‘Quantum Leap’ Ratings Jump on Final Telecast

“Quantum Leap” leaped off the air on a winning note Wednesday with an audience that more than doubled its average rating for the season.

According to figures released Thursday by the A.C. Nielsen Co., the finale for NBC’s time-traveling series was seen in nearly 13 million households at 10 p.m., nipping “48 Hours” on CBS and easily outdistancing Kathie Lee Gifford’s special on ABC.

In its regular time slot of 8 p.m. Tuesdays, opposite the ABC powerhouse “Full House,” “Quantum Leap” had averaged 6 million households for most of the season.

Meanwhile, the prom episode of Fox’s “Beverly Hills, 90210” also scored limousine-sized numbers Wednesday. The high-school drama won its 8 p.m. time period over the three major networks with about 11.5 million households tuned in across the nation--including 47% of all teen-agers watching television at that hour.

That big showing lifted Fox to a second-place finish for the evening’s May sweeps programming among all four networks between 8 and 10 p.m.

But Wednesday’s biggest winner, as usual, was ABC’s “Home Improvement,” which was seen in nearly 20 million homes--33% of all those watching television at 9 p.m.