Posted on 07/10/2002 4:31:01 AM PDT by tdadams
NEW YORK (AP) - In probably the only time they will ever compete with one another, Rob Lowe can say he beat Peter Jennings.
Lowe was host of NBC's Fourth of July coverage of fireworks from New York City, which drew 7.9 million viewers, making it 28th for the week in the Nielsen Media Research rankings.
Meanwhile, ABC's ambitious Independence Day special with Jennings ranked a dismal 66th, with 4.6 million viewers.
Jennings' music special was the one that created a small controversy with country music fans, when singer Toby Keith complained that he wasn't booked to sing his Sept. 11-themed song, "Courtesy of the Red, White and Blue (The Angry American)."
The July Fourth week traditionally is one of the least-watched television weeks of the year.
For the week, CBS averaged 8.3 million viewers (5.7 rating, 11 share), NBC averaged 7.3 million (5.0, 11), Fox had 5.9 million (3.6, 7), ABC had 5.2 million (3.5, 7), UPN had 2.2 million (1.5, 3), the WB had 2.1 million (1.4, 3) and Pax TV had 1.1 million (0.7, 1)
NBC's "Nightly News" won the evening news ratings race with 9.3 million viewers (6.7 rating, 15 share). ABC's "World News Tonight" had 9 million (6.2, 14) and the "CBS Evening News" had 7.8 million (5.5, 12).
A ratings point represents 1,055,000 households, or 1 percent of the nation's estimated 105.5 million TV homes. The share is the percentage of in-use televisions tuned to a given show.
For the week of July 1-7, the top 10 shows, their networks and ratings: "60 Minutes," CBS, 8.6; "Everybody Loves Raymond," CBS, 7.9; Movie: "A Time to Kill," CBS, 7.7; "48 Hours-Monday," CBS, 7.4; "Dateline NBC-Tuesday," NBC, 7.4; "Becker," CBS, 7.3; "Law & Order," NBC, 6.6; "Law & Order: Criminal Intent," NBC, 6.6; "Crime & Punishment," NBC, 6.3; Movie: "Murder, She Wrote: South by Southwest," CBS, 6.2.
At least I got some good laughs out of ABC running advertisements on ABC radio (the local Rush Limbaugh AM station) saying how supposedly wonderful he is - BWAHAHAHAHA!
The BEST laugh was due to realizing the ads were the direct result of his loss of rating due to his anti-Bush remarks on 9/11!!
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