NEW YORK (AP) -- Is there anything else on TV? ABC won the prime-time Nielsens ratings race for the 10th week in a row thanks to -- you guessed it -- "Who Wants to Be a Millionaire."
The five episodes that ABC aired were easily the week's five most-watched programs. None drew less than 28 million viewers, and Wednesday's edition had almost 32 million. No other program last week was seen by more than 19 million people.It also helped that NBC's competing miniseries, "The 10th Kingdom," was a flop. None of the three episodes that aired last week drew more than 11 million viewers. The continued ratings weakness of NBA basketball is also siphoning off viewers for NBC on Sundays.
Fox's airing of the "TV Guide Awards" proved the public doesn't have an unlimited appetite for awards shows. It ranked No. 72 for the week, weakening Fox on a night the network is usually strong.
CBS's "Grapevine" had a middling premiere Monday, drawing more than 6 million fewer viewers than its lead-in, "Everybody Loves Raymond."
For the week, ABC had a prime-time average of 16.6 million viewers (10.9 rating, 18 share), CBS had 12.1 million viewers (8.5, 14), NBC had 10.8 million (7.5, 12) and Fox had 8.9 million (5.9, 9). UPN had 3.8 million viewers (2.6, 4), the WB was at 3.4 million (2.5, 4) and Pax TV had 980,000 viewers (0.7, 1).
A rating point represents 1,008,000 households, or 1 percent of the nation's estimated 100.8 million TV homes. The share is the percentage of in-use televisions tuned to a given show.
For the week of Feb. 28-March 5, the top 10 shows, their networks and ratings were:
1. "Who Wants to Be a Millionaire" (Wednesday), ABC, 20.7; 2. "Millionaire" (Tuesday), ABC, 20.0; 3. "Millionaire" (Monday), ABC, 18.8; 4. "Millionaire" (Thursday), ABC, 18.4; 5. "Millionaire (Sunday), ABC, 17.5; 6. "60 Minutes," CBS, 13.9; 7. "Friends," NBC, 12.6; 8. "Law & Order," NBC, 12.5; 9. "Drew Carey," ABC, 12.0; 10. "Everybody Loves Raymond," CBS, 11.6.