Part one of NBC's 10.5 disaster movie registered big on the ratings scale, too.
The two-hour series of West Coast earthquakes averaged an 8.5 on the Nielsen scale for its second hour (10-11) and a 8.0 rating/19 share over its two hours to power the network to a nightly win in 18-49's (5.0/13) and households (8.4/14).
According to NBC, its the highest 18-49 rating for any movie on the network in five years (Noah's Ark, May 3, 1999). It improved the time period performance by a whopping 82%.
It was all the more impressive given that the Peacock was puttering along in a distant fourth place for the first two hours of prime time.
There was a tie for second on the night in 18-49s between ABC and Fox with a 3.9/11. ABC got there via America's Funniest Home Videos (3.0/10), Extreme Makeover: Home Edition (5.3/4), which won its time period, Alias ((4.0/9) and the second-to-last episode of The Practice (3.6/9).
Fox benefited from strong showings by back-to-back airings of King Of the Hill (a time period-winning average of 3.8/13), The Simpsons (4.5/12), and Malcolm in the Middle (3.4/8).
CBS was fourth in the demo with a 3.0/8 average for 60 Minutes, Cold Case, and the movie, Book of Ruth.
WB was fifth with a 1.3/4 for two outings of High School Reunion and Charmed.
