TV Ratings : Slow Season for Christmas Specials

Despite a spate of Christmas specials, TV viewers turned mostly to their favorite series last week, ratings from the A.C. Nielsen Co. showed Tuesday. Only one holiday-themed program--Sunday’s movie “Christmas on Division Street” on CBS--cracked the Top 10 (at No. 7). ABC’s broadcast of “Ernest Saves Christmas” ranked No. 34, ABC’s “Winnie the Pooh and Christmas Too” was No. 54, CBS’ “John Denver’s Christmas” was No. 63, CBS’ “Mickey’s Christmas Carol” was No. 64 and CBS’ “The Night Before Christmas” was No. 66. CBS managed to win the week, however, recording an average rating of 13, compared to NBC’s 12.4 and ABC’s 12 (each point represents 921,000 households). Fox ran fourth nationally at 7.6 but had two of the 10 most-watched shows in the L.A. area: “In Living Color” and “The Simpsons.” The full list of ratings is on F11.

* Connie Chung’s well-publicized interview with Earvin (Magic) Johnson about his bout with the AIDS virus produced big ratings for CBS’ “Face to Face.” The interview program last Wednesday handily won its time period--beating NBC’s “Quantum Leap” and ABC’s “Civil Wars”--and ranked 14th among the week’s 92 prime-time programs, with about 14.5 million homes tuning in.

Show Points Share 1. “60 Minutes” (CBS) 22.7 37 2. “Cheers” (NBC) 19.1 29 3. “Roseanne” (ABC 18.9 29 4. “Murphy Brown” (CBS) 17.8 26 5. “Unsolved Mysteries” (NBC) 17.5 28 * “Face to Face” (CBS) 15.7 27