TV Ratings : For Eighth Consecutive Week, ABC Is No. 1

Specials featuring top musical performers, soldiers and a runaway 14-year-old girl scored high ratings last week, according to A.C. Nielsen Co. data released Tuesday.

The sixth annual edition of “The World Music Awards” last Tuesday, which featured performances by “the artist formerly known as Prince,” Whitney Houston and Ray Charles, was the No. 6 program of the week among households, helping ABC to its eighth-consecutive weekly victory in the four-network race. CBS was second, NBC third and Fox fourth.

Also drawing a large audience in a head-to-head battle with the awards show was “Before Your Eyes: Kristin Is Missing,” a CBS News special about a teen-age Michigan girl who ran away from home. The program tied with ABC’s “Roseanne” and a special 90-minute edition of ABC’s “Turning Point” focusing on D-day at No. 7.

The recent death of Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis failed to provoke much interest in ABC’s rerun Sunday of the first part of “The Kennedys of Massachusetts,” which was trounced by CBS’ rerun film “The Man With Three Wives” and NBC’s “Love on the Run.”

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 19.8 2. Seinfeld KNBC 17.2 3. “World Music Awards” KABC 16.7 4. 60 Minutes KCBS 16.2 5. Frasier KNBC 15.4 6. The Simpsons KTTV 15.3 7. 20/20 KABC 14.6 Married ... With Children KTTV 14.6 9. Roseanne KABC 14.2 10. Fred Roggin’s Post-Game KNBC 13.6

Weekly Averages

ABC 9.6

CBS 9.5

NBC 9.2

FOX 5.6