Super Bowl Tops on TV but CBS Still Lagging

Super Bowl XXIV was the most watched television event of the week, viewed by a whopping 63% of TV viewers, but not even Joe Montana could lift CBS out of the cellar in the ratings race, it was reported today.

CBS estimates that 109 million viewers saw all or part of the game, down only 2 million from last year despite the fact that this year’s match was a blowout.

On the upside for CBS--Super Bowl XXIV carried enough of its audience over to the debut of the new series, “Grand Slam,” to provide a good audience sampling and give the action show a ranking of 15th for the night.

It was CBS’ bad luck that the game was so predictably lopsided, which resulted in the lowest rating since Super Bowl III in 1969.

Each rating point in 1990, however, represents many more households than it did two decades ago. Technically, Super Bowl IV in 1970 out-rated Super Bowl XXIV, 39.4 to 39.0. But last Sunday’s game had almost twice as many viewers as the estimated 59.19 million who watched Kansas City beat Minnesota 20 years ago.

This also marks only the third time that the network airing the Super Bowl did not win the week --NBC managed it in 1979 and 1981. It also is only the second time the Super Bowl network was third for the week--dating back to NBC in 1979.

The Broncos were not to blame for all of CBS’ troubles last week. The network tried some stunting, most of which did not work. On Monday it ran a popular theatrical movie, “Cocoon,” which tied for 54th. The big winner was the American Music Awards on ABC, which came in 10th for the week.

TOP 10 SHOWS

Here are the ratings for national prime-time television for Jan. 22-28, as compiled by the A. C. Nielsen Co.

Program (Network): Rating

1. Super Bowl XXIV (CBS): 39.0

2. Super Bowl Postgame (CBS): 25.3

3. The Cosby Show (NBC): 25.0

4. Cheers (NBC): 25.0

5. Roseanne (ABC): 24.5

6. A Different World (NBC): 22.4

7. The Golden Girls (NBC): 21.7

8. Empty Nest (NBC): 20.5

9. The Wonder Years (ABC): 20.4

10. Amer. Music Awards (ABC): 20.0