For those of you living under a rock since January, we hereby inform you that “Who Wants to Be a Millionaire” is a very popular show. So popular, in fact, that it took ABC from worst to first among the Big Three networks and claimed one-third of the Top 10 spots for the just-concluded season. The 1999-2000 TV year ended Wednesday. (Hence, all those reruns on last night.) And with the wrap comes the wrapup.
ABC won the network race, with an average of 14.27 million primetime viewers per night — a 20 percent increase over last year. CBS took second with 12.42 million. NBC was third with 12.34 million.
Fox was the biggest bust, off 17 percent from its 1998-99 season, with an average of 8.97 million viewers.
Here’s a rundown of the Top 10 primetime shows for the 1999-2000 season. (Each rating point represents a little more than 1 million TV homes.):
1. “Who Wants to be a Millionaire” (Tuesday), ABC — 18.7 2. “Who Wants to be a Millionaire” (Thursday), ABC — 17.5 3. “Who Wants to be a Millionaire” (Sunday), ABC — 17.1 4. “ER,” NBC — 16.9 5. “Friends,” NBC — 14.0 6. “NFL Monday Night Football,” ABC — 13.7 7. “Frasier” (9 p.m., Thursday), NBC — 13.6 8. “Frasier” (9:30 p.m., Thursday), NBC — 12.4 9. “60 Minutes,” CBS — 12.0 10. “The Practice,” ABC — 11.8
