TV Ratings : ABC, With Third Straight Victory, in a Holiday Mood

It was a very Merry Christmas for ABC, which celebrated the holiday with its third consecutive weekly prime-time ratings victory. With last week’s win in the A.C. Nielsen Co. ratings, which were released Tuesday, the network is now tied with CBS for most weekly wins this season--seven.

ABC had five out of the six top shows in household ratings. “Home Improvement” led the pack, followed by a “Monday Night Football” game between the N.Y. Giants and New Orleans, “Roseanne,” “Grace Under Fire” and “Coach.” CBS’ “60 Minutes” was the top-rated program.

The network had a 10.9 rating for the week, followed by CBS’ 10.6, NBC’s 9.4 and Fox’s 6.3.

NBC landed “Seinfeld” and “Fresh Prince of Bel-Air,” with Will Smith, in the Top 10.

Many regularly scheduled programs featured Christmas-themed episodes, but holiday specials and movies for the most part failed to draw audiences from gift-wrapping and shopping.

CBS’ repeat of the movie “Christmas on Division Street” scored fair numbers, but other Christmas specials, including CBS’ animated “Garfield” (No. 47), “Harry Connick Jr.” (No. 71) and “Disney’s Christmas Fantasy on Ice” (No. 73) drew Scrooge-type ratings.

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.Home Improvement KABC 17.2 2.Roseanne KABC 16.6 3.Coach KABC 16.0 4.60 Minutes KCBS 15.6 The Simpsons KTTV 15.6 6.Seinfeld KNBC 13.7 7.Melrose Place KTTV 13.6 8.Beverly Hills, 90210 KTTV 12.9 9.Grace Under Fire KABC 12.8 Fresh Prince of Bel-Air KNBC 12.8

Weekly Averages ABC: 10.9CBS: 10.6 NBC: 9.4 FOX: 6.3 Season to Date CBS: 12.9 ABC: 12.6 NBC: 11.1 FOX: 7.2