‘Nutcracker’ Ratings Lag

The first installment of NBC’s miniseries “Nutcracker: Money, Madness and Murder” turned out to be an empty shell as far as the Nielsen ratings today were concerned, but NBC won the week nevertheless.

The three-part miniseries, starring Lee Remick, was based on the true-life story of a woman who persuaded her son to kill her father. CBS got on the air first with its version, “At Mother’s Request,” two months ago, and viewers apparently didn’t want to watch a repeat of the story. NBC had hoped for a 32 share, but “Nutcracker” opened with a 20. The next two installments will be included in next week’s ratings. NBC won the week with an average prime-time rating of 16.8. CBS had 14.2 and ABC 13.5.