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TIME-SLOT SHOWDOWN The stakes were high at 9 p.m. for a battle between ''Monday Night Football,'' CBS' ''Everybody Loves Raymond,'' NBC's ''Las Vegas,'' and Fox's hotly hyped ''Skin.'' ''Football'' (No. 8) and ''Raymond'' (No. 5) are running up nifty numbers while a sexy new drama emerges -- but it's No. 33 ''Vegas,'' not No. 98 ''Skin.'' ''Once football is gone,'' notes Zucker, ''it's going to take off in a huge way.'' For ''Skin,'' it was more like a yank-off: Fox pulled the plug after only three episodes. ''We didn't go overboard [enough] with selling the adult-entertainment part of the show,'' says Fox exec VP Preston Beckman.
PEAK PERFORMERS Charlie Sheen's CBS sitcom ''Two and a Half Men'' holds most of ''Raymond'''s audience at No. 9, three spots below ''CSI: Miami.'' ''While everyone's saying there are no new hits,'' says Kahl, ''this is doing exactly what you'd hope a new show would.'' Ditto for NBC's ''Average Joe,'' which delivered attractive demos (No. 16 among 18- to 49ers). We'll also raise a congratulatory cockroach in No. 19 ''Fear Factor'''s honor. ''It's the most underappreciated reality show,'' says Zucker. ''And I'll tell you what else: It's a great family show.'' Okay, now you've made our cockroach cry.
BLEAK PERFORMER After netting 40 million folks with its February finale, ''Joe Millionaire'' produced another shocking twist this fall: a No. 89 ranking with fewer than 7 million viewers. ''I'm sure there'll be doctoral dissertations on why 'Joe Millionaire 2' didn't work,'' sighs Beckman. ''It was a really cool gimmick that we could get away with only once.... And we doubled the problem by putting it on two nights.''
FUN FACTS Don't believe the lack of hype: No. 22 ''Still Standing'' builds on its ''Yes, Dear'' lead-in. Meanwhile, UPN is scoring with sitcom ''Eve'' (No. 103). Says Kahl, who also oversees UPN's scheduling: ''You get an Eve, a Will Smith involved in projects -- that can raise the network's whole profile.'' A lot more than ''Shasta McNasty.'' (Still dead, still funny.)
