• by Paul Gough , February 3, 2003

NBC said its much-anticipated edgy drama Kingpin did well on its opening night Sunday, with a win against another crime drama on ABC and the network’s best adult 18-49 rating in the time period in 21 months.

The drama, with a six-hour arc, garnered a 5.3 rating and 14 share among adults 18-49 and 12.5 million viewers overall. NBC said Kingpin improved on NBC’s average 18-49 rating in the time period this season by 29%, with a 5.3 rating vs. a 4.1 average rating. It was the first time NBC did more than a 5.3 rating since April 29, 2001, when the NBC Sunday Movie telecast of U.S. Marshals received a 6 rating. All numbers are preliminary “fast affiliate” Nielsen Media Research figures.

NBC said Kingpin beat Dragnet in adults, men and women 18-34, adults, men and women 18-49 and adults, men and women 25-54. Kingpin retained 100% of its 18-49 lead-in from NBC’s Law & Order: Criminal Intent.

Kingpin is going to be telecast at 10 p.m. Sunday and Tuesday nights over the next three weeks.

NBC also won the 9-10 p.m. ET hour last night with “Law & Order: Criminal Intent” (5.3/12 among adults 18-49, 15.2 million viewers overall), which matched its third-highest regular-slot rating ever among adults 18-49.

At 8 p.m., American Dreams” (4.2/10 among adults 18-49; 10.7 million viewers overall) scored its highest 18-49 rating since Nov. 3, 2002. “American Dreams” ran second for the hour in all key adult demographics and won the competitive time period ahead of Fox’s hour of “The Simpsons among women 25-54.

From 7-8 p.m. ET, “Dateline NBC” (2.6/7 among adults 18-49, 8.9 million viewers overall) outscored CBS’ “60 Minutes” among adults 18-48 (2.6/7 vs. 2.4/7) and defeated all slot competition among adults 25-54, pending Nielsen updates.

Preliminary 18-49 averages for Sunday night are: Fox, 5.2/13; NBC, 4.3/11; ABC, 4.0/10; CBS, 2.7/7. Among total viewers, Feb. 2 averages are: CBS, 12.1 million; Fox, 12.1 million; NBC, 11.8 million; ABC, 10.5 million. Significant revisions are possible to these results when Nielsen updates them, especially for live events such ABC’s Pro Bowl football game.