TV Ratings : CBS Rides Clinton’s Coattails

With a boost from the arrival of the Clinton Administration, CBS registered another win in the weekly TV ratings, according to figures released Tuesday by the A.C. Nielsen Co. CBS’ entertainment gala from Washington on Tuesday, the night before President Clinton took office, ranked No. 2 among the week’s 95 prime-time programs, and the network estimated that 45 million people watched at least part of it. The following night, “48 Hours” won its time period and ranked 19th for the week with an installment called “Here Comes Mr. Clinton.”

Overall, CBS averaged a 14 rating in prime time, ahead of ABC’s 12.2, NBC’s 10.3 and Fox’s 7.6.

Locally, however, the inaugural gala did not fare quite as well. It was only the seventh highest-rated program of the week in the Los Angeles-Orange County market. “The Simpsons,” on the other hand, finished No. 27 nationally but No. 2 here.

* Fox expressed satisfaction at the debut of its Tuesday night program block, even though “Class of ‘96” and “Key West” ran fourth in their time periods and tied at No. 85 overall. The network said that the ratings nonetheless represented a 30% improvement over what the Fox stations collectively had been averaging in that time slot with local programming during the final three months of 1992. In addition, the network said that in certain key demographic groups--such as adults 18-34--the two shows actually placed third, ahead of NBC.

TV Ratings

Points Share 1. “60 Minutes” (CBS) 22.5 36 2. “Inaugural Gala” (CBS) 22.0 34 3. “Murphy Brown” (CBS) 19.4 27 4. “Home Improvement” (ABC) 18.7 27 5. “Roseanne” (ABC) 17.9 26 * “Class of ‘96” (Fox) 6.0 9

Complete list, F11 (Each rating point represents 931,000 homes.

Share is the percentage of viewing audience.)