• by November 9, 2000

Fox News Channel tied CNN for the month of October, each with 0.9 for prime time and 0.4 for the total day in its Nielsen universe, although CNN has far more viewers because it is much more widely carried. So, for example, a 0.9 for CNN means 542,000 households and for Fox News just 482,000. FNC was up 163% over a year ago; CNN was up 24%.

South Park creators Matt Stone and Trey Parker said they'll produce Family First, a live-action comedy that they promise will blaspheme whoever is the new occupant of the White House, for Comedy Central. It will start in February.

The surprisingly tight presidential race presents a problem for Stone and Parker. Anticipating that Al Gore would win, they had tentatively titled their effort Family First, and had sketched out characters accordingly. Depending on Election Day it may be back to the drawing board. "The president's sort of like Dick Van Dyke if Gore wins," said Stone, a Republican who doesn't like either candidate. "With Bush it's more like the Beverly Hillbillies."

"NFL: Panthers vs. Rams" on ESP (Sun) was Nielsen's top rated Cable show for the week ending November 5 with a rating of 5.8. It was followed by "WWF Entertainment" (TNN, 4.7, Mon), "WWF Entertainment" (TNN, 3.1, Mon), "Movie: Murder at 1600" (TBS, 3.4, Sun), "NFL Primetime" (ESPN, 3.3, Sun), "NCAA Football: Clemson vs. Florida St." (ESPN, 2.7, Sat), "Rugrats" (NICK, 2.7, Wed), "Rugrats" (NICK, 2.6, Fri), "Rugrats" (NICK, 2.6, Sat), "Rugrats" (NICK, 2.6, Sun), "Hey Arnold" (NICK, 2.5, Fri), "Spongebob" (NICK, 2.5, Sun), "Rugrats" (NICK, 2.5, Thu), "Rugrats" (NICK, 2.5, Mon), "Rugrats" (NICK, 2.5, Sat), "ey Arnold" (NICK, 2.4, Wed), "Rugrats" (NICK, 2.4, Sun), "Spongebob" (NICK, 2.4, Sat), "Movie: Dark Prince" (USA, 2.4, Tue), "Hey Arnold" (NICK, 2.3, Thu), "Dragon Ball Z" (TOON, 2.0, Thu), "Dragon Ball Z" (TOON, 2.0, Wed), and "Dragon Ball Z" (TOON, 2.0, Fri).