The hit men have a hit. The third season premiere of HBO's "The Sopranos" on Sunday drew regular network-sized ratings, reaching 11.3 million viewers, more than any program in HBO's history. What's astounding is that HBO is plugged into only about 32 million homes. Had "The Sopranos" been broadcast on a network, points out The New York Times, the program would have been the most popular show on TV last week. (The Nielsen rating is the percentage of the nation's estimated 102.2 million TV homes. Each ratings point represents 1,022,000 households.) The Top 10 network shows from Feb. 26-March 4:
1. "Survivor: The Australian Outback," CBS, 18.0, 18.3 million homes
2. "ER," NBC, 17.5, 18.0 million homes
3. "CSI: Crime Scene Investigation," CBS, 14.8, 15.1 million homes
4. "ABC Original: Oprah Winfrey Presents: Amy & Isabelle," ABC, 13.4, 13.7 million homes
5. "Law and Order," NBC, 13.0, 13.2 million homes
6. "Who Wants to be a Millionaire," Sunday, ABC, 12.8, 13.1 million homes
7. "The West Wing," NBC, 12.5, 12.7 million homes
8. "Who Wants to be a Millionaire," Thursday, ABC, 12.3, 12.5 million homes
9. "Everybody Loves Raymond," CBS, 11.9, 12.1 million homes
10. "60 Minutes," CBS, 11.4, 11.6 million homes