"Daning With The Stars" Beats "Survivor" Premiere In Ratings

This is the first time in my memory that a premiere of "Survivor" had
trouble winning its time slot since Season 2:

'Dancing' Survives 'Survivor,' but CBS Takes Thursday

Fast National ratings for Thursday, Feb. 2, 2006

The premiere of a new "Survivor" did little to blunt the popularity of
ABC's "Dancing with the Stars" Thursday. CBS, however, still won the
night -- the first of February sweeps -- by a pretty wide margin.

Nancy1...

Frankly, I don't know why anyone watches the competition night of
DWTS...it's 90 minutes, there are only 5 couples left - the
demonstrations are boring, and the hostess! She sounds like she used
to be a man. If you watch the next night, the results show, you get to
see almost all the competition anyway. I catch the last few minutes of
the results just to see who's out.

The old PBS "Competition Ballroom Dancing" was sooooo much more
entertaining.

-L....

I dunno. The first DWTS was actually pretty good - both John O'Hurley
and Kelly Monaco were both excellent and fun to watch. I don't even
know who is in it this time, though...

Nancy1...

Some professional wrestler named Stacy, who is famous for her long legs
which seem to be her only talent, even though she had nothing to do
with creating them; George ("I like toasted") Hamilton, who can't dance
a lick but is entertaining, according to the judges; Drew Lachey,
brother of Nick, Lisa Rinna, who is married to Harry Hamlin, and looks
and dances great and Jerry Rice, who tries awfully hard. Either Stacy
or Drew will win. It should be Drew just because, but it will probably
be Stacy, unless she falls down.

-L....

Ugh. George Hamilton is such a irritant. I would like to see Jerry
Rice dance. I barely know who Nick Lachey is, so have no idea who Drew
is. Seems like they could have gotten a better set of contestants this
time...

CBS averaged a 13.7 rating/21 share in primetime to claim the top spot
in the Nielsens over ABC, 8.8/13. NBC, 6.7/10, came in third. FOX
grabbed fourth with a 3.6/5, followed by The WB, 3.1/5, and UPN, 1.7/2.

Among adults 18-49, CBS' 7.7 rating led the way. NBC took second in the
advertisers' favorite demographic with a 4.6, topping ABC's 3.6. FOX
averaged 2.6, The WB 2.2 and UPN 1.0.

"Dancing with the Stars," 11.8/18, actually beat the debut of "Survivor:
Panama -- Exile Island" (10.7/17) in households, although the CBS show
led in viewers and adults 18-49. "Will & Grace," 5.1/8, and "Four
Kings," 4.6/7, put NBC in third for the hour. An hour of "That '70s
Show" on FOX edged The WB's "Smallville," 3.3/5, for fourth. UPN trailed
with "Everybody Hates Chris" and "Love, Inc."

CBS took over at 9 p.m. with "CSI," 16.9/25. ABC was second with the
final half-hour of "Dancing," 13.2/19, and "Crumbs," 6.3/9. "My Name Is
Earl," 6.5/10, and "The Office," 5.7/8, held onto third for NBC. "The
O.C." scored a 3.6/6 for FOX, beating out The WB's "Beauty and the Geek"
and UPN's "Eve" and "Cuts."

"Without a Trace" closed the night for CBS with a 13.5/22 at 10 p.m.
NBC's "ER" posted a 9.1/15, while "Primetime" averaged 4.7/8 for ABC.