The Programming Insider: Thursday 12/15/04

THE PROGRAMMING INSIDER
Thursday, Dec. 16, 2004

Primetime Wednesday Ratings:
Big 3 Horse Race Based on the Overnights; UPN on the Rise

Wednesday 12/15/04
Metered Market Ratings

Note: The following ratings exclude the Los Angeles, Seattle, Phoenix, San Diego, Portland, Las Vegas, Albuquerque, Richmond and West Palm Beach markets.

HH
Rtg/Shr
NBC 8.5/13
CBS 8.4/13
ABC 8.0/12
UPN 4.8/ 7
Fox 4.6/ 7
WB 2.3/ 3

-Percent Change from the Year-Ago Evening (Wednesday 12/17/03):
UPN: +109, CBS: +22, NBC: -10, ABC: -11, WB: -12, Fox: -35

-----

Note: The fast affiliate ratings were not available at press time.

-----

-Yesterday's Winners:
America's Next Top Model (UPN), Lost R (ABC), The West Wing (NBC), King of Queens (CBS), CSI: NY (CBS)

-Dead-on-Arrival:
Big Man on Campus (WB)

-Sinking Fast:
That '70s Show (Fox)

-Additional Losers:
Quintuplets (Fox)

-And America's Next Top Model is…
…19-year-old Eva, who beat the odds and ended up the third winner of the underrated UPN reality series. Hopefully she won't fade into oblivion like former top models Adrienne Curry and Yoanna House.

-Ratings Breakdown:
Although the first half of a two-hour repeat of ABC's Lost (8.7/13) won the 8 p.m. hour in the overnights, the big story was the season-finale of America's Next Top Model on UPN at a season high (and fourth-place) 6.0/ 9. Comparably, that was an advantage, on average, of 54 percent over Fox sitcoms That '70s Show (4.5/ 7) and Quintuplets (3.3/ 5), and 114 percent above a repeat of the WB's Smallville (2.8/ 4). Once the nationals are released, expect America's Next Top Model to dominate the hour in young female demographics. Next up on UPN in the Wednesday 8 p.m. hour: The Road to Stardom With Missy Elliott effective on Jan. 5.

Also in the 8 p.m. hour were CBS' older-skewing 60 Minutes (6.3/10), and a repeat of NBC special The Seinfeld Story (6.3/10). As a reminder, the fast affiliate ratings were not available at press time.

At 9 p.m., although NBC's rejuvenated The West Wing (#1: 10.0/15) dominated in the overnights, keep an eye on CBS' The King of Queens (which was third with