TV Ratings : ‘Texas Justice’ Lifts ABC, but Only to a Tie With NBC

ABC won the battle of the movies Sunday night as the sex-and-murder saga of “Texas Justice” topped CBS’ “A Walton Wedding” and NBC’s “Batman Returns.” But it wasn’t enough to cinch an overall victory for the network, which instead tied with fast-charging NBC.

NBC had three of the top four programs of the week, according to figures released Tuesday by the A.C. Nielsen Co. It was the fourth time in the last five weeks that the medical drama “ER” has been No. 1, thanks in no small part to competing against newsmagazines on CBS and ABC.

ABC, which continues to lead in the season-to-date standings, had four programs in the Top 10, including two starring Dennis Franz: Part 1 of “Texas Justice” at No. 7 and his regular series “NYPD Blue” at No. 8.

The only series on the new WB and UPN networks to avoid the Bottom 10 was UPN’s “Star Trek: Voyager,” which ranked 71st among the week’s 95 prime-time network programs.

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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. Seinfeld KNBC 25.5 2. ER KNBC 24.7 3. Home Improvement KABC 22.9 4. Wings (Thurs.) KNBC 21.0 5. Mad About You KNBC 18.3 6. 60 Minutes KCBS 18.2 7. Grace Under Fire KABC 18.1 8. Ellen KABC 17.6 9. Friends KNBC 17.2 10. Frasier KNBC 16.5

Weekly Averages ABC: 12.4 NBC: 12.4 CBS 11.7 FOX 7.9 UPN 4.3 WB 2.0 Season to Date ABC: 12.2 CBS: 11.5 NBC: 11.5 FOX: 7.8 UPN: 5.6 WB: 2.0 Source: A.C. Nielsen