NBC’s Miniseries ‘Merlin’ Puts Hex on ‘X-Files’

“Merlin” conjured up some magical numbers for NBC, delivering the biggest opening for a miniseries since “Queen” premiered in 1993, according to results issued Tuesday by Nielsen Media Research.

The mythical epic, starring Sam Neill in the title role, held Fox’s “The X-Files” to its lowest rating for an original episode in more than two years.

Strong sweeps competition boosted overall Sunday viewing, however, as the movies “Nicholas’ Gift” and “Apollo 13” both cracked the top 20, even though their combined audience didn’t equal “Merlin.” According to NBC, more than 84 million people tuned in the major networks from 9-10 p.m.

Fox’s “The Simpsons” did just a bit better than usual with its 200th episode, while NBC began the sweeps period in fine fashion Thursday, as “Just Shoot Me” became the only program following “Friends” ever to build upon its audience.

CBS scored a rare Wednesday victory, meanwhile, thanks to the Academy of Country Music Awards, while Comedy Central’s “South Park” attracted its largest audience yet in topping the cable charts, despite the channel’s availability in only about half of U.S. homes.

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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 Network Viewers 1. South Park COMC 6.20 2. Wrestling (Mon., 8 p.m.) TNT 5.59 3. Wrestling (Mon., 10 p.m.) TNT 5.40 4. Wrestling (Mon., 9 p.m.) TNT 5.38 5. Boxing HBO 4.40 6. Selena HBO 4.26 7. Wrestling (Mon., 8:57 p.m.) USA 4.18 8. Wrestling (Mon., 10 p.m.) USA 4.13 9. From Earth to Moon, Pt. 7 HBO 3.82 10. Wrestling (Wed., 9:05 p.m.) TBS 3.80

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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 15.47 million 14.73 CBS 13.36 14.23 ABC 10.86 12.37 FOX 9.90 10.61 WB 3.99 4.46 UPN 3.77 4.04

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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. Seinfeld KNBC 1,267,335 2. “Merlin” Part 1 KNBC 1,172,160 3. Seinfeld KNBC 1,107,040 4. ER KNBC 1,092,012 5. Friends KNBC 1,071,975 6. Just Shoot Me KNBC 926,708 7. 60 Minutes KCBS 831,532 8. The X-Files KTTV 791,458 9. The Simpsons KTTV 756,394 10. Touched by an Angel KCBS 736,357

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Source: Nielsen Media Research