Ratings for Joe Millionare's premiere and article on it from CNN below:

http://tv.zap2it.com/news/dailynielsenrankings.html?29561

While CBS still managed to win every hour of primetime and take Monday night in households with a 10.8 rating/16 share, FOX's new reality experiment "Joe Millionaire" gave it some serious competition in the nine o'clock hour. For the night, FOX came in second with an 8.7/13, followed by NBC, 8.0/12; The WB, 5.5/8; ABC, 4.5/7 and UPN, 3.1/4

Among adults 18-49, FOX led the charge with a 7.0, followed by CBS' 5.8, NBC's 5.3 and ABC's 2.7.

CBS stayed in front at 9 p.m. with "Everybody Loves Raymond," 12.6/18, and "Still Standing," 10.1/15. FOX roared into second with the premiere of "Joe Millionaire," 11.1/16. NBC slipped to third with "Third Watch," 7.5/11, while The WB and ABC remained in fourth and fifth with "Everwood" and a movie. UPN aired "Girlfriends," 3.1/4, and a sneak peek of its new comedy "Abby," 2.7/4.

Article from CNN
http://www.cnn.com/2003/SHOWBIZ/TV/01/08/television.ratings.monday.reut/index.html

HOLLYWOOD, California (Variety) -- This ain't your average Joe.

Fox's limited-run reality series "Joe Millionaire" has cashed in with jaw-dropping Nielsens, including some of the network's best Monday ratings in eight years.

The boffo bow overwhelmed and overshadowed a solid preview performance for UPN's new comedy "Abby," which moved to its regular night on Tuesday.

"Millionaire," Fox's twisted take on ABC's hit "The Bachelor," averaged a huge 10.1 rating/22 share in adults 18-49 and a 12.3/29 in adults 18-34, making it the highest-rated premiere of the season on any network -- scripted or unscripted -- in these coveted demographics. It more than quadrupled the two-week scores of the short-lived "Girls Club," which aired on Fox in the Monday-at-9 hour in October.

Throw in its 18.61 million viewers overall, and this is Fox's best series showing in the slot since "Melrose Place" in January 1995.

"These numbers are beyond anyone at the network's wildest expectations," Fox Entertainment president Gail Berman told Daily Variety.

"Millionaire" revolves around 20 women who compete for the affections of a wealthy bachelor, not knowing that he is in fact a regular working-class guy.

Berman said Fox reality chief Mike Darnell "conceived of something that just really tapped into the Zeitgeist of American culture."

Darnell said he believes "Millionaire" simply "struck a chord with viewers. The show's a new way to do reality."

The opening-night 18-49 rating for "Millionaire" tops all but one episode of both of Fox's other standout reality performers of the past two years -- "Temptation Island" and "American Idol." It also is higher than every episode of CBS' "Survivor: Thailand" earlier this season, and better than all but the finale of ABC's most recent edition of "The Bachelor."

"Millionaire" grew nicely on the half-hour, too, suggesting that people liked what they saw. The show is scheduled to wrap during the February sweep, as Fox plans to use the Monday hour for a variety of reality specials and series during the rest of the season.

"Joe's" audience makeup was roughly 42 percent male, making it more testosterone-tilting than ABC's "The Bachelor" (31 percent male this season), but it did its biggest numbers in women 18-34 (14.3/32) and women 18-49 (11.6/24). Heavy promotion during the NFL playoffs, combined with the game's "gotcha" twist, seemed to bring more males to the table, Berman said.

"Fox Sports (programming) has been a fantastic promotional platform for the launching of 'Joe Millionaire,' " Berman said. "The male numbers were very high for a relationship-oriented show, and football was a dynamic part of this launch."

Berman called the boffo bow for "Millionaire" just "one part of the puzzle" as Fox begins to jump into the 2002-03 season following its almost predictable fall fumbles, caused in part by taking the month of October off for baseball playoff coverage.

"Fox has always had a remarkable ability to rally in January," she said. "We're using 'Joe Millionaire' as a base for our other midseason shows and the move (of 'Fastlane') to Friday nights."

Network executives can now only salivate in anticipation of the ratings for the second edition of "American Idol," which bows January 21.

• RE: Joe Millionare 1st show's Ratings and CNN article,Bucky Katt, 11:57 AM, 01-08-03
  • RE: Joe Millionare 1st show's Ratings and CNN article,SurvivorBlows, 12:49 PM, 01-08-03

Seeing as I had no interest in watching the Bachelor but am enjoying this so far, I would say that the CNN article is right on. We'll see if those ratings hold up next week as I think some people assumed we would see the booted women find out Joe's secret each week but that now doesn't appear to be the case.

I bet Fox is wishing they could do a Joe Millionaire 2 right about now.....

"I resolve to constantly assert my honest opinion on anything and everything - whether it's requested or not."

>Seeing as I had no interest in watching the Bachelor but
>am enjoying this so far,

Same here, I watched only the finale of Bachelor 2 (then again, it was on versus TAR3 I think, wasn't it?) I'll probably check out an episode or two of Bachelorette and decide from there though...

-SB