The Los Angeles Times from Los Angeles, California • Page 222

F10 WEDNESDAY, DECEMBER 5, 2001 EOS ANGELES TIMES Bounced by Nielsen: Oh, Cruel Fate National Nielsen Viewershlp Here are the rankings for national network television last week (Nov. 2) as compiled by Nielsen Media Research. They are based on the average nuin- Nostalgia Helps CBS in Sweeps first thing Monday with Nielsen spokesman Jack Loftus about the rumor. Sure enough, he said, both diaries my fiancee and I had dutifully kept and proudly mailed in would wind up in Nielsen' circular file. "It's not a big deal," Loftus said with utmost sympathy to one whose dreams of revamping the television landscape were vanishing at warp speed.

"It happens." What happens, he continued, is that Nielsen disqualifies any diaries kept by anyone who goes public with the fact that they kept one. Well less than one-tenth of 1 of all TV households in the country get diaries any given week of ratings sweeps periods, so I would have thought it pretty unlikely one would land in the hands of an entertainment writer. "Actually, it happens a lot," Loftus said, although he'd never heard of a journalist being chosen as one of the 5,000 households nationwide whose TV sets are fitted with Nielsen People Meters, which do determine the national ratings numbers. So my heroic efforts to catch the Sci-Fi Channel's "Star Trek" reruns, every available "South Park" and ber ot people who watched a program from start to finish. Nielsen estimates there are 2ti9 million potential viewers In the U.S.

age 2 and older. Viewershlp is listed in millions. Net- View Program work en 63 Education of Max Bickford CBS 8.88 64 Law Order: Criminal Intent NBC 8.81 65 Touched by an Angel CBS 8 76 66 'Garth Brooks Live 3' CBS 8.73 67 The Files FOX 8.67 68 'World IceChallenge" CBS 8.51 69 FOX 8.50 70 Titus FOX 8.46 71 That 70 Show (8:30 p.m.) FOX 8.19 72 7th Heaven WB 7.91 73 "Prince of Egypt' NBC 7.83 74 'BestComnietcialsNever ABC 7.70 Seen" ABC 7.49 pm.) 76 Smallville WB 7.39 77 UC: Undercover NBC 7.35 78 Enterprise UPN 7.33 79 America Most Wanted FOX 7.30 80 Cops FOX 7.02 81 WWFSniackdownl UPN 7 00 82 "TheSoundofMusic' FOX 6.88 ABC 6.54 p.m.i 84 "Temptation Island 2" FOX 6.28 85 CBS 6 26 86 "Rugrats: Santa Experience" CBS 6.07 87 Once and Again ABC 6.05 88 Gilmore Girls WB 5.79 89 Buffy the Vampire Slayer UPN 5.57 90 'Stripes' NBC 4.95 91 Family Guy FOX 4,67 92 'Quest for the Ring" FOX 4,63 93 Reba WB 4.49 94 Dawson'sCreek WB 4.19 95 Special Unit 2 UPN 4.06 96 Girlfriends UPN 3.77 97 TheParkers UPN 3.76 98 One on One UPN 3.68 99 TheHughleys UPN 3.45 100 -The Terminator' UPN 3,39 101 Raising Dad WB 3.34 102 Sabnna. the Teenage Witch WB 3.18 103 Felicity WB 3.14 104 Charmed WR 3.12 105 Roswell UPN 3.10 106 Maybe It's Me WB 3.04 107 Ripley's WB 2.91 108Popstars2 WB 2.86 109 The Steve Harvey Show WB 2.59 110 What's Next WB 2.36 Television One man's quest to revamp programming with his viewing notebook is foiled when the firm learns he went public with his story. FicsiEetson By RANDY LEWIS umi'ssiai iwm tin Sorry, Spock.

