Millionaire" (Sunday), ABC, 13.1; "The Practice," ABC, 12.0; "Who Wants to Be a Millionaire" (Tuesday), ABC and "Weakest Link" (Wednesday), NBC, tied at 11.7; "Barbara Walters Special," ABC, 11.6; "Friends," NBC, 11.4; and "Law and Order," NBC, 11.1.
- Anya Khait may be reached at anya@mediapost.com
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