TV Ratings : ABC Takes Week, Sets the Stage to Dethrone CBS

In the final warm-up before the beginning of the so-called official season, ABC won the network sweepstakes last week and set the stage for its bid to unseat CBS as the prime-time ratings champion. Figures released by the A.C. Nielsen Co. on Tuesday showed ABC with five of the Top 10 programs, among them the premiere of its comedy “All-American Girl,” starring Margaret Cho.

CBS, which has won the ratings crown for the past three years, also placed a new show in theTop 10: The medical drama “Chicago Hope” ranked sixth in its first outing Sunday night.

NBC, meanwhile, had “The Martin Short Show” and “Sweet Justice” finish among the Top 20 in their initial broadcasts last Thursday.

All four of the new programs, however, were shown outside their regular time slots.

How other premieres fared: CBS’ “Under Suspicion” placed 33rd among the week’s 84 prime-time programs, ABC’s “McKenna” was 53rd, Fox’s “Party of Five” was 56th, ABC’s “Blue Skies” was 59th and ABC’s “On Our Own” was 23rd--but then fell to 68th in its regular time period Sunday.

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. All-American Girl KABC 20.6 2. Home Improvement KABC 20.5 3. Beverly Hills, 90210 KTTV 18.6 4. Chicago Hope KCBS 17.6 5. Seinfeld KNBC 17.7 6. Frasier KNBC 16.8 7. PrimeTime Live KABC 16.5 8. Home Improvement (8 p.m.) KABC 16.4 9. Ellen KABC 16.3 10. Melrose Place KTTV 16.1

Weekly Averages

ABC: 11.5

CBS: 10.8

NBC: 10.3

FOX: 8.3

Source: A. C. Nielsen