TV Ratings : CBS Wins With a Strong 1-2 Punch

Propelled by its strong Sunday and Monday lineups, CBS again won the prime-time ratings race last week, figures from the A.C. Nielsen Co. showed Tuesday. Its eight highest-rated programs were from those two nights, all in the Top 20. NBC placed second and ABC was third. NBC, meanwhile, noted that the combined three-network share of audience was three points higher than for the same week last year, when the Persian Gulf War erupted and cable’s ratings jumped overnight, thanks to CNN. The full list of ratings is on F11.

* Is this guy hot or what? Following on the success of his No. 1 album “Ropin’ the Wind,” Garth Brooks scored a big hit with his first network TV special last Friday. The country music show was seen in about 15.9 million homes, tops in its time period and ranking No. 9 among the week’s 94 prime-time programs. NBC said that was the best showing it had made with an entertainment program in the time slot since the “Miami Vice” episode of March 20, 1987. Unfortunately for NBC, viewer interest did not carry over to its music series on Sunday, “Hot Country Nights,” which finished at No. 80 with less than half the size of Brooks’ audience.

Show Points Share 1. “60 Minutes” (CBS) 23.8 39 2. “Roseanne” (ABC) 20.1 30 3. “Unsolved Mysteries” (NBC) 19.3 30 4. “Murder, She Wrote” (CBS) 19.1 29 “Murphy Brown” (CBS) 19.1 29 * “This Is Garth Brooks” (NBC) 17.3 28