‘Star Trek’ Takes Off Fast, Gives KCOP a Ratings Win

Only a few years ago, no matter what they aired, the three major networks had the prime-time audience locked up. But in today’s world of cable, Fox, videocassettes and the ever-handy remote control, with the right show, with the right hype, even an independent station like KCOP Channel 13 can beat the big guys.

Case in point: Wednesday’s season premiere of the syndicated “Star Trek: The Next Generation,” which was heavily promoted, won the 9-10 p.m. time period in Los Angeles for Channel 13.

“This shows that it’s a level playing field for anyone with good programming,” said Rick Feldman, KCOP’s station manager. “It means that the traditional dominance of the networks in prime time has totally evaporated.”

Building off of last spring’s season-ending cliffhanger, which KCOP repeated at 8 p.m. Wednesday, the new show was seen by 19% of those watching television at the time--more than 633,000 homes in the L.A. area.

ABC’s lineup of “Doogie Howser, M.D.” and “Married People” was a close second locally, while the “Star Trek” episode trounced CBS’ “Jake and the Fatman” and NBC’s “Fanelli Boys” and “Dear John.”

“People are much more open to looking around; they are less set in their ways,” Feldman said. “In the old days, if you grew up in Los Angeles, you thought of Channels 2, 4 and 7. Now kids who are 14 might not even think about (Channel) 2. They think about 11 or maybe 13 or Nickelodeon or MTV. There is no specific allegiance to channel numbers for anyone under 50.”

New episodes of “Star Trek: The Next Generation” will continue to air Wednesdays at 8 p.m. on Channel 13.

Meanwhile, in other ratings news, ABC’s much-ballyhooed musical drama, “Cop Rock,” was shot down in its first outing Wednesday, finishing last in its 10 p.m. time period behind NBC’s “Hunter” and CBS’ Mike Wallace special. In good news for ABC’s advertising sales, however, “Cop Rock” finished first among viewers ages 18 to 49.

On Thursday, CBS’ new comic-book drama, “The Flash,” which aired from 8:30-9:30 p.m., came in a distant second to NBC’s pair of comedy hits, “A Different World” and “Cheers,” but it beat ABC’s “Father Dowling Mysteries” and “Gabriel’s Fire.”