‘MARY’ A HIT, BUT NBC TAKES NIELSENS

Mary Tyler Moore’s return to television in a new series Wednesday night delivered both good news and bad news for CBS when the national ratings arrived Friday.

The good news was that the premiere of her comedy series, “Mary,” attracted viewers in about 14.7 million homes--more than 5 million more than “Stir Crazy,” the show it replaced in the CBS lineup, had been averaging.

The bad news was that NBC’s time-period leader, “Highway to Heaven,” instead of being beaten or even dented by “Mary” and the other new CBS comedy that followed it, “Foley Square,” finished with what a spokesman said was its highest rating ever.

CBS, running second in the prime-time ratings behind NBC and in danger of losing the leadership crown it has worn for the last six years, has pinned much of its hope for catching NBC on “Mary” being a hit and boosting viewership for its entire Wednesday night schedule, as “The Cosby Show” did for NBC on Thursdays last season.

“Mary” is Moore’s first TV comedy series since her much-loved “Mary Tyler Moore Show” went off the air in 1977.

But “Highway to Heaven,” which stars Michael Landon as an angel who travels the country helping people, averaged a 23.1 rating over the hour Wednesday night--drawing viewers in more than 18.7 million homes during the first half hour against “Mary” and climbing to nearly 21 million against “Foley Square.”

ABC’s hourlong drama series “The Insiders,” which was canceled this week, ran third in the time period.

David Poltrack, vice president of research for the CBS Broadcast Group, didn’t disguise his disappointment that “Mary” hadn’t fared better but said in a telephone interview from New York that the network remains confident that the show will be a success.

“We’re off to a pretty good start,” he said, referring to the ratings improvement over “Stir Crazy.” “The question now is, ‘Will the positive word of mouth materialize that will increase the trial (showing) over time?’ ”

What seemed to catch CBS officials off guard Friday was the decisiveness of the “Highway to Heaven” victory. In overnight ratings from 12 major cities that were available Thursday, “Mary” had been the most-preferred show. Friday’s national ratings were substantially different, however, indicating that the CBS comedy didn’t fare as well outside the large urban centers.

Poltrack credited NBC with employing a “very effective strategy” in which it scheduled the second half of a two-part “Highway to Heaven” against the premiere of “Mary” and “Foley Square,” so that viewers who had seen the first part the week before would be inclined to stick with it.

“That sort of blunted the trial (airings of the CBS shows), particularly in the smaller markets,” he said.

While CBS naturally would like to win the prime-time ratings race, Poltrack stressed that “Mary” doesn’t need to win its time period to prove economically beneficial to the network. “At its current (ratings) level--given the fact that its an urban show that appeals to an upper socioeconomic audience, particularly young women--’Mary’ would financially be a very big plus for us and would be very successful in terms of the business of selling advertising time to advertisers,” Poltrack observed, “which is exactly the business we’re in.”