Clinton, Dole boost ratings
 |
Clinton, left, and Dole appeared on CBS' "Early Show" last week to promote their "60 Minutes" gig.
Story Tools
WEEKLY NIELSEN TOP 10 | Prime-time ratings compiled by Nielsen Media Research for March 3-9.
1. "Survivor: Amazon," CBS, 23.3
2. "CSI: Crime Scene Investigation," CBS, 22.9
3. "American Idol-Tuesday," Fox, 18.7
4. "American Idol-Wednesday," Fox, 18.0
5. "60 Minutes," CBS, 17.0
6. "Everybody Loves Raymond," CBS, 16.8
7. "Fear Factor," NBC, 16.3
8. "Friends-Monday 2," NBC, 15.6
9. "Law & Order: Criminal Intent," NBC, 15.0
10. "Still Standing," CBS, 14.5
|
|
|
|
NEW YORK (AP) -- Bill Clinton and Bob Dole had some drawing power in their debut as "60 Minutes" combatants -- but not a lot.
Their first debate segment, about the wisdom of a tax cut with war looming, was seen by 17 million on Sunday night. That was enough to make the venerable newsmagazine No. 5 in last week's ratings, according to Nielsen Media Research.
That was only 700,000 viewers more than the previous week, before former President Clinton and his 1996 election challenger joined. The season average for "60 Minutes" is 14.4 million, and the show is 22nd in season-to-date rankings.
TV critics came down hard on the first segment, with some saying it was stilted and suffered from the two politicians not being in the studio together.
In a week sprinkled with reruns, the most-watched show on each of the four major networks was a reality series: "Survivor: Amazon" on CBS (also the week's top-ranked show); "American Idol" on Fox; "Fear Factor" on NBC; and "I'm a Celebrity, Get Me Out of Here!" on ABC.
CBS won a close race for the week, averaging 11 million viewers (7.2 rating, 12 share), beating NBC's 10.7 million (7.1, 12). Fox was third with 10.1 million (6.0, 10), but again won the coveted 18-to-49-year-old age demographic. ABC averaged 8.7 million (5.4, 9), the WB had 3.6 million (2.4, 4), UPN had 3.2 million (2.1, 3) and Pax TV had 1.1 million (0.8, 1).
NBC's "Nightly News" won the evening news ratings race, averaging 11.1 million viewers (7.8 rating, 15 share). ABC's "World News Tonight" was second, averaging 10.7 million viewers (7.5, 15) and the "CBS Evening News' had 8.7 million (6.0, 11).
A ratings point represents 1,067,000 households, or 1 percent of the nation's estimated 106.7 million TV homes. The share is the percentage of in-use televisions tuned to a given show.
Copyright 2003 The
Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
