McGwire, Football, Emmys Score for Networks

Big events punctuated last week’s ratings, as the Emmy Awards helped bring NBC another victory, while “Monday Night Football” and Mark McGwire’s record-breaking home run scored for ABC and Fox, respectively, based on preliminary data compiled Tuesday from Nielsen Media Research.

Several programs also premiered last week, generally in unimpressive fashion. Fox’s comedies “Living in Captivity” and the returning “Getting Personal” failed to capture many viewers Friday, while WB’s Sunday lineup--including the new sitcom “The Army Show”--didn’t recruit much of an audience opposite the Emmys.

Emmy ratings finished up 3% compared to last year, despite the ceremony’s expansion to four hours. CBS’ “60 Minutes” beat the awards from 7 to 8 p.m., and the network held its own after that with the movie “GoodFellas.” There was good news and bad news, meanwhile, for ABC’s “The Practice,” which won for best drama and earned Camryn Manheim an award Sunday but drew few viewers against the Emmy telecast.

With the release of the Starr report to Congress, “NBC Nightly News” also extended its win streak in that race to seven weeks, narrowly edging ABC’s “World News Tonight.”

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Cable Top 10

Here are Nielsen’s top 10 cable programs in prime time last week, also ranked by total viewers (in millions).

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Program Network Viewers 1. MTV Video Music Awards MTV 8.93 2. NFL Football (Sun) ESPN 8/47 3. Wrestling (Mon., 10 p.m.) TNT 6.68 4. Wrestling (Mon., 9 p.m.) TNT 6.23 5. Wrestling (Mon., 8 p.m.) TNT 5.34 6. NFL Primetime ESPN 4.60 7. Wrestling (Thur., 9:06 p.m.) TBS 4.34 8. “In & Out” HBO 4.13 9. “Jerry Seinfeld” HBO 3.82 10. Wild Thornberrys NICK 3.65

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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 11.7 million 13.40 ABC 10.3 10.90 CBS 9.82 12.50 CBS 9.82 14.35 WB 3.30 4.10 UPN 2.40 3.50

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Southland Viewing

Here are Nielsen’s Top 10 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. “Emmy Awards” KNBC 981,809 2. Fox News KTTV 756,394 3. Seinfeld KNBC 581,071 4. 60 Minutes KCBS 576,061 5. Frasier KNBC 556,025 6. The Drew Carey Show KABC 510,941 7. Dateline NBC (Mon.) KNBC 505,932 8. PrimeTime Live KABC 500,923 9. “Sister Act 2” KTTV 485,895 10. Just Shoot Me KNBC 480,886 Law & Order KNBC 480,886

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