TV Ratings : New Kids on the Tube Off to Good Start

It was a good week for new TV series. Just the week before, Fox’s “The Great Defender” had bombed and was pulled off the air after one outing, but the four series that premiered last week all did relatively well, according to ratings released Tuesday by the A.C. Nielsen Co.

“Hope & Gloria,” a comedy with Cynthia Stevenson and Jessica Lundy, fared the best, housed as it was in NBC’s powerful Thursday lineup. It attracted viewers in about 15.5 million homes and ranked seventh among the week’s 101 prime-time network programs.

CBS’ “The George Wendt Show” finished at No. 34 but won its time period on Wednesday night. And the network’s “The Office” did likewise, even though it ranked 56th overall because of lower viewing levels on Saturday night.

On Fox, meanwhile, the science-fiction drama “VR.5” ranked 72nd overall but ran in second place in its 8 p.m. Friday time slot behind ABC and teamed with the popular “The X-Files” at 9 p.m. to give the network its best Friday night ratings in history.

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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 24.8 2. ER KNBC 24.7 3. Friends KNBC 23.4 4. Hope & Gloria KNBC 19.3 60 Minutes KCBS 19.3 6. Home Improvement (8 p.m.) KABC 18.7 7. Mad About You KNBC 18.2 8. The X-Files KTTV 17.4 9. Home Improvement KABC 17.0 10. The Simpsons KTTV 16.2

Weekly Averages NBC: 11.1 ABC: 11.0 CBS: 9.5 FOX: 7.8 UPN: 4.0 WB: 1.9

Season to Date ABC: 12.1 NBC: 11.6 CBS: 11.4 FOX: 7.8 UPN: 4.8 WB: 2.0