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Who says attention spans are getting shorter? Hourlong dramas--about lawyers, judges, emergency workers and other serious-minded types, plus Rob Lowe-led White House staffers--dominated the first prime-time week of the 1999-2000 TV season, claiming half the spots in the Top 20. Overall, NBC took the week ended Sunday, with an average 9.9 rating. (Each rating point represents a little more than 1 million homes.) CBS, last season's champ, made it close, coming in second with a 9.7. The Peacock's sixth-season opener of Friends--the one featuring the Arquette-heavy opening credits (a nod to newlywed and newly dubbed Courteney Cox Arquette)--was the No. 1-ranked show, with an impressive 17.8. The only comedies to crack the Top 10 were Friends' Thursday-night friends, Frasier (No. 2), Jesse (No. 6) and the freshman hopeful Stark Raving Mad (No. 9). NBC's Third Watch, an ensemble, no-star drama series about do-gooder civil servants on the p.m. shift, was the highest-rated new show of the week, placing No. 4 in its one-shot outing in ER's usual 10 p.m., Thursday time slot. (A second episode in its regular, 8-9 p.m. hour on Sunday, placed a respectable 27th place.) Other drama queens (and kings): Veteran legal-eagle shows, NBC's Law & Order (No. 7) and ABC's The Practice (No. 15); freshman legal-eagle show, CBS' Family Law (No. 16); ABC's new divorcés-in-love gambit, Once and Again (No. 9); NBC's behind-the-scenes look at the Oval Office, West Wing (No. 13), with Rob Lowe; CBS' down, but still heavenly Touched by an Angel (No. 14); CBS' action drama JAG (No. 20); and, NBC's Friday-night weepie, Providence (No. 20). Why all the dramatics? Well, for one thing, this isn't thought to be the strongest year for new comedies--unless the Neil Patrick Harris-starring Stark Raving Mad (which, despite doing the Top 10, lost more than 4 million viewers off its Frasier lead-in) is your idea of a yuk-fest. And, for another thing, this is thought to be the year of the hourlong, teen- and twentysomething drama, à la Dawson's Creek. In the network race, ABC, Jamie Tarses or no, remained stuck in third place with an 8.3 average rating. Fox trailed with a 5.3; WB, with a 2.9; UPN, with a World Wrestling Federation-boosted 2.5; and barely watched PAX TV (NBC's newest best friend), with a barely there 0.8. In other ratings news: David E. Kelley's Still Very Busy: Mr. Prolific had another, well, prolific week. His Emmy-winning The Practice turned into bona fide hit show; the revamped Chicago Hope showed signs of life with an 8.6 and a 38th place finish; and, the mostly critically dismissed Snoops managed an 8.5 and a No. 40 ranking for ABC on Sunday night. And yet to come: Ally McBeal--all two of them. The hourlong version of Kelley's (other) Emmy-winning series launches its third season on October 25; the half-hour version project, known simply as Ally, begins its experiment in recycling tonight at 8 p.m. (ET/PT). Toon In (and Out): The Simpsons was Fox's highest-rated new show of the week, landing in 48th place for its 11th season premiere; the hipster-friendly Mission Hill was the WB's lowest-rated freshman series of the week, bottoming out at No. 112. Never Underestimate the Drawing Power of Mutants: Finally a ratings success story for UPN. Thursday's WWF Smackdown! boosted testosterone levels and brought UPN an unheard of (for UPN) 4.3 rating. To put the performance in perspective, consider that the pro-wrestling extravaganza was watched by more people than Sunday's Felicity premiere on the WB (No. 94); Fox's much-hyped Action! (No. 95 and No. 97); and, something called World's Scariest Explosions (No. 88), also on Fox. (You were expecting PBS?) Silence Is Not Golden: In crowing about its otherwise strong debut week, NBC made not a peep in its ratings report today about its two weak-sister Monday comedies, Suddenly Susan and Veronica's Closet. Why? Susan Suddenly finished No. 69; Veronica's Closet, No. 66. (Ladies and gentlemen, start faxing your résumés.) Very Special Specials: NBC's quarter-century salute to Saturday Night Live was watched in some 14.1 million homes, good for a fifth-place finish; CBS' telecast of the Country Music Association Awards got eyeballed in 12.4 million homes, for No. 9. ABC's Monday Night Football (No. 3), and its pregame show (No. 9), were the other non-entertainment series in the Top 10. Final Perspective: There were 139 ranked shows last week. PAX's Star Search wannabe, Destination Stardom, was No. 139, with a cable-esque 0.3 rating. Meanwhile, you, who didn't have a show on, managed a 0.0 rating--or only three-tenths of a point behind Destination Stardom. |