TV Ratings : CBS Gets Gold-Medal Ratings

The United States may not be winning much at the Winter Olympics in France, but CBS is racking up gold-medal ratings. All seven nights of programming last week ranked in the Top 10 on the list of prime-time ratings released Tuesday by the A.C. Nielsen Co. “60 Minutes” still beat them all, but that was hardly something that bothered CBS. The network cemented its hold on first place in the season standings with an average rating last week of 19.3, compared to 11.9 for NBC and 11.5 for ABC. Each point represents 921,000 households. CBS has now won seven weeks in a row, the first time it has done so since the 1984-85 season. The full list of ratings is on F19.

* Last week was not a good one for writer-producer Steven Bochco. ABC kicked back his latest series proposal, saying it was too racy, and his two first-year series on ABC were showing no signs of making it to a second season. The drama “Civil Wars” ranked 65th among the week’s 77 prime-time programs, while the animated “Capitol Critters” placed 71st, with only 11% of the available viewers watching. Bochco’s “Doogie Howser, M.D.” placed 44th.

Show Points Share 1. “60 Minutes” (CBS) 24.4 40 2. “Winter Olympics (Tuesday)” (CBS) 21.5 32 3. “Winter Olympics (Sunday)” (CBS) 21.2 32 4. “Winter Olympics (Thursday)” (CBS) 19.2 29 5. “Winter Olympics (Monday)” (CBS) 19.1 29 * “Civil Wars” (ABC) 7.3 12