Thursdays Overnights

Percent Change From the Year Ago Night (Thursday, Nov. 7, 2002): ABC: +40, CBS: +11, WB: + 4, UPN: - 9, Fox: -15, NBC: -18

 Yesterday’s Winners: Friends (NBC), Survivor: Pearl Islands (CBS), CSI (CBS), Will & Grace (NBC), ER (NBC)

 Honorable Mention: Without A Trace (CBS)

 Yesterday’s Losers: Tru Calling (Fox), Jamie Kennedy Experiment (WB), What I Like About You (WB), Run of the House (WB), Primetime Thursday (ABC)

 Ratings Breakdown: In what remains a two-network race, although CBS only ranked first in the 9 p.m. hour, a 20.6/29 for blockbuster CSI was still enough to give the Eye net an overall 14 percent advantage over NBC. At 8 p.m., two episodes of NBC’s Friends (8 p.m. #1: 15.7/23, 8:30 p.m. R 14.3/20) bested CBS’s potent Survivor: Pearl Islands (#2: 12.5/18) by an average 20 percent while NBC veteran ER (15.5/23) had a nine percent advantage over CBS’s Without A Trace (#2: 14.2/22) at 10 p.m. On the year ago night, ER (18.3/28 on Nov. 7, 2002) beat Without A Trace (11.1/17) by 65 percent. Also on the year ago evening, a one-hour episode of Friends averaged an 18.9/27. Interesting.

At 9 p.m., although NBC’s Will & Grace stood tough opposite CSI with a 12.3/17, lead-out Scrubs dipped to a 9.4/13 — 24 percent below Will & Grace. Although some of those viewers headed to the conclusion of CSI (which went from a 19.8/28 to a 21.3/30 from 9 p.m. to 9:30 p.m.), ABC’s Extreme Makeover, which started at a 5.8/ 8 and increased to a 7.5/11, is also to blame. For the hour, Extreme Makeover averaged a 6.6/10, which comparably was 65 percent above the second hour of year ago movie Galaxy Quest (4.0/ 5 on Nov. 7, 2002). How’s that for a makeover?

At 10 p.m., not only did ABC’s Primetime Thursday rank a distant third with a 5.5/ 9, it dipped 20 percent in the second half hour (6.1/ 9 to 4.9/ 8).

Earlier in the evening, week two of Fox’s Tru Calling sunk to a 3.4/ 5 at 8 p.m. (17 percent below last week’s already dismal 4.1/ 6) while ABC’s just full season renewed Threat Matrix perked up a bit to a third place 5.8/ 8.

At 9 p.m., and sticking with Fox, a repeat of The O.C. could have used an O.R. with a fifth place 2.4/ 3.

Elsewhere, and there wasn’t much left, UPN’s WWE Smackdown! (4.1/ 6) outdelivered the WB’s weak combination of Steve Harvey’s Big Time (#5: 3.4/ 5), Jamie Kennedy Experiment (#6: 2.9/ 4), What I Like About You (#6: 2.1/ 3) and Run of the House (1.8/ 3) by 64 percent.

CABLE Overnights (With percent change versus the comparable year ago night in parentheses)

Entertainment: TNT: 2.5 (+56), USA: 1.4 (+17), Lifetime: 1.2 (-40), TBS: 1.0 (- 9), FX: 0.6 (+50), Spike TV: 0.6 (+20)

News: Fox News: 1.4 (-12), CNN: 0.7 (-30), MSNBC: 0.3 (-25), CNBC: 0.2 (no change), HLN: 0.1 (-50)

Source: Nielsen Media Research

Nov. 2003 Ratings Update: CBS and NBC Lead After One Week

Although CBS and NBC splitting leadership comes as no surprise (CBS is first in households and viewers with NBC #1 among adults 18-49 after one week), CBS has narrowed the gap among adults 18-49 thanks, in particular, to the success of Wednesday’s CMA Awards. Elsewhere, and this includes NBC, year-to-year erosion remains the unfortunate pattern with Fox and the WB the hardest hit.

Here are the results from Thursday, Oct. 30 to Wednesday, Nov. 5, 2003:

 Households: CBS: 9.8/16 (+10), NBC: 7.7/13 (- 7), ABC: 6.5/11 (- 4), Fox: 4.8/ 8 (- 8), WB: 2.8/ 4 (- 7), UPN: 2.4/ 4 (- 4)

 Viewers: CBS: 15.12 million (+11), NBC: 11.60 (- 8), ABC: 9.88 (- 8), Fox: 7.48 (-12), WB: 4.10 (-15), UPN: 3.59 (-11)

 Adults 18-49: NBC: 4.5/12 (- 8), CBS: 4.1/11 (- 5), ABC: 3.5/10 (-15), Fox: 3.2/ 9 (-16), WB: 1.6/ 4 (-24), UPN: 1.5/ 4 (-12)

Source: Nielsen Media Research