Mea culpa, Buffy. It was depressing enough when I learned that the TV diaries Nielsen Media Research Inc. sent my household to track what we watched during one week of November sweeps wouldn't affect the national ratings, only local programming. Then late Friday, word surfaced that my diaries were being thrown out entirely because of my story in Friday's Calendar recounting how becoming a Nielsen family had affected our TV viewing habits. To quote Homer Simpson, "Oh cruel fate, why do you mock me?" I waited and wondered through the weekend until I could check Calendar Film Check Nat- Vie- Program work en 1 -IneComl Bunion Snow' CBS 29.80 2 Everybody Loves Raymond CBS 24.26 3 II West Wing NBC 20 4 Friends NBC 20.66 6 Law Order NBC 20 22 Becker CBS 19 92 7 CSI CBS 18.21 8 Monday Night Football ABC 17.96 Survivor: Africa CBS 17.60 10 Fpat Factor NBC 17 24 UVes, Dear CBS 16.55 UFrasier NBC 16.42 MKingofQoeens CBS 16.23 MJudgingAmy CBS 16.06 15 JAG CBS 15.99 16 Ihe Practice ABC 15 93 17 "ChnstiriasRockeleller NBC 15.23 Center" -Brian's Song- ABC 15.23 19 Law Order: SVU NBC 14.40 20 Inside Schwartz NBC 14.26 21 ER NBC 13.H8 22NYPDBIoe ABC 13.56 23 60 Minutes CBS 13.54 24 Will 4 Grace NBC 13.51 25 "Jack and Beanstalk," Pt.l CBS 13.43 26 Ihe District CBS 13.39 27 The Simpsons FOX 13.38 28 The Guardian CBS 13.30 29 Dateline NBC (Fri.) NBC 13.17 30 My Wife Kids ABC 12 .64 31 Boston Public FOX 12.37 32 Scrubs NBC 12.25 33 Frosty Returns' CBS 12.16 34 Malcolm in the Middle FOX 12.03 35 Crossing tordan NBC 12.00 36 -Frostythe Snowman' CBS 11,98 37 AccoidingtoJim ABC 11.78 38 Pnmetime Thursday ABC 11.48 39 Three Sisters NBC 11.36 40 The Bernie Mac Show FOX 11.24 41 Al as ABC 11.12 42 Millionaire Mon.) ABC U.04 43 Weakest Link NBC 10.92 44AllyMcBeal FOX 10.88 45 202O(Wed.) ABC 10.73 46-The Drew Carey Show ABC 10,68 47 Millionaire (Thu.) ABC 10.58 48 Third Watch NBC 10.35 49 The Agency CBS 10.28 50 60 Minutes II CBS 10.19 51 Philly ABC 10.13 52 College Football (Sat.) ABC 9.66 53 ABC 9.57 54 Dateline NBC (Tue.) NBC 9.51 55 Amazing Race CBS 9.48 56 America's Funniest Videos ABC 9.42 57 Whose Line Is It? Wed.

ABC 9.21 68 24 FOX 9.15 59 That '70s Show FOX 9.07 60 Grounded for Life FOX 8 96 61 Spin City ABC 8.95 62 Malcolm in the M.odle (Wed.) FOX 8.91 "Huffy the Vampire Slayer" episode and the perfect .000 viewing average I gave every "reality" TV series during diary week was, as Loftus put it, "all for naught." I'm not taking Nielsen's action personally. Loftus even liked my story but stressed that Nielsen's policy is there "to maintain the purity of the ratings sample." There are, he noted, unsavory characters who try to profit from their diaries by soliciting donations from stations or networks in return for listing their programs in a diary. Nielsen requires stations to report any such attempts, and those diaries are summarily shredded. In the case of any lucky entertainment reporters who land diaries, Nielsen prefers to avoid even the appearance of data manipulation by throwing them out if the diary keeper sheds his or her anonymity. I had no financial issues in mind I merely wanted to change the face of prime-time television.

