‘The ‘60s,’ ‘Frasier’ Sweep Nostalgic NBC to Win

Going back to the past has again helped NBC blast out of the sweeps starting gate, as “The ‘60s” generated the network’s biggest Sunday audience since televising “Schindler’s List” two years ago, based on results issued Tuesday by Nielsen Media Research.

NBC fared well during the last ratings survey in November by airing another miniseries with a nostalgic flavor, “The Temptations.” Sunday’s results for “The ‘60s,” featuring Julia Stiles, surpassed CBS’ Hallmark movie “Night Ride Home” and Fox’s heavily promoted start of a two-part “The X-Files,” though all three programs performed reasonably well, causing a surge in overall network viewing.

“Frasier” also engaged in a bit of nostalgia with Woody Harrelson’s guest appearance Thursday, the official opening of sweeps. On the downside, NBC’s new comedy “Jesse” saw more than 5 million “Friends” viewers head elsewhere, with many switching to Fox to see if daredevil Robbie Knievel survived his live “death jump.”

CBS’ “Miss USA Pageant” received a solid score from the Nielsen judges, while the Pro Bowl game gained less ratings yardage for ABC than a year ago.

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Network Averages

Here is the number of viewers that each network averaged per hour of prime time, for last week and for the season.

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Last week Season to date NBC 14.92 million 12.60 CBS 13.06 13.21 ABC 11.60 12.07 FOX 11.04 11.41 WB 4.59 4.57 UPN 2.93 2.73

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Southland Viewing

Here are Nielsen’s Top 5 prime-time programs in the Los Angeles area during the same week. The rankings are based on the number of households watching.

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Program Station Households 1. Frasier KNBC 985,939 2. ER KNBC 970,534 3. Friends KNBC 955,129 4. 60 Minutes KCBS 862,697 5. “The ‘60s,” Pt. 1 KNBC 847,292

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