The Programming Insider: Monday 2/11/02

Primetime Metered Market Ratings

Friday 2/8/02

Friday 2/8/02

Household Rating/Share
NBC (28.1/42), CBS (5.4/8), ABC (4.2/6), Fox (3.5/5),
UPN (2.8/4), WB (2.5/4), PAX (1.0/1)

Since the 2002 Salt Lake City Winter Olympics on NBC is poised to crush the competition over the next two and a half weeks, I am forgoing the usual winner and loser program listings until the games are over. Consider the Olympics a winner every night with ABC, CBS, Fox, UPN, the WB and PAX all grasping for the leftover audience.

-Ratings Breakdown:
In what looks like the precursor to a significantly rated Winter Olympics franchise, the Salt Lake City Opening Ceremony on NBC scored a whopping 28.1/42 in primetime in the overnights -- 49 percent above the opening ceremony for the Winter Olympics on CBS in 1998 (18.9/30). Compared to the other five networks combined (18.4) NBC was up by 53 percent. Nationally, the opening ceremony averaged a 25.5 rating with 72 million viewers -- the highest rated Winter or Summer Olympics Opening Ceremony telecast in television history.

Take a look at the comparative Olympics Opening Ceremony historical track:

Winter
2002 Salt Lake City (NBC) 25.5/42
1998 Nagano (CBS) 17.1/29
1994 Lillehammer (CBS) 20.9/34
1992 Albertville (CBS) 14.5/24
1988 Calgary (ABC) 14.4/35
1984 Sarajevo (ABC) 17.2/27
1980 Lake Placid (ABC) 10.2/31
1976 Innsbruck (ABC) 23.2/37
1972 Sapporo (NBC) 19.1/33
1968 Grenoble (ABC) 2.9/20
1964 Innsbruck (ABC) 12.3/25
1960 Squaw Valley (CBS) 24.2/37

Summer
2000 Sydney (NBC) 16.2/29
1996 Atlanta (NBC) 23.6/45
1992 Barcelona (NBC) 13.8/29
1988 Seoul (NBC) 15.2/29
1984 Los Angeles (ABC) 23.9/48
1976 Montreal (ABC) 11.1/39
1972 Munich (ABC) 6.5/28
1968 Mexico City (ABC) 8.8/34

Settling for second -- a very distant second, that is -- was CBS with its combination of JAG (R 5.2/8), First Monday (5.3/8) and 48 Hours (5.8/8). On ABC, America's Funniest Home Videos (5.0/8) led into a repeat of theatrical Patch Adams (3.8/5) from 9-11 p.m.

On Fox, repeats of That'70s Show (3.7/6) and Malcolm in the Middle (3.3/5) led into a 3.5/5 for Dark Angel in its recently relocated 9 p.m. time period. Over at UPN, a repeat of theatrical Space Jam (2.8/4) bested repeat made-for Sabrina Goes to Rome on the