For Once-Hot NBC, a Week of Record Lows
Wednesday, April 18, 2007; Page C07
You know things are bad at NBC when Howie Mandel is the main attraction.
In a week that hit a historic low for the network, the Mandel-hosted game show "Deal or No Deal" was the only NBC program to crack the 10-million-viewer mark.
  Howie Mandel had the only NBC show that drew 10 million viewers. (Nbc Photo: Trae Patton - Nbc Photo: Trae Patton) |
NBC averaged just 6.8 million viewers for the entire week, making it the network's least watched week during the regular television season since the current Nielsen ratings system was established 20 years ago.
NBC's Thursday lineup, once dubbed "Must See TV" night in the heady "Cosby Show"/"Cheers"/"Seinfeld" days, drew only 7.1 million viewers, its lowest Thursday ever for all-original programming. The "ER" audience of 9.2 million was the hospital drama's smallest ever.
CBS won the weekly ratings race, taking four of seven nights, ceding "American Idol" nights -- Tuesday and Wednesday -- to Fox.
Fox placed a close second behind CBS in total viewers, stumbling Sunday with its two-hour premiere of the car-racing drama "Drive," which despite heavy promotion attracted just 6 million viewers. More discouraging for "Drive" was that it lost viewers in each subsequent half-hour. (More bad news: This past Monday in its regular time slot, "Drive" was down to 5.7 million viewers.)
ABC's "Notes From the Underbelly" also premiered to so-so ratings last Thursday. The pregnancy sitcom managed an audience 8.3 million, far behind NBC's "ER" and CBS's "Shark," which claimed its first win among the valued 18-to-49 demographic.
NBC's improv series "Thank God You're Here" also stumbled out of the block with 8.2 million last Monday. Still, it was the network's fifth most watched show of the week, thanks to Mandel's "Deal or No Deal" lead-in.
Basic cable's most watched program last week: Friday's special prime-time "SpongeBob SquarePants" (5.9 million viewers), in which viewers learned the history of the bitter rivalry between Mr. Krabs and Plankton.
The week's top 10 shows, in order, were: Fox's Wednesday and Tuesday "American Idol"; CBS's "CSI"; Fox's "House"; ABC's Monday and Tuesday "Dancing With the Stars" and "Desperate Housewives"; and CBS's "CSI: Miami," "Shark" and "NCIS."
