Tuesday night featured three premieres but none bigger than Fox’s The Simple Life. The new unscripted comedy, featuring Nichole Ritchie (daughter of pop star Lionel Ritchie) and hotel heiress Paris Hilton, certainly benefited from the attention Paris received after a video of her flagrante delicto with a former boyfriend made the Internet rounds.
The show swept the key demographic categories during its 8:30-9 p.m. time slot, earning a 9.3 rating/13 share in households, a 5.9/16 in adults 18-49, a 5.8/17 in adults 18-34, 6.2/19 in persons 12-34 and 7.5/22 in teens.
Simple Life
helped Fox win the entire night in adults 18-49 and 18-34, and the improved lead-in helped 24 to a time-period win as well, with a 4.3/11 in adults 18-49 and a 3.8/10 in adults 18-34. Fox finished third in households, filling out its lineup with That ’70s Show and 24.
NBC, with a premiere of its own, won the Tuesday night household race. New sitcom The Tracy Morgan Show held its own during the 8-8:30 p.m. slot, coming in second across most of the demos behind CBS’s I Want a Dog for Christmas, Charlie Brown. Tracy Morgan scored a 4.1/12 in adults 18-49, and a second run dropped to a 3.7/10. Frasier at 9 p.m. jumped back up to a 4.0/10 in adults 18-49, but it still lost to ABC’s According to Jim by an 18% margin. NBC rounded out its lineup with Happy Family and Law & Order: SVU.
ABC was third in households and adults 18-49 with Charlie Brown, According to Jim, Less Than Perfect and the debut of FBI drama Line of Fire. Fire didn’t fare as well as the night’s other two premieres, finishing third during the 10 p.m. hour.
CBS was second in households and fourth in 18-49s with an episode of JAG and the movie Miss Congeniality. The WB finished fifth in households with The Gilmore Girls and One Tree Hill, and UPN was sixth with One on One, All of Us, Rock Me Baby and Half & Half.
For the night, the Nielsen fast affiliate viewer averages: CBS, 12.6 million; NBC, 11 million; Fox, 10.4 million; ABC, 10.2 million; The WB, 3 million; UPN, 2.8 million. Adults 18-49: Fox, 4.5/12; NBC, 4.3/11; ABC, 3.9/10; CBS, 3.4/9; UPN, 1.2/3; The WB, 1.0/3.
