Simpson, Jackson Draw Top Weekend Ratings

NEW YORK – Television viewers didn’t abandon their sets during a spring holiday weekend – just ask Jessica Simpson and Janet Jackson.

Struggling ABC had a rare ratings winner with the Easter variety special starring Simpson and husband Nick Lachey. The 11.5 million audience was relatively modest, but it enabled ABC to win Sunday night among young viewers craved by advertisers.

Jackson’s guest-host appearance on NBC’s “Saturday Night Live” helped that show to its best performance since Al Gore was on in December 2002, according to preliminary Nielsen Media Research ratings.

As if Donald Trump’s self-image needed any help, “The Apprentice” hit a milestone last week by outdrawing producer Mark Burnett’s other creation, “Survivor.”

Peter Jennings’ three-hour special on Jesus and Paul drew 11.2 million viewers last Monday. While not up to the 16.6 million audience for Jennings’ “In Search of Jesus” special in 2000, it was still a strong showing for ABC.

CBS won the week in prime time, averaging 11 million viewers (7.2 rating, 12 share). NBC was second with 10.2 million viewers, but won among the 18-to-49-year-old demographic.

Fox had 8.6 million viewers (5.3, 9), ABC 7.7 million (5.0, 9), the WB and UPN both had 2.7 million (The WB: 1.9, 3; UPN: 1.8, 3) and Pax TV 1 million (0.7, 1).

NBC’s “Nightly News” won the evening news ratings race, averaging 8.9 million viewers (6.4 rating, 14 share). ABC’s “World News Tonight” had 8.4 million (6.0, 13) and the “CBS Evening News” had 6.6 million (4.8, 10).

A ratings point represents 1,084,000 households, or 1 percent of the nation’s estimated 108.4 million TV homes. The share is the percentage of in-use televisions tuned to a given show.

For the week of April 5-11, the top 10 shows, their networks and viewerships: “American Idol” (Tuesday), Fox, 23.5 million; “The Apprentice,” NBC, 22 million; “Survivor: All-Stars,” CBS, 20.8 million; “American Idol” (Wednesday), Fox, 20.6 million; “ER,” NBC, 20 million; “CSI: Crime Scene Investigation,” CBS, 19.5 million; NCAA Men’s Basketball Championship: Georgia Tech vs. Connecticut, CBS, 17.1 million; “The Swan,” Fox, 15 million; “Friends,” NBC, 13.8 million; “Without a Trace,” CBS, 13.8 million.

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On the Net:

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