Logo

‘Amazing’ Premieres, ‘Loser’ Wins

Nov 17, 2004  •  Post A Comment

With help from the sixth season premiere of reality travel challenge “The Amazing Race,” CBS won Wednesday night in total viewers, but NBC took the win in adults 18 to 49 with weight-loss reality series “The Biggest Loser” and franchise drama “Law & Order: SVU.”

The two-hour season premiere of “Race” scored a 5.0/12 in adults 18 to 49, improving 16 percent over it fifth installment’s premiere over the summer, according to Nielsen Media Research. It was the second-highest program of the night in the demo, surpassed only by NBC’s “Law & Order: SVU,” which scored a 6.4/16. “SVU” was also the highest-rated show for the night with viewers, scoring 16.38 million.

NBC’s 90-minute episode of “The Biggest Loser” scored a 4.5/12 in adults 18 to 49, growing 60 percent from its first to last half-hour. “Loser” won the 8 p.m. (ET) time period and even beat “Race” in their head-to-head 9-9:30 p.m. half-hour (5.6/13 versus 4.2/10)

Fox’s reality business-adventure program “The Rebel Billionaire” scored a 2.4/6, up 4 percent from last week. It was fifth in the time period, after “Loser,” CBS’s “Navy NCIS” (3.6/10), ABC’s comedy block of “My Wife and Kids” (3.0/8) and “George Lopez” (3.4/9), and The WB’s “Gilmore Girls” (2.7/7), which tied its season high in the demo from last week.

Fox’s debut of the medical drama “House” scored a 2.7/6 in adults 18 to 49, placing fourth in the time period and down 43 percent from last year’s season debut of “24.”

UPN’s telecast of the 2004 Vibe Awards, which made headlines earlier in the week for a melee that took place during the ceremony, was up 11 percent from last season (2.1/6), giving the network its highest-rated Tuesday night since March.

NBC won the night in adults 18 to 49 with a 5.0/13, followed by CBS (4.5/11), ABC (3.3/8), Fox (2.5/6), The WB (2.3/6) and UPN (2.1/6).