TV Ratings : CBS Chalks Up a Winner in ‘Christy’

CBS may have another “Dr. Quinn, Medicine Woman” on its hands after the two-hour premiere Sunday night of the new family series “Christy,” which finished No. 5 for the week in household ratings and generated hundreds of phone calls to CBS on Monday from grateful viewers.

But overall, CBS narrowly lost the weekly prime-time ratings race again to ABC, which has banged out four straight wins after CBS dominated the Nielsens during the Winter Olympics, according to A. C. Nielsen Co. figures released Tuesday.

After “Dr. Quinn” found a solid audience on Saturday night, CBS developed “Christy”--starring Kellie Martin, Tyne Daly and Tess Harper--based on the award-winning novel about a young woman who leaves a privileged city life to teach at a missionary school in the Smokey Mountains before World War I.

ABC scored big Wednesday by sandwiching two new sitcoms--”Thunder Alley” and “These Friends of Mine,” starring comedian Ellen DeGeneres--with dual episodes of the season’s No. 1 program, “Home Improvement.” All four shows Wednesday finished in the Top 10, along with the one-two punch Tuesday of “Roseanne” and the debut of “These Friends of Mine.”

ABC’s Friday debut of “Sister, Sister,” a sitcom about two identical twins, finished a respectable No. 18 for the week, ABC’s best performance in that 8:30 p.m. time slot since 1987.

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.

Program Station Rating 1. Home Improvement KABC 25.0 2. Roseanne KABC 22.0 3. The Simpsons KTTV 18.3 4. These Friends of Mine KABC 18.0 5. Seinfeld KNBC 17.9 6. These Friends of Mine KABC 17.7 7. Home Improvement (8 p.m.) KABC 16.5 8. Frasier KNBC 16.2 9. 60 Minutes KCBS 15.3 10. “Christy” KCBS 15.2

Weekly Averages

ABC 12.3

CBS 12.2

NBC 9.2

FOX 6.5

Season to Date

CBS 14.1

ABC 12.5

NBC 11.1

FOX 7.2