Tuesday, November 30, 1999

'Millionaire' puts ABC at the top of ratings heap

ABC must wait two more days for the final answer to the November sweeps jackpot question. Fueled by the phenomenally successful game show "Who Wants to Be a Millionaire," the alphabet network is expected to come out on top in the ratings race. But a last-minute flurry of music specials from CBS, and ABC's unspectacular college-football telecast on Saturday night have narrowed ABC's lead.
   Going into the final two nights of November sweeps prime time, ABC has just a 0.4 ratings-point edge over NBC in the advertiser-friendly 18-49 viewer demographic. If it holds through Wednesday, ABC will win its first sweeps month in the key demo group since November 1994.
   "Millionaire" ended its 18-night juggernaut last Wednesday with 29.6 million viewers tuning in on what is usually a low-viewership night due to holiday travel. Last Tuesday's episode of the show attracted 26.64 million viewers, ABC's second-highest viewer total in that timeslot in more than six years. In the crowded network TV landscape, only NBC's "ER" has been drawing numbers like that recently.
   "Millionaire" is due to return in January, though it's uncertain whether the network will run it for a limited number of consecutive nights or as a once-a-week regular series.
   CBS' Thanksgiving week music spectaculars served up some tasty ratings for that network. Concerts by Celine Dion, Shania Twain and Ricky Martin last week raised that network's viewer averages by 52 percent, 183 percent and 75 percent, respectively. Shania drew the most viewers, with 18.29 million, followed by 12.39 million for Celine and 11.58 million for Ricky. But the ratings surge probably came too late to boost CBS higher than fourth for November sweeps.
   The projected standings in the key demos as of Saturday were ABC with a 5.9 rating (up 23 percent), NBC with a 5.5 rating (down 8 percent), Fox with a 4.8 (down 17 percent) and CBS with a 3.8 (down 3 percent). Each ratings point represents 1.24 million viewers.
   NBC suffered ratings erosion on its usually reliable Thursday night shows ("Friends," "Frasier" and "ER") and aired some tepid movies and miniseries in November, including "Mary, Mother of Jesus" and "The Magical Legend of the Leprechauns."
   And what's happened to Fox? It put its only hot new series, the edgy sitcom "Action," on the bench for sweeps, replacing it with the gaudy game show "Greed." "Ally McBeal" has all but abandoned its quirky courtroom plots in favor of spankings, girl-girl smooching and carwash canoodling. "X-Files" returned with who-cares stuff about Mulder's black-oil disease. The long-awaited kiss between Mulder and Scully happens this coming Sunday, too late for sweeps hype.
   Big movie month
   National box office receipts for November reached an all-time high of $566.1 million, an 8 percent jump over last year's $523.8 million. It's only the second time the $500 million mark has been crossed in November.
   Moviegoers were especially keen on cartoons. "Pokemon the First Movie" was the highest grossing movie of the month, bringing in nearly $78 million. But its take has dropped off dramatically with each week it's in release.
   "Toy Story 2" posted a record $81 million over the five-day Thanksgiving holiday. This sequel about talking toys is shattering box-office records and looks to become one of the most-watched movies of the holiday season.
   The new 007 thriller, "The World Is Not Enough," has recorded $76.3 million at the box office so far. "Sleepy Hollow" has posted a $62.1 million total.
   "The Bone Collector," starring Denzel Washington, has been out for four weeks and racked up close to $54 million in ticket sales.
   "End of Days," the Schwarzenegger millennium fright flick, did about $31 million in its first week of release.
  
  
  

 
Index of Elaine's columns | Arts & Entertainment | Restaurant Reviews | Best Bets: Today - The Week | Columns | Home Page

---

  © 1999 Corpus Christi Caller Times, a Scripps Howard newspaper. All rights reserved.