‘Echo of Thunder’ Gives CBS Some Movie Clout

CBS’ Hallmark Hall of Fame production “The Echo of Thunder” struck down the competition Sunday, in a week otherwise lit up by NBC’s Thursday lineup and the highest-rated “Law & Order” since September, based on results released Tuesday by Nielsen Media Research.

“Echo,” starring Judy Davis, generated more ratings noise than the two competing movies (NBC’s “Brave New World” and ABC’s “Mind Games”) combined. ABC fared poorly with movies Thursday and Saturday as well, dropping the network into fourth place for the week.

CBS tried to jump-start “Brooklyn South” by running two episodes last week, including a Tuesday telecast against a repeat of “NYPD Blue,” which shares the same creative pedigree. The rookie series took a beating both nights, however, from “Dateline NBC.” On the plus side for CBS, “Walker, Texas Ranger” kicked in its best performance in seven weeks.

The premiere of “Love Boat: The Next Wave” created a mini-splash for the UPN network April 13, drawing more viewers than a new ABC drama, “Push,” which the network promptly pulled from its lineup.

Cable Top 10

Here are Nielsen’s top 10 cable programs in prime time last week, also ranked by total viewers (in millions).

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Program Viewers Network 1. Wrestling (Mon., 10 p.m.) USA 5.28 2. “Breakdown” HBO 4.82 3. Wrestling (Mon., 10 p.m.) TNT 4.77 4. Wrestling (Thur., 9:05 p.m.) TBS 4.74 5. Wrestling (Mon., 9 p.m.) TNT 4.71 6. Wrestling (Mon., 8 p.m.) TNT 4.60 7. South Park COMC 4.52 8. Wrestling (Mon., 8:57 p.m.) USA 4.58 9. Boxing HBO 4.40 10. Earth/Moon (Sun., 8:54 p.m.) HBO 4.29

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Network Averages

Here is the number of viewers that each network averaged per hour of prime time, for last week and for the season.

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Last week Season to date NBC 12.64 million 14.71 CBS 11.76 14.26 FOX 9.88 10.64 ABC 9.83 12.42 UPN 4.13 4.05 WB 4.11 4.48

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Southland Viewing

Here are Nielsen’s Top 10 prime-time programs in the Los Angeles area during the same week. The rankings are based on the number of households watching.

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Program Station Households 1. ER KNBC 1,097,021 2. Seinfeld KNBC 996,837 3. Friends KNBC 831,532 4. Veronica’s Closet KNBC 771,421 5. Just Shoot Me KNBC 746,375 6. The X-Files KTTV 741,366 7. 60 Minutes KCBS 736,357 8. Law & Order KNBC 716,320 9. 20/20 KABC 706,301 10. “The Echo of Thunder” KCBS 671,237

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Source: Nielsen Media Research