A few winners, more losers in new television season

NEW YORK (AP) _ Two months into a new television season, the big winner is ... <br><br>Frankly, it's hard to tell _ just like in another high-profile contest. There have been a few modest hits, many

Monday, December 11th 2000, 12:00 am

By: News On 6

NEW YORK (AP) _ Two months into a new television season, the big winner is ...

Frankly, it's hard to tell _ just like in another high-profile contest. There have been a few modest hits, many more misses and the promise of a tight race for dominance between ABC, NBC and CBS before the season ends in May.

Viewers turned a new drama about forensic pathologists into an unexpected hit while yawning at stars like Bette Midler and Geena Davis. They've rejected everything new that NBC has tried, while rewarding the 11-year-old ``Law and Order'' with its best ratings ever.

And they're still watching ``Who Wants to Be a Millionaire'' in big numbers, even if the kids have drifted on to something new.

The prime-time averages of the top three networks are only 1.1 million viewers apart. For now, ABC is in the lead, NBC is second and CBS third. Fox is improving after an awful year last year.

ABC is the only one of the Big Three to show an increase from last year, an average of 700,000 viewers a night. Attribute that to Regis Philbin: ``Who Wants to Be a Millionaire'' has aired four times a week this season after being on only as a special in November 1999.

``It's really `Millionaire' that's kept them alive,'' said Stacey Lynn Koerner, an analyst for the advertising firm TN Media. ``Their new series certainly didn't do it.''

New series starring Davis and Andre Braugher have started slowly, and ABC was hurt when it abandoned its teen-driven Friday lineup.

Philbin saturation was a calculated risk. The game show still routinely beats all comers, but its viewership has slipped from its peak. The show's popularity with older viewers has increased the average age of ABC's audience by five years, and advertisers pay a premium for youth.

ABC executives say they purposely held off introducing many new series to ride the ``Millionaire'' wave. But if that wave crashes, it will leave a hitless schedule behind.

NBC's new fall shows have been a disaster, leading to rumblings that entertainment president Garth Ancier's job may be in jeopardy. Four of the seven new shows have already been canceled, and only the quirky ``Ed'' has shown critical and commercial promise.

Yet its returning shows have done unexpectedly well. ``The West Wing'' has blossomed into a major hit, while ``Law and Order'' and ``ER'' have gained in the ratings. So has ``Frasier,'' even after leaving NBC's potent Thursday schedule for Tuesday.

NBC is leading among the advertiser-prized 18-to-49-year-old demographic, where it has six of the top 10 shows, said Roy Rothstein, a vice president at Zenith Media Services Inc.

``They're blowing the competition away in terms of demographics,'' Rothstein said.

CBS has the only bona fide hit among the new series with ``CSI: Crime Scene Investigation,'' the Friday night drama that has unexpectedly outperformed CBS' expensive remake of ``The Fugitive'' and Midler's much-ballyhooed comedy.

''`CSI' was an unbelievably pleasant surprise for us,'' said CBS President Leslie Moonves. The Saturday night police show, ``The District,'' is a modest success, as is the Monday comedy, ``Yes, Dear.''

Unfortunately for the network, young viewers who flocked to the notoriously older-audience CBS for ``Survivor'' last summer didn't hang around; the network's 18-to-49-year-old averages are down slightly from last fall, according to Nielsen Media Research.

The good news: ``Survivor II'' starts in January.

``We feel like the second part of the year we will be much stronger,'' Moonves said.

Fox can brag about the biggest ratings improvement _ although last season was so bad the network's entertainment president lost his job. The World Series also helped Fox's ratings.

New series ``Dark Angel'' and star Jessica Alba have people talking. Producer David E. Kelley has single-handedly boosted Fox's Monday nights with the new ``Boston Public'' and a revived ``Ally McBeal.''

``This is a network that's back on track and showing some clear direction,'' said network head Sandy Grushow.

Among the mini-networks, the WB has shown improvement with its youth-oriented dramas. This year, they're doing better with young adults than with teen-agers, said Marc Berman, media analyst for Media Week Online.

Berman, like others, is puzzled by the muddled state of television. Asked for the season's big winner so far, one analyst said NBC. Another fingered NBC as the big loser.

There was a long pause when Berman was asked the question.

``There really is no overall winner,'' he said. ``No one can go out there and say, `Hey, look at us!'''