Last week's college bowl championship football games scored strong ratings for ABC and together with two top-ten wins for Who Wants to Be a Millionaire gave the network an easy win over its rivals during the first week of the new year. ABC averaged a 10.7/17. NBC, whose E.R. retained first place with its second-highest numbers of the season (one of the lead characters developed complications after being operated on for a brain tumor), was in second place with an 8.1/13. CBS, which again failed to place a single show in the top ten, sank to third with a 7.9/12. Fox remained in last place with a 6.2/10. The top ten shows of the week according to Nielsen Research: 1. E.R. NBC, 19.7/32; 2. Orange Bowl, ABC, 17.8/28; 3. Friends, NBC, 15.0/24; 4. Will & Grace, NBC, 13.3/20; 5. Rose Bowl (Post-game), ABC, 13.0/20; 5. Sugar Bowl, ABC, 13.0/21; 7. Just Shoot Me, NBC, 12.7/19; 7. Who Wants to Be a Millionaire (Thursday), ABC, 12.7/19; 9. Orange Bowl (Pre-game), ABC, 12.5/21; 10. Millionaire (Sunday), ABC, 12.4/18.

Source: Studio Briefing