The WB Television Network's Charmed
opened to numbers that surprised even The WB, winning the night in women 18-34 and setting a network record for a Sunday-night series in that demo and in adults 18-34.
The two-hour season premiere was up 27% in women 18-34, 10% in adults 18-34, 18% in females 12-34 and 7% in adults 18-49, while holding steady in viewers.
The test this week will be if The WB's new series, Tarzan
, can hold or beat that lead-in on Sundays at 9 p.m.
Another bright spot on the first Sunday of premiere week were CBS' Cold Case
, which significantly improved the time period over last season's sitcom combo of Becker
and Bram & Alice
.
Cold Case
boosted the time slot in viewers by 40%, in adults 18-49 by 21% and in adults 25-54 by 26%.
The "CBS Sunday Movie," 12 Mile
, starring Tom Selleck, seemed to get a lift from Cold Case
's performance, jumping 80% in viewers, 30% in adults 25-54 and 12% in adults 18-49 versus last year's Sunday night movie.
12 Mile
was CBS' most-watched Sunday-night movie since The Marriage Fool
Sept. 20, 1998.
While CBS and The WB were up Sunday, NBC was mixed and ABC was down.
NBC's Dateline
at 7 p.m. turned in a strong performance, up 67% in adults 18-49, but the rest of the schedule didn't look as strong.
American Dreams
dropped 19% in adults 18-49, Law & Order: Criminal Intent
was up 6% in the demo and the season premiere of The Lyon's Den
was down 14% in the time period versus last year's opening of the relatively low-rated Boomtown
.
At ABC, America's Funniest Home Videos
dropped 14% in adults 18-49 compared with Wonderful World of Disney
in the slot last year (although WWOD
did well in its new Saturday-night spot).
Funniest Home Videos
also dropped 14% versus its Friday-night performance last year.
New cop drama 10-8
dropped 37% in the key adult demo compared with the second hour of WWOD
, while Alias
dropped 18% and a recast The Practice
dropped 25%.
