CABLE SHOW OUTDRAWS ALL THE NETWORKS'
NBC’s America’s Got Talentgot No. 1 on the Nielsen ratings list last week, tying with CBS’s 60 Minutes but edging out the news magazine in total number of viewers and beating it handily in the key 18-49 adults category. The show drew 10.83 million viewers. However, had cable shows been included in the list, the Disney Channel’s High School Musical 2,which drew 17.2 million viewers on Friday – the largest audience ever to watch a show on basic cable – would easily have come out on top. Overall, CBS continued to chalk up wins for drawing more viewers to its primetime summer schedule than any other network. However, all of the networks remained in the summer doldrums for the week. CBS averaged only a 4.5 rating and an 8 share. Fox placed second with an average 3.8/7. NBC was close behind with a 3.5/6, while ABC trailed with a 3.0/5.The top ten shows of the week according to Nielsen Research:
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1.America’s Got Talent, NBC, 6.6/12; 1. 60 Minutes, CBS, 6.6/12; 3. CSI: Crime Scene Investigation, CBS, 6.4/11; 4. Without a Trace, CBS, 6.3/11; 5. Two and a Half Men, CBS, 6.1/10; 6. So You Think Can Dance (Thursday) , Fox, 5.9/10; 7. NCIS, CBS, 5.8/10; 7. Singing Bee, NBC, 5.8/10; 9. CSI: Miami, CBS, 5.7/10; 9. CSI: NY, CBS, 5.7/10; 9. Hell’s Kitchen, Fox, 5.7/9.
AUTHORITIES PROBING CBS’S KID NATION
CBS on Tuesday defended itself against mounting criticism that the network may have violated child labor laws and placed children at risk during the production of the forthcoming reality show Kid Nation. Following a complaint by one of the 40 children who participated in the series – in which kids create their own “society” in a town in New Mexico – CBS sent a statement to the Los Angeles Times disputing the “course of action being taken by one parent in distorting the true picture of the Kid Nationexperience.” The statement insisted that CBS and the producers had instituted safety procedures “that arguably rival or surpass any school or camp in the country.” The network has argued that child labor laws did not apply to the production because the children, ages 8-15, were not employees of the production company. “The cameras are following people through an experience,” a CBS lawyer said, adding that the $5,000 that each of them received (plus additional amounts for competitions) was “not tied to specific output or tasks.” Nevertheless, today’s New York Timesreported that the New Mexico attorney general’s office sent a warning to producers while the show was being taped that they might be violating child-labor laws.
COURIC BIOGRAPHY DEPICTS HER AS PRIMA DONNA
Writer Edward Klein’s unauthorized biography of Katie Couric includes charges that she deliberately undercut colleagues on the Todayshow – restricting Ann Curry’s interview assignments and deliberately prolonging her own interviews so that they would eat into Matt Lauer’s airtime. Unveiling excerpts from the book, Katie: The Real Story
