ABC’s Who Wants to Be a Millionaire remained a dominant force in the summer ratings last week as three episodes of the quiz show once again nabbed the top three positions on the Nielsen list. While the upper tier of the list included mostly quiz shows and news magazines, with reruns of sitcoms and dramas getting scant attention, there were notable exceptions. CBS assigned four half hours of its Monday night lineup to reruns of the hit comedy Everybody Loves Raymond. Two episodes landed in the top ten; the two others finished in the top 20. And although dramas ordinarily perform especially poorly during the rerun season (E.R. was 36th on last week’s list), NBC’s Law & Order and CBS’s CSI both made the top ten. However, TV viewers hoping to see a return of the summer variety series were disappointed when The Wayne Brady Show, which finished at No. 8 following its debut last week (and No. 1 among 18-49-year-olds) dropped to No. 24 in its second outing. ABC and CBS tied for first place for the week with an average 5.5 rating and a 10 share. NBC was third with a 5.4/10, followed by Fox with a 3.7/7.
The top ten shows of the week according to Nielsen Research:
1. Who Wants to Be a Millionaire (Tuesday), ABC, 9.5/17; 2. Millionaire (Sunday), ABC, 9.1/15; 3. Millionaire (Thursday), ABC, 8.7/14; 4. Law and Order, NBC, 8.6/15; 5. 20/20 (Friday), ABC, 8.0/15; 6. 60 Minutes, CBS, 7.8/15; 7. Everybody Loves Raymond (9:30 p.m.), CBS, 7.7/13; 7. Primetime Thursday, ABC, 7.7/13; 9. Everybody Loves Raymond (9:00 p.m.), CBS, 7.6/13; 10. CSI: Crime Scene Investigation, CBS, 7.4/13.
