THE SIMPSONS season premiere, which aired in its regular time slot of Sunday at 8:00 pm, scored high ratings it its 13th season kick-off. Although the show was delayed by 11 minutes in some time zones due to the NFL game wrap-up, it landed in 28th place with an excellent 8.8 rating/13 share. THE SIMPSONS lead-in KING OF THE HILL, also delayed, did not receive such stellar ratings, finishing in 53rd place with a 6.6 rating/10 share. The number two toon was THE SIMPSONS Halloween Special, which had been postponed from its original air date of October 31 due to the World Series. The special, which aired at 8:30 pm on Tuesday, grabbed a 7.8 rating/12 share. FAMILY GUY faltered in its third season. The Thursday night premiere only garnered a 3.4 rating/5 share for 88th place. The show was followed by THE TICK, a live-action half-hour based on the comic of the same name. THE TICK improved on FAMILY GUYs lead-in only slightly, finishing in 84th place with a 4.1 rating/6 share. The U.S. universe estimate used for calculating ratings for the broadcast networks (ABC, CBS, FOX, NBC, UPN, PAX and WB) is equal to 100% of all TV households. Beginning with the week of September 17, 2001 the universe estimate is 105.5 million TV homes. Each rating point represents one percent of that universe, or 1,055,000 TV homes. Let's assume, hypothetically, that a recent movie on a broadcast network drew a 14.1 rating. That rating projects to approximately 14.4 million homes.
