‘Rerun Show’ boosts NBC

NBC’s alternative/reality series parade continued Thursday night, with the premiere of the sketch comedy series “The Rerun Show” scoring the Peacock’s best 9:30 p.m.-to-10 p.m. (ET) ratings in the time slot this summer. Although coming in 1 rating point (or 18 percent) behind CBS’s perennially strong repeats of “CSI” among adults 18 to 49 (5.6 rating/12 share), “The Rerun Show’s” second-ranked 4.6/13 score scored 35 percent improvement over what “Just Shoot Me” repeats had been doing in the time slot this summer.

Perhaps most notable, “The Rerun Show” beat “CSI” by 15 percent in adults 18 to 34 (4.5/14 vs. 3.9/12), according to preliminary Nielsen Media Research fast national data. “Rerun,” which featured new ensemble cast takeoffs of such kitschy TV shows as “Diff’rent Strokes” and “The Partridge Family,” improved 5 percent over its “Will & Grace” lead-in among adults 18 to 34 and 18 to 49.

Overall, “The Rerun Show” finished a distant second in the time slot to “CSI” in households (6.0/10 vs. 11.0/18) and total viewers (9.4 million vs. 16.2 million).

CBS ended up edging out NBC for the night in adults 18 to 49 (4.0/13 vs. 3.9/12), getting a boost from a top-ranked score in the 8 p.m.-to-9 p.m. time slot from “Big Brother 3” (4.5/14), which nosed out NBC’s repeats of “Friends” and “Scrubs” at a 4.3/14 for the hour. CBS won the night in households (7.3/13) and total viewers (10.8 million).

(c) Copyright 2002 by Crain Communications