• by April 16, 2001

It was a week that even Nielsen Media Research would have rated pretty low.

The company that generates ratings data for the broadcast and cable networks finally got its act together late Thursday, issuing numbers for the previous Sunday, as well as final national ratings for the April 2-8 frame.

Nielsen admitted to problems early last week that resulted when a mainframe computer reverted to standard time and improperly stamped thousands of data sets for April 8.

Among those kept in limbo were CBS Sports, which was anxiously awaiting final-round ratings info for its coverage of golf's Masters. Sunday's action earned a national household rating/share of 13.3/30, up 33% from last year's 10.0/22 and the second highest-rated final round in the event's history -- behind only 1997 (14.1/31).

The weekly network averages in households for April 2-8 were: CBS, 8.7 rating/15 share; ABC, 7.7/13; NBC, 6.7/11; Fox, 5.2/9; the WB, 2.0/3; and UPN, 1.9/3. (Each household rating point represents an estimated 1,022,000 homes, or 1% of the country's TV households. A share is the same sort of percentage, except it's measured against only the homes or viewers watching TV during the time slot involved.)

Sunday's network averages: CBS, 8.5/14; ABC, 8.0/13; Fox, 6.2/11; NBC, 5.8/10; the WB, 1.7/3; and UPN, 0.6/1. Top program score of the night, other than a six-minute Masters overrun (15.0/31), was for CBS' "60 Minutes" (11.5/22).

A penitent Jack Loftus, VP of communications for Nielsen, told Broadcasting and Cable: "We realize that we let a lot of people down, that we let CBS down, because this was a terrible time to have this happen."

The top 20 Nielsen rated programs for the week of April 2-8. were as follows:

1. "Survivor II," CBS, 16.5, 16.9 million homes.

2. "CBS NCAA Basketball Championship: Duke vs Arizona," CBS, 15.6, 16.0 million homes.

3. "CSI: Crime Scene Investigation," CBS, 12.8, 13.1 million homes.

4. "Law and Order," NBC, 12.7, 13.0 million homes.

5. "Who Wants to Be a Millionaire-Tuesday," ABC, 12.2, 12.5 million homes.

6. "West Wing," NBC, 11.7, 12.0 million homes.

7. "NYPD Blue," ABC, 11.6, 11.8 million homes.

8. "60 Minutes," CBS, 11.5, 11.7 million homes.

9. "Who Wants to Be a Millionaire-Thursday," ABC, 11.3, 11.6 million homes.

10. "Prelude to a Championship," CBS, 10.7, 11.0 million homes.

11. "Who Wants to Be a Millionaire-Friday," ABC, 10.5, 10.7 million homes.

12. "What About Joan," ABC, 9.2, 9.4 million homes.

13. "Touched by an Angel," CBS, 9.1, 9.3 million homes.

14. "Dharma and Greg," ABC, 8.9, 9.1 million homes.

14. "My Wife and Kids," ABC, 8.9, 9.1 million homes.

16. "CBS Wednesday Movie: And Never Let Her Go, Part 2," CBS, 8.8, 9.0 million homes.

16. "Friends," NBC, 8.8, 9.0 million homes.

18. "60 Minutes II," CBS, 8.7, 9.0 million homes.

19. "20/20-Friday," ABC, 8.5, 8.7 million homes.

20. "48 Hours," CBS, 8.3, 8.5 million homes.