Jerry Orbach’s final appearance on television produced slightly less numbers than Trial By Jury’s Thursday debut, but it was enough to help NBC win the night with an 8.1 rating/14 share. CBS was well behind in second with a share of 5.8/10, followed by ABC, 4.9/9; The WB, 1.9/3; FOX, 1.8/3; and UPN, 1.5/3.
NBC started well with Dateline winning the 8-9 slot by getting a shaer of 7.1/13, while CBS finished second with “Joan of Arcadia,” at 5.3/10. ABC went with back-to-back episdoes of “8 Simple Rules,” averaging a 4.6/9 for the hour. The FOX special “Assembling Robots: The Magic, the Music and the Comedy” drew weak numbers at 1.8/3, followed by “The Bernie Mac Show” with a 1.9/3. Two episodes of “What I Like About You” gave The WB a 1.6/3, while “America’s Next Top Model” diva special rerun got a minuscule 1.5/3 for UPN.
“Law & Order: SVU” kept the ball rolling for NBC at 9 p.m., 7.6/13, beating CBS’ “NUMB3RS” repeat, 6.1/11. “Hope & Faith” and “Less Than Perfect” averaged a 4.3/8 for ABC, while “Reba” and “Blue Collar TV” took The WB up to a 2.2/4 for the hour. “Jonny Zero” continued the terrible Firday performance by FOX with a 1.7/3, just ahead of the repeat of “America’s Next Top Model’s” premiere, 1.6/3.
At 10 p.m., “Law & Order: Trial by Jury” wrapped up the NBC victory with 9.6/17, distancing itself from CBS, second with a repeat of “CSI” at 6.2/11.
Credit: Zap2It
