TV Ratings : Two ABC Series, Film Prove Competition-Busters

ABC won the network ratings battle in prime time last week, thanks to the one-two punch of “Home Improvement” and “Grace Under Fire” and a strong showing by the theatrical film “Ghostbusters II,” which drew the largest audience of any non-series. The 1989 comedy, with Bill Murray, attracted 20% of the available audience Sunday night, according to figures released Tuesday by the A.C. Nielsen Co.

The first NFL game on Fox last Friday, an exhibition contest pitting the Denver Broncos against the San Francisco 49ers, was seen in about 6.1 million homes, compared to the 9.2 million that tuned in ABC’s “Monday Night Football” earlier in the week between the Washington Redskins and Buffalo Bills. But Fox said its rating for the game was higher “than any NFL telecast this early in the season on either CBS or NBC over the past five years (1990-94).”

CBS, meanwhile, saw viewership wane for the two summer series it had introduced the previous week. In its second outing, “One West Waikiki” drew about 76% of the audience that had watched the premiere, while “Hotel Malibu’s” ratings were down about 18%.

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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.

Southland Ratings

Program Station Rating 1. Home Improvement KABC 16.2 2. Seinfeld KNBC 14.6 3. Married ... With Children KTTV 14.3 4. Frasier KNBC 14.1 5. 60 Minutes KCBS 14.0 6. Roseanne KABC 13.7 7. Grace Under Fire KABC 13.7 8. The Simpsons KTTV 13.6 9. “Ghostbusters II” KABC 12.7 10. Boy Meets World KABC 12.7

Weekly Averages

ABC: 9.5

CBS: 9.2

NBC: 8.6

FOX: 5.9