• E-mail
• Print
• Comment
• Font Size
• Digg
• del.icio.us
• Discuss article

Reality Rules Amid Reruns

Posted on: Wednesday, 1 August 2007, 06:04 CDT

By Gary Levin

*Strong performers. Reality competitions dominated a week otherwise filled with scripted reruns, taking six of the top 10. NBC's America's Got Talent (9.8 million) and Singing Bee (9.5 million) led, though Bee dropped again (from the first two weeks' 13.3 million and 11 million). But Fox's Don't Forget the Lyrics (8.8 million) grew from last week (8.4 million), and in young adults, Hell's Kitchen was dominant (5.5 million ages 18-49).

*Encore, encore! CBS' scripted series and 60 Minutes, ever reliable in reruns, took the other four top 10 spots, making CBS the week's top network in viewers. Fox was the top performer in young adults.

*Uneventful goodbye. The season finale of ABC's The Next Best Thing, a celebrity-impersonation contest, drew 7.1 million viewers, not too far below its modest early June premiere (7.7 million).

*Charlie's back. And ABC World News (7.5 million) is back on top after a one-week break in its recent run as anchor Charlie Gibson took a vacation. NBC Nightly News was second (7.2 million); CBS Evening News was last (5.9 million).

*Dynamic duo. TNT's Saving Grace, with 6.4 million, premiered at No. 2 on prime-time cable. (NASCAR on ESPN Sunday afternoon drew 6.6 million.) The Holly Hunter drama was helped by its Monday lead-in, The Closer, at 7.3 million cable's No. 1. The premiere of FX's Damages, starring Glenn Close, drew 3.7 million viewers.

*Bite mark. Discovery Channel kicked off Shark Week on Sunday (4.2 million) with a Top 20 cable performance.

*Where's Paula? Bravo's Hey Paula, starring American Idol's Paula Abdul, attracted a paltry 272,000 viewers, less than half of its weak July premiere (619,000).

*Younger set. Nickelodeon's SpongeBob SquarePants (just under 5 million Saturday morning) and Disney's Hannah Montana (4.9 million Sunday night) continue to show strong appeal among viewers of all ages. And the umpteenth repeat of Disney's High School Musical attracted a strong 4.4 million on Monday afternoon, boding well for High School Musical 2, which premieres Aug. 17 (8 ET/PT).

By Bill Keveney (c) Copyright 2005 USA TODAY, a division of Gannett Co. Inc.

Source: USA TODAY

More News in this Category