Loftus sounded almost apologetic as he explained that if my story had run this week, instead of last Friday, my diary data would have been collected, registered and "you'd have been good as gold." Still, I haven't totally abandoned hope of exerting my influence on ratings, local or otherwise. The diaries sent to our household came with my fiancee's name on them, and she doesn't use my surname. So to unearth mine among roughly 250,000 November diaries, they'll have to comb through each one, cross-checking for multiple entries for "South Park," "Star Trek" and "Buffy." Short of that, my diary information will still be counted. If, however, the Nielsen staff demonstrates the ethical drive and dogged persistence required to locate and weed mine out in service of the ratings' integrity, maybe the TV universe is in pretty good hands after all. Prime time brimmed with nostalgia Inst week, as 30-year-nld properties provided key ratings bookends: CBS' special "The Carol Burnett Show: Show Stoppers" gave that network a strong finishing kick in the November sweeps race, while a new version of "Brian's Song" boosted ABC's "Wonderful World of Disney," based on viewing estimates issued Tuesday by Nielsen Media Research.

Tune-in for "Brians Song" helped ABC's "Alias," which immediately followed the movie Sunday, score its highest rating in seven weeks easily surpassing Fox'sailing The X-Files." In addition to the blockbuster "Burnett" numbers, CBS' Monday comedies each achieved record viewing levels, led by "Everybody Loves Raymond." With most of NBC's Thursday lineup in reruns and the mini-series "Jack and the Beanstalk" climbing to respectable heights, CBS ranked first in overall viewing for the fifth time in six weeks. As for other sweeps stunts, a celebrity edition of "Fear Factor" scared up plenty of viewers for NBC Tuesday, more than doubling the network's time-period average with "Emeril" and "Three Sisters." Fox's new sitcom "The Bernie Mac Show" also bolstered its hit credentials, winning its time slot among viewers under 35 versus "The West Wing." APC, meanwhile, enjoyed a few aright spots beyond "Brian's Song," including "Monday Night Football's" biggest audience this season. Brian I.owry Tips for Today 9-11 a.m. Urry Mantle's Airlalk: "Sight, Sound and Human Perception" a.m.); "Structural tlngiiicering Design Contest" a.m.); highlights repeated 7-9 critics required out the Los Angeles Times section or go to CalcndarLive.com and get the latest information and updates on this week's hottest movies. Network Averages Here is the number of viewers (in millions) that each network averaged per hour of prime time, for last week and for the season.

Lat Season Network week To date EoBAnaclee (Times Ulinirs.com CBS 1340 12 84 NBC 1188 12 74 ABC 11 39 1051 FOX 9W 1054 UPN 482 492 WB 395 4J6 calendar-live "ism MTV )MU TICKET AVAILABILITY UPDATE Wed 1205 Thu 1206 Fri 1207 Sat 1208 Sat 1208 Sun 1209 Sun 1209 i Tue 1211 i I 2 30pin 8 00pm GOOD I GOOD I SOLD OUT i LIMITED I GOOD I LIMITED i GOOD I GOOD LANDMARK THEATRES Oitdlicowit www.LandmarkThcatrci.com NoPam 0 vmmic CECCW COM FINE ARTS WESTSIDE mmm. FAVIUON CINEMAS (310) ni-om nmHmm! 6. Pico Blvd iMtwMn vlMtvood I Overland For Advance TicuMi can Kit i (310) CS2-I330 esse WillNra Blvd. 'Gripping -AO. Scott, N.V.

TIMES -Groundbreaking -NY. POST WAKING LIFE (R) Dolby SR MMnt i tin j'tn 7 sn THE ENDURANCE: SHACKIETON'S LEGENDARY ANTARCTIC EXPEDITION (G) Dolby SR (12 30)2 50. 5,10. 9,45 p)trt1 short! Bporks Unforgettable' -Elvis rrrr giving AUDITION (NR) Mature Audiences Only Dolby SR (11:15) 2.00.4:40. 7:20.955 RADIO p.m.,KI'(X-f:M (89.3).

p.m. The Politics of Culture: The Radical Center: The Future of American Politics," taped Tuesday, KCKW-FM (89.9). 4-8 p.m. Duffy and Steve Burt, author of "A Christinas Dozen: Christmas Stories to Ay Ln i -anew NuWILSHIRE THEATRE 3 b- (310) 394-8099 1314 Wilinlre Blvd. Oscar Winner Hilary Swank in THE AFFAIR OF THE NECKLACE (R) Dolby SR PAGAH POFtRY MilM, NY.

