The ratings were great, as we previously told you. But now we know how great.
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The Associated Press reports that NBC's For Love Or Money was the highest-rated show on any network for the week ending July 13, 2003. Its 12.9 million viewers were sufficient to handily defeat NBC's Law and Order and CBS's CSI and Without a Trace ... and made NBC's decision to film a second series of For Love Or Money, starring series 1 winner Erin Brodie, look prescient.
Other reality shows had mixed results for the week, as shown in the complete Nielsen ratings. The debuts of CBS's Big Brother 4 managed to nail down a respectable 12th and 15th place, with over 9 million viewers for each episode; however, its Friday edition only managed 30th. Shades of ABC's The Mole 2, which stiffed on Fridays but soared once moved to a weeknight. NBC's Fear Factor was 20th.
However, CBS's much-hyped Cupid, produced by American Idol judge Simon Cowell, only managed to grab 28th place. In addition, CBS's classy The Amazing Race 4, which aired right before the number 3 and 4 shows of the week, struggled to reach a tie for 21st with a repeat of NBC's Friends. Fox's American Juniors placed merely 34th on Tuesday. And Fox's Paradise Hotel only managed 54th place on Wednesday and 73st place on Monday, proving that contestants Toni (from Love Cruise) and Kavita (from Exiled 2) can kill any reality show they touch.
At the very bottom, 110th out of 110, was Mark Burnett's disastrous WB reality-surfing series Boarding House: North Shore. We hope Burnett's upcoming NBC show The Restaurant ends his uncharacteristic string of flops at one.