TV Ratings : Bruins’ Triumph in NCAA Finals a Winner for CBS

UCLA’s victory over Arkansas in the NCAA basketball tournament final was a ratings winner for CBS, outperforming all other prime-time shows broadcast by the network this season. It drew an estimated 50.8 million viewers--down slightly from last year’s final between Arkansas and Duke--and finished No. 4 for the week in the A.C. Nielsen Co. ratings.

NBC had the top three shows--”ER,” “Seinfeld” and “Friends”--but ABC had five of the Top 10 and finished in first place overall for the week, according to figures released Tuesday. CBS was second, followed by NBC and Fox.

ABC also was a big winner in the movie competition on Sunday night, with “The Ten Commandments” outperforming “Robin Hood” on CBS and “The Sound of Music” on NBC. ABC, with 11 of the top 20 shows overall, maintained its No. 1 standing heading into the final week of the season.

Three shows that were launched last month--CBS’ “Under One Roof” and “The George Wendt Show” and Fox’s “VR.5”--continued to slip in the ratings, none finishing among the top 60 for the week. Fox’s “House of Buggin’,” which returned Sunday after a six-week hiatus, finished No. 76.

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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 Network Rating 1. ER KNBC 22.6 2. Seinfeld KNBC 19.8 3. Home Improvement KABC 19.2 4. Friends KNBC 19.0 5. 60 Minutes KCBS 15.9 Family Matters KABC 15.9 7. NYPD Blue KABC 15.8 8. Grace Under Fire KABC 15.6 9. Beverly Hills, 90210 KTTV 15.3 Ellen KABC

Weekly Averages ABC: 11.4 NBC: 11.4 CBS: 9.9 FOX: 6.5 UPN: 2.8 WB: 1.8

Season to Date ABC: 12.1 NBC: 11.6 CBS: 11.1 FOX: 7.7 UPN: 4.3 WB: 1.9 Source: A.C. Nielsen