TV Ratings : Hoopsters Score for NBC

The NBA championship series is proving a winner for NBC. Ratings released Tuesday by the A.C. Nielsen Co. showed that the first three games of the Portland-Chicago series all finished among the week’s Top 10 programs--with an average of 12.5 million households tuning in each night. NBC won the week with an average 10.9 rating, compared to 10.4 for CBS and 9.1 for ABC. Overall, however, the three networks attracted only 56% of the prime-time audience.

* TV critics sometimes chastise the networks for putting on so many reruns during the summer, but first-run programming is not in itself a panacea for bad ratings--as ABC and Fox witnessed last week. In their second week on the air, ABC’s “Julie” and Fox’s “Vinnie & Bobby” were bombs. “Julie” finished last among the week’s 88 prime-time network programs, attracting only 7% of the available viewers on Saturday night, and “Vinnie & Bobby” fared only slightly better, finishing at No. 84.

Points Share 1. “Roseanne” (ABC) 16.8 28 2. “48 Hours” (CBS) 15.6 28 3. “Home Improvement” (ABC) 15.1 28 4. “Cheers” (NBC) 14.3 24 “Coach” (ABC) 14.3 24 * “Julie” (ABC) 3.3 7

(Each rating point represents 921,000 homes.Share is the percentage of viewing audience.)

Complete list, F9