A ‘Cosby’ Bloopers Episode Beats ‘Simpsons’ Rerun, but Not in L.A.

It’s still only summer and still only reruns, but “The Simpsons” was no match for a fresh bloopers episode of “The Cosby Show” in their first head-to-head battle, according to ratings released Friday by the A.C. Nielsen Co.

But even with an episode that has repeated three times on Fox, “The Simpsons” did beat NBC’s “Cosby” in Los Angeles and San Francisco. The show, about mischievous Bart’s decapitating a statue of his hometown’s founder, nationally managed a second-place finish in its 8 p.m. Thursday time slot, beating repeats of “The Father Dowling Mysteries” on ABC and “48 Hours” on CBS.

The heavily promoted “Cosby” special, which was filled with outtakes and blunders from the show’s previous six seasons, registered a 15 rating and a 28% audience share. (Each ratings point represents 921,000 households.) “The Simpsons” scored an 8.4 rating and a 16% share of homes watching television at the time.

In Los Angeles, the nation’s second-largest market, “The Simpsons” beat “Cosby” by more than 182,000 households.

While “Cosby” will begin airing original episodes next month, “The Simpsons” will not get a new episode on the air until late October because of the animated series’ complicated production process. Fox executives so far have downplayed the David-versus-Goliath confrontation with “Cosby,” claiming they have little hope of toppling the longtime ratings champ and that they would be satisfied merely with establishing a firm toehold on Thursdays--a new night of programming for the 3 1/2-year-old network.

“We’re thrilled with these results” was all a Fox spokesman would say Friday. Peter Chernin, president of Fox Broadcasting, was not available to comment further.

The debut of NBC’s new sitcom “Ferris Bueller” won its 8:30 time period Thursday, beating a repeat of “Married . . . With Children” on Fox and the second half-hour reruns of “Father Dowling” and “48 Hours” on ABC and CBS. But the new series lost three share points from its “Cosby” lead-in and lost outright to “Married . . . With Children” in Los Angeles. Based on the hit movie “Ferris Bueller’s Day Off,” the series with Charlie Schlatter will be seen regularly on Monday nights at 8:30 beginning next month.