NBC Wins Again; Erratic Showing for ‘Jillian’

For the 10th time in the 11-week-old 1989-90 TV season, NBC won the ratings race last week. Its prime-time schedule averaged an audience of 13.8 million homes, compared to 12.2 million for ABC and 10.7 million for CBS. The full list of prime-time ratings is on Page 8.

* You can lead viewers to a new show, but you can’t make them like it. When NBC introduced “Ann Jillian” behind the top-rated “Cosby Show” last Thursday, viewers in more than 23 million homes watched. But when the sitcom moved to its regular time slot three days later, only about 9.8 million homes were tuned in. NBC said that was better than what the network had been doing in the time period previously, and the show outdrew ABC’s programming. But it was far below the audience for Angela Lansbury in CBS’ “Murder, She Wrote”--18.2 million households. Lansbury also won the ratings battle from 9 to 11 p.m. on Sunday as her movie on ABC, “The Shell Seekers,” attracted 24% of the viewers to top NBC’s “True Blue” and CBS’ “No Place Like Home.”

TV RATINGS

Show Points Share 1. “The Cosby Show” (NBC) 27.1 43 2. “Cheers” (NBC) 25.4 40 3. “Ann Jillian” (NBC) 25.0 39 4. “Roseanne” (ABC) 24.5 36 5. “Dear John” (NBC) 21.4 34 * “Ann Jillian” (NBC) 10.6 15