NBC Harvest Early Rewards

As the dust settles from the second week of the new fall season, CBS and NBC are getting the best results to date from their first-year series, and as a result, look positioned for a competitive battle to see who'll claim the season's households crown. The campaign's 18-49 race looks less exciting, with challengers ABC and Fox currently running closer to usual 18-49 fourth-placer CBS than to demo leader NBC.

Based on weekend preliminary Nielsens, NBC has earned a 5.5 adults 18-49 rating average for the week, which matches its year-ago result (when NBC's averages were depressed by baseball playoffs). ABC will finish roughly a full point back in second place, with a 4.5 (down 8% vs. last year), followed by CBS (3.9, down 7%) and Fox (3.7, down 14%).

The week's households race will be decided by the strength of CBS' Sunday N.Y. Jets-Denver football overrun, which earned a muscular 14.2 rating, 24 share in the country's 46 metered markets. The national football number, due Tuesday from Nielsen, could nudge CBS ahead of NBC's projected 9.1 rating (down 1% vs. last year), but more likely CBS will finish at a 9.1 as well (down 4%). ABC (7.3, down 11%) and Fox (5.3, down 25%) aren't factors in the homes race.

CBS will again fall short of year-ago results due largely to its underperforming Sunday film. The Oct. 3 pic ``Forget Me Never'' earned roughly a 3.5 rating in adults 18-49, fourth in its slot and down a painful 41% from last year's comparable 5.9 from ``About Sarah.''

Sunday preliminary Nielsens show NBC's ``Third Watch'' (14.70 million viewers, 5.6/14 in adults 18-49) virtually equaling its strong previous-week numbers, suggesting the rookie drama is turning around what had been a rough night for NBC.

At 9 p.m., NBC's Yasmine Bleeth drama ``Road Rage'' (12.80 million, 5.1/12 in adults 18-49) drove off with the season's top 18-49 movie rating.

ABC freshman ``Snoops'' (10.93 million, 4.6/11 in adults 18-49) slipped a bit in its second try, but still finished a spunky second for the 9-10 p.m. hour in adults 18-49, and that was despite a fourth-place lead-in from ``The Wonderful World of Disney.'' Also encouraging: the David E. Kelley-produced series improved markedly in its second half-hour, indicating viewers are willing to stick with the show.

The WB's new ``Felicity''-led Sunday schedule continues to look solid, improving by 3% over last week's promising overnights (3.7/6 vs. 3.6/5).

Each adults 18-49 rating point represents 1.24 million viewers, 1% of the U.S. total. A share is the same sort of percentage, except it's measured against only the viewers watching TV during the time slot involved.

Reuters/Variety