Younger-thinking CBS as sweeps ends

From:Media Life Magazine
Date:Mar 03,2004
By Toni Fitzgerald

Why not, being so close in 25-54s and 18-49s?

Two years ago a show like "The Guardian," a strong performer among total viewers and households but a dud among adults 18-49, would have been guaranteed renewal at CBS.
But in the new world of CBS, where the network now competes neck-and-neck in sweeps with NBC and Fox for 18-49 and 25-54 viewers, "The Guardian" looks like a goner.

It's a strategy shift that will become more and more evident when CBS announces its schedule this May. Suddenly, CBS sees audience potential among 18-49s, based on this strong February and last year's strong November sweeps performance.

That will mean more edgy shows like "CSI" and fewer "Judging Amys."

Discounting Olympic years of 1994 and 1998, CBS will boast its closest competitive position to first in 18-49s since the 1993 February sweeps, trailing leader NBC 4.8 average by .6 through Monday night.

Among 25-54s the race is even tighter, with CBS .2 behind NBC 5.5, also the closest it has been to first in that demo since February 1993.

How that were winning viewers and households by a large margin, we can pay more attention to our target demographic of 25-54s and that dirty word, 18-49s,?said CBS head Les Moonves during a conference call with reporters yesterday. here are a lot of things we need to look at to explore.?br> Moonves said that CBS expects to finish first among total viewers and households and second in 18-49s and 25-54s.

CBS success in those demos is mainly because it is the only network not losing ground there. Its 18-49 rating of 4.2 is even to last year, when it placed third, while NBC is down 2 percent and ABC is down 8 percent.

Last year No. 1, Fox, is down 29 percent, though Fox does predict that it will increase its current 4.0 sweeps average to 4.2 Wednesday, the final night of sweeps, thanks to merican Idol.?br> Among 25-54s, CBS is the only network besides UPN that has risen, up 2 percent, to a 5.3. Leader NBC is down 2 percent, ABC is down 7 percent and Fox is down 26 percent.

Most of Moonves?comments yesterday actually dealt not with sweeps but with verybody Loves Raymond,?the network top-rated comedy that is currently in negotiations for a ninth season.

Star Ray Romano has said he like to leave after this year, and Moonves said there would be an announcement in the next three weeks about the show status. He confirmed that he and producer Phil Rosenthal have discussed a limited return similar to this year riends?deal on NBC, where the cast would shoot fewer than the traditional 24 episodes. A Brad Garrett spinoff is also on the table.

He also said that SI: New York?will be spun off through a backdoor pilot on SI: Miami.?He would not commit to a time slot for the show, though, joking that NBC Jeff Zucker could only dream that the rumored 10 p.m. Friday slot was true.

Moonves said the urvivor: All-Stars?season finale will air Sunday, May 9, at 8 p.m. He confirmed that he Amazing Race?will return this summer.

In her chat yesterday, Fox Entertainment President Gail Berman emphasized the network new strategy of introducing programming in the summer, saying that several new series will debut in June.

She said Fox expects to finish second among 18-49s this season to NBC, though it is closer now than it was last year at this time to the network for the season.

She also said that the endangered rrested Development?will get a boost Wednesday, March 17, in the post-merican Idol?slot. The critically acclaimed freshman show has struggled in its usual Sunday 9:30 p.m. slot.

When asked about the future of oston Public,?Berman wouldn commit either way, though there are still three unaired episodes of the on-hiatus show and series star Chi McBride just signed on to a new pilot.

ABC Susan Lyne was similarly noncommittal on ine of Fire,?the YPD Blue?replacement that disappointed in December and January and still has four unaired episodes left.

ABC said it has five or six new shows, most of them reality, ready to launch in the next five months, including the Mark Cuban reality show set for this summer, an import of the British show ife Swap?and the comedy ig House.?br> NBC, meanwhile, emphasized the success of its comedies during the February sweeps. The network has been criticized for failure to create a strong riends?successor as the 10th-year show gets ready to exit, but Zucker downplayed that problem while praising new hit reality show he Apprentice.?br> "I'm not trying to diminish the loss of 'Friends,"' Zucker said. "But the fact is we're picking up so many more hours of almost equally rated new programming that it's not the kind of hole that we would have been facing."

Zucker confirmed that a fourth "Law & Order" will air next season, though he did not say when.