TV Ratings : CBS Scores Big as the Race Officially Begins

CBS opened its defense of the prime-time ratings crown with a solid victory in the first official week of the 1993-94 television season, the A.C. Nielsen Co. reported Tuesday. CBS had 10 of the 20 highest-rated programs last week, including top-ranked “60 Minutes.”

NBC’s “Seinfeld,” which only four days earlier had picked up the Emmy Award as TV’s best comedy, soared to the No. 2 spot on Thursday, nearly doubling the audience of its closest competition. NBC also had the highest-rated rookie series last week, “Frasier,” which finished at No. 7, but the network still ran third in the network standings with only two other programs in the Top 20.

Among other newcomers, ABC’s controversial “NYPD Blue” tied for 11th among the week’s 90 prime-time programs, despite being unavailable to 11% of the nation’s viewers because their local stations opted not to broadcast the program. CBS’ “Dave’s World” was No. 16 and the network scored a knockout on Saturday night with “Dr. Quinn, Medicine Woman” (No. 20), “Harts of the West” (No. 23) and “Walker, Texas Ranger” (tie for No. 29).

CBS also won big on Sunday as “Murder, She Wrote” was the heavily preferred favorite (No. 9) over NBC newcomer “seaQuest DSV” (tie for No. 29), ABC novice “Lois & Clark: The New Adventures of Superman” (tie for No. 51) and the Fox comedies “Martin” (No. 58) and “Living Single” (tie for No. 45). The audience for “seaQuest” dropped for the second week in a row, off 30% from its Sept. 12 premiere. Nevertheless, it drew twice as many viewers in the important 18-49 age bracket as “Murder, She Wrote.”

Southland Ratings Here are A. C. Nielsen’s Top 10 prime-time programs in the Los Angeles area during the same week. Each rating point equals 50,064 households.

Sta- Rat- Program tion ing 1. Roseanne KABC 20.5 2. Seinfeld KNBC 19.9 3. 60 Minutes KCBS 19.8 Home Improvement KABC 19.8 5. Coach KABC 18.6 6. The Simpsons KTTV 18.2 7. Beverly Hills, 90210 KTTV 16.5 8. NYPD Blue KABC 16.2 Frasier KNBC 16.2 10. 20/20 KABC 16.0

Weekly Averages

CBS: 13.5

ABC: 12.3

NBC: 11.2

FOX: 7.2

Season to Date

CBS: 13.5

ABC: 12.3

NBC: 11.2

FOX: 7.2