Miss America Parades Into No. 1 TV Ratings Spot

Miss America proved to be worth a lot of ratings points as the beauty pageant was the most-watched show last week and helped NBC to another prime time win, it was reported Tuesday.

“The Fanelli Boys,” the NBC preview of the week, came in fourth, and “Working It Out,” in its second airing, tied for 17th.

Both shows were part of some fancy footwork in the NBC programming department. The Saturday prime time evening began with Part 1 of a two-part “Golden Girls,” followed by “Working It Out.” Then came the conclusion of “Golden Girls,” followed by “Fanelli” and Miss America.

Fox had some new offerings last week, but they were on the wrong end of the list. “Parker Lewis,” the premiere, was in 59th place, which was an improvement on a “Parker Lewis” repeat in 66th. Fox’s “True Colors” was in 65th, “DEA” in 76th, a rerun “DEA” in 77th and the new “American Chronicles” from Lynch/Frost in dead last 87th place.

In ratings for the week ending Sept. 9, according to the A. C. Nielsen Co., NBC remained in the lead with a 10.7 rating and a 19 share. ABC was second with a 9.4 rating and a 17 share, while CBS posted a 9.2 rating and a 17 share. Fox finished the week with a 6.3 rating and an 11 share.

Dan Rather’s high profile in the Middle East did not tumble Peter Jennings from the top spot among news shows. ABC’s “World News Tonight” was No. 1 for the 35th consecutive week, with a 9.8 rating and a 21 share. “CBS Evening News” with Dan Rather was second with an 8.4 rating and an 18 share, while “NBC Nightly News” with Tom Brokaw was third with an 8.3 rating and an 18 share.

Each ratings point represents about 921,000 households. A share is the percentage of TV sets in use that are tuned to a particular show or network.

TOP 10 SHOWS

The top 10 programs for the week ending Sept. 9, according to the A.C. Nielsen Co.: 1. “Miss America Pageant,” NBC

2. “Golden Girls,” NBC

3. “Cheers,” NBC

4. “Fanelli Boys,” NBC

5. “Funniest Home Videos,” ABC

6. “60 Minutes,” CBS

7. (tie) “Designing Women,” CBS

“Roseanne,” ABC

9. “A Different World,” NBC

10. (tie) “The Cosby Show,” NBC

“Unsolved Mysteries,” NBC