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Mar 21, 2002  •  Post A Comment

Posted Monday, March 21, at 8:20 a.m. (PT); last updated at 11:45 a.m.

CBS’s Wednesday reality lineup leads net to key demo win

CBS’s Wednesday runs of “Survivor: Marquesas” and “Amazing Race 2” won the 8 p.m. and 9 p.m. (ET) hours and led CBS to victories for the night in the key demos and total viewers.

In its second Wednesday turn (to make room for Thursday’s NCAA basketball tournament games), “Survivor 4” posted a top-ranked 9.4 rating/25 share average in adults 18 to 49, improving 7 percent week to week and beating ABC’s second-ranked “My Wife & Kids” and “According to Jim” comedy duo for the hour (3.4/9) by a 176 percent margin. According to the preliminary Nielsen Media Research fast national data, “Survivor” also improved 19 percent in adults 18 to 34 (9.3/28), 9 percent in households (12.4/20) and 10 percent in total viewers (22.3 million) over its previous week’s marks. NBC’s “Dateline” (2.8/8) and Fox’s repeats of “That ’80s Show” (2.5/7) and “Grounded for Life” (2.6/7) took distant third- and four-place positions, respectively, for the opening hour.

“Survivor’s” strong lead-in had “Amazing Race 2” breaking out of the 9 p.m.-to-10 p.m. gate to winning scores in adults 18 to 49 (6.2/15) and adults 18 to 34 (6.1/17) — marking the reality show’s best ever delivery in the key demos. “AR2” also beat NBC’s repeat of “The West Wing” (4.7/12) by a hefty 31 percent margin among adults 18 to 49. However, “West Wing” still edged “AR2” in households (9.4/15 vs. 8.0/13) and total viewers (13.8 million vs. 13.5 million).

CBS won the night in adults 18 to 49 (6.2/16), improving 9 percent week to week. All the other networks, largely in repeats, were flat or dropped; NBC (4.5/12) moved down 6 percent, ABC (3.3/9) was flat, and Fox (2.9/8), coming off last week’s “Celebrity Boxing” ratings punch, slid 45 percent.

RTNDA names regional Murrow award winners: RTNDA announced its 2002 regional winners of the Edward R. Murrow Awards for excellence in journalism. Five stations won six awards each: Fisher Broadcasting-owned ABC affiliate KOMO-TV, Seattle; CBS-owned KCNC-TV, Denver; Belo-owned ABC affiliate WFAA-TV, Dallas; Belo-owned NBC affiliate WCNC-TV, Charlotte, N.C.; and Fox-owned WTTG-TV, Washington.

RTNDA received 2,040 regional entries from 49 states, up by more than 70 percent from last year. Judges gave 403 awards in 13 categories ranging from spot news to use of videography. Regional winners automatically become eligible for the national awards competition, which will be judged in early June.

TV sex and violence down: Television sex and violence may be on the wane. A study released today by the Center for Media and Public Affairs in Washington said that the amount of sexual material in TV entertainment shows fell 29 percent from 1999-2000 to 2001-2002, while the amount of seriously violent incidents was down 17 percent over the same period. “After years of growing alarm over a rising tide of sex and violence in popular entertainment, there is evidence that television has started to clean up its act,” the group said. Among other things, the group’s study said the amount of sexual material was down on some of the Big 4 TV networks and premium cable networks, although remaining the same on basic cable. The amount of violence was down on CBS and NBC. ABC remained unchanged. Fox posted a 42 percent gain, however. Violence was also up 20 percent on basic cable, though down 65 percent on premium channels, the study said.#

(c) Copyright 2001 by Crain Communications