Cosby Loses Round in L.A. to Simpsons

Even when that brat Bart Simpson tries to be good, he’s b aaaa d. And that’s especially bad for Bill Cosby.

In the first true test of their David and Goliath struggle on Thursday night, Fox’s “The Simpsons” came within one-tenth of a ratings point--about 93,000 homes--of equaling the audience for “The Cosby Show” on NBC, the A.C. Nielsen Co. said Friday.

But since Fox says that its programs can be seen in only 90% of the nation, while the other three networks reach close to 100%, “The Simpsons” actually beat “Cosby” in that portion of the country where both shows could be seen.

In the Los Angeles area, well, Bart would undoubtedly win a popularity contest from even Magic Johnson. The first fresh “Simpsons” episode of the season--in which mischievous Bart hit the books in an effort to pass the fourth grade--attracted viewers in about 1.3 million households, a whopping 39% of all televisions in use between 8 and 8:30 p.m. Thursday. “Cosby” was seen in about 829,000 homes.

Since “The Cosby Show” debuted six years ago, no regular network series has beaten it in the national ratings for its time period. Until last season, when “Roseanne” overtook it, “Cosby” had been the most popular TV program in the country for four straight years.

“I think the (numbers) are pretty good,” said Peter Chernin, president of Fox Broadcasting Co. “Better than we expected. What’s gratifying for us is that we beat them in every demographic group except (age) 55 plus. We won with teens, young adults and women and men across the board. And that’s the real key for us.”

Over the last couple of seasons, Fox has built its successes and advertising revenues on appealing to younger viewers with shows such as “The Simpsons” and “Married . . . With Children” and has cautioned against comparisons to the other networks in terms of total household ratings. Fox doesn’t reach as many homes as ABC, CBS and NBC because it has fewer and generally weaker affiliates.

An NBC spokeswoman said that despite the achievements of “The Simpsons,” the network was pleased with its performance Thursday night, pointing out that “Cosby” basically held onto the audience it has been drawing so far this season.

The increased competition, in other words, did not detract from “Cosby,” but instead brought in additional viewers to the four networks, she said. The four network share at 8 p.m. was 84% of the total audience, more than 10% higher than the previous week. She also said that NBC’s rating for the entire night was up 5% over the week before.

“We are very happy here,” she said. “We went up against our toughest competition and we made it through.”

Fox has been taking some heat recently, even from some of the producers of “The Simpsons,” for the decision to move the network’s strongest show up against such an established ratings hit. And in recent weeks, with fresh “Cosby” episodes up and running, repeats of “The Simpsons” had been getting crushed and Fox’s entire weekly lineup, with the exception of “Married . . . With Children,” had been floundering. Just this week, advertising executives said that Fox has not been meeting the ratings level it had promised advertisers and would have to pay them back with substantial free commercial time down the road.

Thursday’s results seemed to infuse some life into the fourth network’s hopes. But Chernin was reserved in his assessment of the ratings and said that one week doesn’t prove anything. Fox had heavily promoted Thursday’s episode.

“This is a great start for us,” Chernin said.