TV Ratings : It Was a Merry Christmas for ABC

Santa Claus was good to ABC this Christmas. The network continued its winning streak in its battle with NBC, CBS and Fox, with six of its shows landing in the Top 10, according to figures released Wednesday by A.C. Nielsen Co.

NBC also had cause for holiday cheer. Its Monday night showing of “One Christmas,” starring Henry Winkler and Katharine Hepburn, was the highest-rated Christmas special of the week, coming in at No. 8 and trouncing its competition--CBS’ “Best of ‘Taxi”’ retrospective.

But there was also some coal in NBC’s stocking --its “Countdown to Christmas” special, which aired on Christmas Eve, was almost dead last in the ratings (No. 84).

Among the numerous other Christmas specials, CBS’ “Kathie Lee’s Christmas” with Kathie Lee Gifford and the animated “Mickey’s Christmas Carol” drew significant audiences. But there were humbugs for other specials, including CBS’ “Opryland’s Country Christmas” (No. 39), “Night Before Christmas” (No. 51), ABC’s “Wish That Changed Christmas” (No. 55) and Fox’s “90210 Christmas Special” and CBS’ “Television Christmas Classics” (tied for 56th).

A Christmas night showing of “Touched by an Angel” in the Sunday “Murder, She Wrote” time period also failed to jingle many viewers’ bells. The drama came in at No. 46.

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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 22.1 2. Grace Under Fire KABC 20.9 3. Seinfeld KNBC 19.6 4. Roseanne KABC 19.0 5. ER KNBC 17.6 6. Married ... With Children KTTV 17.4 Ellen KABC 17.4 8. Beverly Hills, 90210 KTTV 17.3 9. “Barbara Walters Special” KABC 16.5 10. The Simpsons KTTV 15.2

Weekly Averages ABC: 10.4 NBC: 9.5 CBS: 9.4 FOX: 6.5

Season to Date ABC: 12.0 CBS: 11.7 NBC: 11.4 FOX: 7.7