TV Ratings : ‘Home Improvement’ Keeps Its Lock on Top Spot

On the day when ABC announced that “Home Improvement” would be moving from Wednesdays to Tuesdays this fall, the reigning No. 1 TV show in the land showed up in its familiar spot atop the national ratings.

Figures compiled by the A. C. Nielsen Co. showed that “Home Improvement,” starring Tim Allen and Patricia Richardson, was seen in about 15.7 million homes last week, with “Grace Under Fire” right behind, just as it is on the current ABC schedule, and just as it will be when the pair moves to 9-10 p.m. Tuesdays next month.

Whether they will still finish atop the ratings is anybody’s guess, but the odds would seem to be against them. On Wednesdays, they had no competition from other comedy shows; on Tuesdays, the viewer in search of laughs will be able to choose between them and the tandem of “Frasier” and “The John Larroquette Show” on NBC.

And “Frasier,” the “Cheers” spinoff, certainly has a devoted following. It finished No. 3 last week.

Moves can be beneficial, of course. CBS reported that “The Nanny,” which earlier had been languishing on Wednesdays, won its Monday night time slot for the fifth week in a row.

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. Roseanne KABC 14.9 2. Seinfeld KNBC 14.3 3. Grace Under Fire KABC 13.8 4. Murphy Brown KCBS 13.8 5. Fresh Prince of Bel-Air KNBC 13.7 6. Home Improvement KABC 13.6 7. The Simpsons KTTV 13.5 8. Frasier KNBC 12.9 * Frasier (10 p.m.) KNBC 12.9 10. Married ... With Children KTTV 12.9

Weekly Averages

ABC: 9.5

CBS: 9.4

NBC: 8.9

FOX: 6.2