TV RATINGS : A Really Big Hand for ‘Ed Sullivan’

A two-hour collection of clips from “The Ed Sullivan Show” made a really big showing on CBS Sunday night, just as the original used to do. Ratings released Tuesday by the A.C. Nielsen Co. listed the Sullivan tribute as having the second largest number of households tuned in of any program last week--19.8 million. Only “60 Minutes” fared better, with 20.6 million. Competing against “The Very Best of the Ed Sullivan Show,” NBC’s “Love, Lies and Murder (Part One)” attracted viewers in about 14.4 million homes, while ABC’s remake of “Whatever Happened to Baby Jane?” drew about 9.2 million. The performance helped propel CBS to a narrow win in the weekly prime-time race: It averaged a 12.9 rating to NBC’s 12.8, with ABC third at 11.8 (each point represents 931,000 households). The full list of ratings is on F12.

Show Points Share 1. “60 Minutes” (CBS) 22.1 37 2. “The Very Best of the Ed Sullivan Show” (CBS) 21.3 33 3. “Cheers” (NBC) 20.8 33 4. “Full House” (ABC) 18.7 31 5. “Roseanne” (ABC) 18.4 28 * “Unsolved Mysteries” (NBC) 16.1 26

* It doesn’t get much respect from critics, but “Unsolved Mysteries” continues to be a solid ratings performer for NBC. Last week, it was seen in about 15 million homes--more than watched either ABC’s “The Wonder Years” and “Growing Pains” or CBS’ “48 Hours.” For the season as a whole, “Unsolved Mysteries” ranks 14th among 122 series that have been broadcast by the four networks.