“Deal” good for NBC, “Apprentice” underwhelms

By Cynthia Littleton

LOS ANGELES (Hollywood Reporter) – Howie Mandel was hot,
the Donald was not Monday as NBC unveiled its revamped lineup
for the night now that the 2006 Winter Olympics are finito.

The return of game show “Deal or No Deal,” which impressed
in its initial five-night airing in December, pulled in solid
numbers to win the 8 p.m. time slot for NBC with an average of
13.5 million viewers and 4.5/12 in the adults 18-49
demographic, according to preliminary estimates from Nielsen
Media Research.

“Deal,” hosted by comedian Mandel, will air five
consecutive episodes this week through Friday before setting
into its regular once-a-week Monday 8 p.m. time slot as of next
week. The show challenges contestants to figure out which one
of 26 identical briefcases contains a stash of $1 million – a
bounty that will climb to $3 million by Friday. The second half
of Monday’s opening installment climbed to 14.7 million viewers
and 5.1/13 in the demo from 8:30-9 p.m.

At 9 p.m., NBC lost momentum with the premiere of the fifth
incarnation of “Apprentice,” relocated to Monday from the
Thursday 9 p.m. slot that had been its home since its January
2004 debut. The Donald Trump-hosted “Apprentice” finished out
with 9 million viewers and 4.0/9 in adults 18-49.

CBS’ 9 p.m. anchor “Two and a Half Men” (17.3 million,
5.8/13) surged from its 8:30 p.m. lead-in, “How I Met Your
Mother” (9.8 million, 3.5/9), to take the first battle of the 9
p.m. hour, but CBS slipped at 9:30 p.m. with rookie comedy
“Courting Alex” (14 million, 4.7/11). Fox won the 9 p.m. war
overall in the key demo with “24″ (13.7 million, 5.5/13), which
got no help from the 8 p.m. “Skating with Celebrities” finale
(8.7 million, 2.8/7).

ABC, meanwhile, finally saw some life return to “The
Bachelor” (11.5 million, 5.1/12) with its 9-11 p.m. finale,
particularly the final hour (12.8 million, 5.8/14). “Bachelor”
seemed to take some of the usual spring out of the step of CBS’
10 p.m. stalwart “CSI: Miami” (18 million, 6.0/15) but the
drama still took its time slot and ranked as the night’s top
show in both key measures. NBC’s “Medium” (10.4 million,
3.9/10) did only so-so business with its first fresh episode in
weeks.

When all was said and done, CBS took the night by a
comfortable margin in viewers (14.7 million) and adults 18-49
(5.0/12). ABC was No. 2 in the demo (4.7/11) while Fox nosed
past NBC for second place in total viewers (Fox’s 11.3 million
to NBC’s 11.2 million).

Reuters/Hollywood Reporter