The first two games of the Boston Celtics and Los Angeles Lakers series on ABC were more popular than any National Basketball Association finals since 2004, a boon to a network otherwise off to a tough start to the summer season.
Not since 2004, when the Lakers took on the Detroit Pistons, has an NBA finals attracted this much attention, Nielsen Media Research said. The basketball series was twice as popular as hockey's Stanley Cup series on NBC the week of June 2-8; two games were seen by more than 6 million viewers.
CBS' "Million Dollar Password" with Regis Philbin did well Sunday, with 9.6 million viewers. That game and Fox's "So You Think You Can Dance" are the strongest summer series so far.
CBS' wife-swapping drama "Swingtown" debuted with 8.6 million, making it the sixth-most-watched drama of the week, Nielsen said.
For the week, network averages were: CBS, 7.2 million viewers (4.9 rating, 9 share); Fox, 6.5 million (4.1, 7); ABC, 6.1 million (4.0, 7); NBC, 5.7 million (3.7, 7); CW, 1.8 million (1.2, 2); My Network, 1 million (0.7, 1); ION, 470,000 (0.3, 1).
In the evening news race: NBC "Nightly News," 7.8 million (5.3, 11); ABC "World News," 7.6 million (5.3, 11); "CBS Evening News," 5.8 million (4.0, 8).
ASSOCIATED PRESS
1 NBA Finals Game 2: LA Lakers vs. Boston (ABC)
