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Tuesday May 11, 04:25 AM
'Survivor' Finale Big for CBS on Sunday
LOS ANGELES (Hollywood Reporter) - "Survivor: All-Stars"
went out with more than 24 million viewers and an interactive
twist Sunday as its two-hour finale gave CBS the nightlong win
by a wide margin.
The 8-10 p.m. closer saw 25-year-old Amber Brkich crowned
the winner of the show's first all-star edition. In classic
sweeps tradition, CBS also found a way to squeeze another hour
of its golden unscripted franchise by asking fans to vote
during the next four days for a $1 million second-place winner
who will be revealed Thursday in a live "Survivor" telecast. A
matchmaking element was also included as Brkich received, and
accepted, a marriage proposal from fellow contestant and
runner-up Rob Mariano.
Sunday's finale brought in 24.1 million viewers and 9.6
rating/25 share in the adults 18-49 demographic, according to
preliminary estimates from Nielsen Media Research. That's a 17%
bounce from the series' adults 18-49 season average (8.2/22) in
the Thursday 8 p.m. time slot but nowhere near the 50 million
viewer-plus event-status of the first "Survivor" finale in
August 2000. At 10 p.m., however, CBS had very strong numbers
from the "All-Stars" reunion special (25 million, 10.9/27),
which held virtually all of its lead-in.
ABC did only so-so business with its 7-11 p.m. telecast of
the 2000 theatrical "Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone,"
which averaged 11.1 million viewers and 3.8/10 in adults 18-49.
Not surprisingly, "Harry Potter" did its best numbers in the
teen demo, where it averaged a 20 share.
The competition from the family-friendly "Survivor" finale
didn't help the young wizard's broadcast TV debut; "Harry
Potter" peaked in the 9:30 p.m. half-hour with 12.5 million
viewers and 4.5/10 in adults 18-49. ABC paid around $70 million
in December 2001 for the broadcast and cable TV rights to the
first two "Harry Potter" features.
Still, the "Survivor"/"Harry Potter" combo on CBS and ABC
was enough to flatten the competition on NBC and Fox. NBC's
usually dominant "Law & Order: Criminal Intent" (11.2 million,
3.3/8) and "Crossing Jordan" (11.8 million, 3.8/10) were well
off their game. Fox's 8 p.m. and 9 p.m. tentpoles "The
Simpsons" (6.2 million, 2.9/9) and "Malcolm in the Middle" (5.9
million, 2.6/6) flirted with record-low Nielsen benchmarks for
original episodes.
For the night, CBS lapped the field with an average of 21.1
million viewers and 8.1/22 in adults 18-49.
Reuters/Hollywood Reporter
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