TIMES Steve Martin in NOVOCAINS IR) (2:15) 4:30, 7:00, 9:30 tIALTO THEATRE 1023 Fair Oakt atOiley Deiedoble" WASHINGTON POST AMEUE(R) 4:10,7:00.9.50 Sofurdby aWniafa THE ROCKY HORROR PICTURE SHOW Santa Monica Bl 131047-5581 ADVANCED TICKETS Al BOX OFFICE HEIST (R) 1:15 4:10 9:55 "Marvelous' Jsan-Plarra our disadvantaged children and youth. to lead more positive, healthy and worry-free lives. Warm the Heart' p.m.), KKLA-FM (99.5). p.m., a.m. Dragnet: An informant gives up some rohhers (originally hrnadrast Jan.

5, 1954), KNX (1U70). Classical 7- 8 p.m. Symphony al 7: Mozart (38th Symphony, Chamber Orchestra of Europe), KiMZT-FM (105.1). 7 p.m.-midnlghl Jim Svejda: Mahler Symphony, soprano Edith Mathis, alto Doris Soflel, London Philharmonic Orchestra) p.m.), KtlSC-FM (91.5). 8- 10 p.m.

Evening Concert: Haydn (29th Symphony, Northern Chamber Orchestra); Gershwin Overture," Andre Previn conducts London Symphony Orchestra), KMT-FM (105.1). Rock-Urban 8-10 p.m. Rhapsody In Black. (90.7). KCHS-FM (93.1).

News-Commentary Noon-I p.m.-The World, KCRW-FM (89.9). Noon-1 p.m. Noon Business Hour, KFWII (980). I -2 p.m.-To the Point, KCRW-FM (89.9). 2- 2:30 p.m.-Murketplace, KCRW-FM (89.9); p.m.

and p.m., KPCC-FM (89.3). p.m.-Pacinca News, KI'IK-IM (90.7). 3- 4 p.m.-Frcsh Air, culture, KCRW-FM (89.9);also, 10-11 p.m. KPCC-FM (89.3). p.m.

All Things Considered, KPCC-FM (89.3); also, p.m., KCRW-FM (89.9). 5- 6 p.m. Beneath the Surface, KPFK-FM (90.7). 6- 6:30 p.m. Evening Update, KCSN-FM (88.5).

6-7 p.m.-Evening News, KPFK-FM (90.7). p.m. California locus: Local Flavor, KCSN-FM (88.5). p.m.-Whlch Way, L.A.T KCRW-FM (89.9). FAIRFAX CINEMAS teverly at Fairfax 323-655-4010 Premlere BURNT MONEY I I III 4 U( 10 00 PUNKS (H) (12 3(1 JO I 4S IO 10 mw rata iniihmiiomi iiim mio vkh iiaitvai CHLCK wwM.

nvlllmvidDO com or oall lhalra tar mhowtlmsB Ma tatka a hbk lah ml mmn NUART THEATRE i3it)47e43793 Monica Btvd it Sin Dgo fwf Ms hmsnion PORN STAR: THE LEGEND OF RON JEREMY (MR) Mature Audiences Only 5 20, 7:30, 9:40 "Courageous" N.Y. TIMES INTIMACY (NR) (11 00) 1:40, 4 20. 7:00. 10:00 Mo one under 18 admitled 100 of your donation and the entire matching funds from tfie foundation go directly to organizations that work with disadvantaged children and youth. The McCormick Tribune Foundation will match the first $500,000 raised at 50 cents on the dollar.

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