NCAA Hoops, ‘Secret Path’ Help CBS Record a Win

Even with a disappointing score ratings-wise, the NCAA basketball championship teamed with Sunday movie “The Secret Path” to lead CBS to victory last week, based on results issued Tuesday by Nielsen Media Research.

CBS followed “The Secret Path,” featuring Ossie Davis and “Touched by an Angel’s” Della Reese, to its highest movie rating since December.

As for midseason series, Fox’s “Futurama” still looked bright in its second airing, again improving on the show’s lead-in audience from “The Simpsons”--a feat tempered a bit by a 25% audience drop versus its debut. ABC’s new sitcoms, “It’s like, you know . . . “ and “The Norm Show,” also drew solid numbers, although the latter declined markedly from lead-in “The Drew Carey Show,” which set the bar high with its April Fool’s episode. The joke was on ABC, meanwhile, with “The Big Moment,” a new reality program that drew meager ratings on Saturday.

Home Box Office’s “The Sopranos” concluded its initial 13-episode run Sunday with the mob drama’s biggest audience yet, topping 5 million viewers--impressive results given that the pay channel is available in roughly a fourth as many homes as the major networks.

Cable Top 10

Here are Nielsen’s top 10 cable programs in prime time last week, also ranked by total viewers (in millions).

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Program Network Viewers 1. Wrestling (Mon., 9 p.m.) USA 7.36 2. Wrestling (Mon., 10 p.m.) USA 7.01 3. “City of Angels” HBO 5.22 4. The Sopranos HBO 5.21 5. Wrestling (Mon., 8 p.m.) TNT 4.57 6. Wrestling (Sun., 7 p.m.) USA 4.18 7. Rugrats NICK 4.07 8. Walker, Texas Ranger USA 3.86 9. Wild Thornberrys NICK 3.76 10. “Great Expectations” HBO 3.75

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Network Averages

Here is the number of viewers that each network averaged per hour of prime time, for last week and for the season.

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Last week Season to date CBS 13.27 million 13.18 NBC 11.72 12.72 ABC 10.14 12.15 FOX 8.41 10.96 WB 3.69 4.58 UPN 2.70 2.77

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Southland Viewing

Here are Nielsen’s Top 10 prime-time programs in the Los Angeles area during the same week. The rankings are based on the number of households watching.

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Program Station Households 1. Friends KNBC 872,967 2. Jesse KNBC 795,941 3. Frasier KNBC 785,670 4. Veronica’s Closet KNBC 754,860 5. “The Secret Path” KCBS 657,293 6. Dateline NBC (Tue.) KNBC 652,158 7. Dateline NBC (Fri.) KNBC 636,752 8. The Norm Show KABC 626,482 9. ER KNBC 590,537 10. Futurama KTTV 580,266 60 Minutes KCBS 580,266 Touched by an Angel KCBS 580,266

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