'Brat Camp' Tops 10 Million Viewers
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Poorly behaved teenagers are hot; smart kids, baseball all-stars and amateur rock stars are not.
ABC's two-hour premiere of "Brat Camp (search)," a reality show where troubled teens are taught discipline at a wilderness camp, was seen by 10.4 million viewers — one of only four programs last week to top the 10 million mark.
The more admirable youngsters competing for scholarships in ABC's "The Scholar (search)" seem far less interesting to TV viewers. That show was seen by 3.5 million people, according to Nielsen Media Research.
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CBS had high hopes for its Mark Burnett-produced contest to name a new singer for the rock band INXS. Despite multiple showings, the series had a slow start; its most popular episode last week had 6.1 million viewers.
Despite trying to juice interest in the game by putting home-field advantage for the World Series on the line, baseball's All-Star Game continues to decline as a television attraction. The 12.3 million viewers who watched last week's game was the smallest audience since precise Nielsen records began in 1983, and far off the 1988 peak of 29.5 million.
The night before the game, an estimated 6.3 million people watched the Home Run Derby on ESPN, Nielsen said.
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With television in its summer doldrums, CBS won the week with 6.7 million viewers (4.6 rating, 8 share), NBC had 6.2 million (4.3, 8), ABC 6 million (4.1, 7), Fox 6 million (3.9, 7) but won among the advertiser-friendly young demographic. UPN had 2.5 million (1.7, 3), the WB 1.9 million (1.3, 2) and Pax TV 670,000 (0.5, 1).
NBC's "Nightly News" won the evening news ratings race, averaging 8.5 million viewers (6.1, 13). ABC's "World News Tonight" had 7.9 million viewers (5.6, 12) and the "CBS Evening News" 6.7 million (4.8, 10).
A ratings point represents 1,096,000 households, or 1 percent of the nation's estimated 109.6 million TV homes. The share is the percentage of in-use televisions tuned to a given show.
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For the week of July 11-17, the top 10 shows, their networks and viewerships: "CSI: Crime Scene Investigation," CBS, 12.9 million; Major League Baseball All-Star Game, Fox, 12.3 million; "Without a Trace," CBS, 11.7 million; "Brat Camp," ABC, 10.4 million; "NCIS," CBS, 9.3 million; "Law & Order: SVU," NBC, 9.1 million; "All-Star Pregame Show," Fox, 9 million; "Law & Order," NBC, 8.9 million; "60 Minutes," CBS, 8.7 million; "Big Brother" (Tuesday), CBS, 8.3 million