TV Ratings : A Christmas Present for CBS

The last time CBS won four nights of the week earlier this season, it was because of major league baseball. Last week, CBS used a Christmas platter of holiday specials to win four nights and easily finish the week as the highest-rated network with a prime-time average of 12.8, followed by ABC with 11.6, NBC with 9.9 and Fox with 8. Figures released late Tuesday by the A.C. Nielsen Co. showed that on Saturday, a night usually dominated by NBC, the CBS tandem of “Disney’s Christmas Fantasy on Ice” and a rerun of “Sarah, Plain and Tall,” drove NBC into third place for its lowest berth that night since 1985.

* The biggest gift for CBS was last Sunday night’s “Holiday Greetings From Ed Sullivan.” CBS learned last season that inexpensive retrospectives of popular old series can provide big ratings. The two-hour compilation of Christmas clips, with Bob Newhart as host, finished tied as the No. 16 show of the week with a strong 23% share of the audience.

TV Ratings

Points Share 1. “Roseanne” (ABC) 22.5 35 2. “60 Minutes” (CBS) 19.7 35 3. “Home Improvement” (ABC) 18.8 28 4. “The Jackie Thomas Show” (ABC) 18.6 29 5. “Murphy Brown” (CBS) 18.0 27 * “Holiday/Ed Sullivan Show” (CBS) 14.4 23

Complete list, F14 (Each rating point represents 931,000 homes. Share is the percentage of viewing audience.)