TV Ratings : ABC Tops List Despite No. 82 ‘Paula Poundstone’

ABC got some good news from last week’s A. C. Nielsen Co. ratings, released Tuesday, and some bad news. The good news: ABC had six of the Top 10 shows and a win over the other three networks. The bad news: Paula Poundstone.

“Home Improvement” and “Roseanne” topped the list, while “Grace Under Fire” continued to prove its popularity. With this week’s win, ABC is closing the gap with first-place CBS in the seasonal race.

However, the premiere of ABC’s long-delayed “Paula Poundstone Show” on Saturday landed with a thud. The variety program, which had struggled with a concept and format, only attracted 12% of the available audience in its 10 p.m. time slot, and ranked No. 82 out of 94 shows.

Meanwhile, CBS said it was pleased with Friday’s season premiere of “Diagnois Murder,” the new Dick Van Dyke detective series. Although the show was 54th, officials said it improved the network’s ratings in the 8-9 p.m. time slot by 60%.

The Sunday night shootout between “seaQuest DSV” and “Lois & Clark: The New Adventures of Superman” took a twist on Halloween night when they were both beaten in household ratings by two Fox Halloween-themed episodes of “The Simpsons.” “Lois & Clark,” which last week beat “seaQuest” for the first time, again fell behind the NBC sea-action drama.

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 22.9 2. The Simpsons KTTV 20.2 3. Seinfeld KNBC 17.8 4. Coach KABC 17.5 5. 60 Minutes KCBS 17.3 6. Beverly Hills, 90210 KTTV 17.3 7. Martin KTTV 17.0 8. Melrose Place KTTV 16.1 9. The Simpsons KTTV 15.0 10. NYPD Blue KABC 14.4

Weekly Averages

ABC: 13.4 CBS: 12.0 NBC: 11.0 FOX: 7.7

Season to Date

CBS: 13.5 ABC: 12.9 NBC: 11.1 FOX: 7.2