‘Survivor’ Helps Keep CBS in First, but Just Barely

“Survivor: The Australian Outback” was the most-watched series for the third consecutive week, pacing CBS to a narrow overall victory, based on viewing estimates issued Wednesday by Nielsen Media Research.

Though “Survivor” is bringing in younger viewers, CBS still settled for fourth place among the 18-to-49 age bracket coveted by advertisers. NBC finished first by that measure and Fox second, as David Duchovny’s appearance lifted “The X-Files” to its highest rating in a year, bad news for the competing Sunday movies “The Ballad of Lucy Whipple” and “The Princess and the Marine.”

ABC’s “These Old Broads,” a made-for-TV movie starring Shirley MacLaine and Elizabeth Taylor, also split along demographic lines, ranking 22nd in total viewing but 58th among adults 18 to 49.

NBC’s XFL football league, meanwhile, continues to lose yardage in general. Viewership of Saturday’s game slipped 30% from the previous week--below NBC’s modest preseason projections--and fell more than 70% compared to the league’s much-hyped debut. The Fox special “Barbra Streisand: Timeless” also hit a off-key note, attracting about half the audience the network had been reaching with “Temptation Island” in the same Wednesday slot, while NBC’s “The West Wing” and ABC’s “The Drew Carey Show” both experienced ratings surges.

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National Nielsen Viewership

Here are the rankings for national prime-time network television last week (Feb. 12-18) as compiled by Nielsen Media Research. They are based on the average number of people who watched a program from start to finish. Nielsen estimates that there are 260 million potential U.S. viewers age 2 and older. Viewership is listed here in millions.

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Program Net- View- work ers 1. Survivor II CBS 28.23 2. ER NBC 26.19 3. “Friends Outtakes” NBC 22.50 4. CSI CBS 21.95 5. Friends NBC 21.75 6. The Practice ABC 20.65 7. Law & Order NBC 20.07 8. Millionaire (Sun.) ABC 19.84 9. Will & Grace NBC 19.18 10. Every. Loves Raymond CBS 18.56 11. The West Wing NBC 18.40 12. Millionaire (Wed.) ABC 17.91 13. The Drew Carey Show ABC 17.56 14. Millionaire (Fri.) ABC 16.94 15. Millionaire (Thur.) ABC 16.88 16. 60 Minutes CBS 16.23 17. The X-Files FOX 16.10 18. Just Shoot Me NBC 16.06 19. Malcolm in the Middle FOX 15.80 20. Becker CBS 15.55 21. The Simpsons FOX 15.39 22. “These Old Broads” ABC 15.19 23. JAG CBS 15.15 24. Judging Amy CBS 14.70 25. Frasier NBC 14.69 26. The District CBS 14.33 27. NYPD Blue ABC 14.12 28. Law & Order: SVU NBC 14.11 29. Touched by an Angel CBS 13.98 30. Spin City ABC 13.61 31. Boston Public FOX 13.40 32. Providence NBC 12.96 33. King of Queens CBS 12.93 34. 48 Hours (Mon.) CBS 12.85 35. “The Ballad of Lucy Whipple” CBS 12.84 36. Dharma & Greg ABC 12.80 37. 20/20 (Fri.) ABC 12.76 . Yes, Dear CBS 12.76 39. Dateline: NBC (Fri.) NBC 12.71 40. 60 Minutes II CBS 12.56 41. Third Watch NBC 12.54 42. That ‘70s Show FOX 12.42 43. Ally McBeal FOX 12.32 44. Ed NBC 12.19 45. The Mole ABC 11.65 46. Three Sisters NBC 11.36 47. Dateline: NBC (Mon.) NBC 11.24 48. Primetime Thursday ABC 11.08 49. Walker, Texas Ranger CBS 11.05 50. Titus FOX 10.91 51. Nash Bridges CBS 10.66 52. “Everafter” ABC 10.62 hip is listed here in millions.

53. “Princess and the Marine” NBC 10.41 54. Dark Angel FOX 10.39 55. King of the Hill FOX 10.07 56. Cops (8:30 p.m.) FOX 10.03 57. The Geena Davis Show ABC 10.00 58. “Crocodile Hunter” NBC 9.50 Diagnosis Murder CBS 9.50 60. Police Videos FOX 9.44 61. “Dr. Doolittle” ABC 9.39 62. Cops FOX 9.34 63. Dateline: NBC (Tue.) NBC 9.11 64. 48 Hours CBS 8.88 65. “Barbra Streisand: Timeless” FOX 8.75 66. Police Videos (9 p.m.) FOX 8.52 67. Every. Loves Raymond (Sat.) CBS 8.49 68. “All New Bloopers” ABC 8.46 69. Once and Again ABC 8.35 Dag NBC 8.35 71. America’s Most Wanted FOX 8.32 72. Futurama FOX 8.29 73. The Fugitive CBS 8.14 74. Gideon’s Crossing ABC 7.95 75. That’s Life CBS 7.88 76. “Haven,” Part 2 CBS 7.84 77. Whose Line Is It? (8:30) ABC 7.39 78. 3rd Rock From the Sun NBC 7.32 79. Whose Line Is It? ABC 7.21 80. WWF Smackdown! UPN 7.04 81. Dateline: NBC (Sun.) NBC 6.94 82. Two Guys and a Girl ABC 6.81

83. Norm ABC 6.60 84. 7th Heaven WB 6.35 85. “Conspiracy Theory/Moon” FOX 6.02 86. Charmed WB 5.15 87. “Animal Rescues 3” FOX 5.05 88. Buffy, the Vampire Slayer WB 4.90 89. Star Trek: Voyager UPN 4.63 90. XFL Football NBC 4.52 91. Angel WB 4.51 92. The Parkers UPN 4.10 93. Dawson’s Creek WB 3.95 94. Popstars WB 3.91 Moesha UPN 3.91 96. The Hughleys UPN 3.90 97. “How Stella Got Her Groove” UPN 3.88 98. Girlfriends UPN 3.58 99. Steve Harvey Show (8:30) WB 3.26 100. Gilmore Girls WB 3.16 “Kiss the Bride” WB 3.16 102. Sabrina, the Teenage Witch WB 2.99 103. Steve Harvey Show (8 p.m.) WB 2.96 104. 7 Days UPN 2.84 105. Nikki WB 2.80 106. “Cheating Spouses 2” UPN 2.76 107. Jack & Jill WB 2.62 108. The PJs WB 2.35 109. Grosse Point (Fri.) WB 2.26 110. XFL Football (Sun.) UPN 2.13 111. The Jamie Foxx Show WB 2.10 112. Grosse Pointe (Sun.) WB 2.03 113. Gary & Mike UPN 1.90 114. Celebrity Deathmatch UPN 1.80

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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 Season week to date CBS 12.99 million 12.54 ABC 12.64 13.06 NBC 12.09 12.19 FOX 10.21 9.99 UPN 3.70 3.95 WB 3.70 3.95

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