TV Ratings : Final Week’s Standings Same as for the Season

The final week of the so-called official prime-time TV season ended for the networks just like the season itself, with ABC first, NBC second, CBS third and Fox fourth.

But the figures released Tuesday by the A.C. Nielsen Co. varied a bit in terms of the top shows. ABC’s “Home Improvement,” last season’s top-rated series, was No. 1 for last week too but fell to No. 3 for the 30-week season. NBC’s veteran comedy “Seinfeld” was No. 1 for the season but tied for No. 3 last week with NBC’s medical drama “ER,” which was the top-rated new series of the season.

ABC had five of the week’s Top 10 shows but got disappointing results from the first installment of its two-part “Texas” movie on Sunday, which attracted 17% of the available audience and finished third in its time slot.

In its first outing on NBC last week, the sitcom “In the House,” starring Debbie Allen and rapper LL Cool J, ran a strong second in its Monday time period and ranked 24th among the week’s 100 prime-time network programs.

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. Home Improvement KABC 22.1 2. Seinfeld KNBC 19.6 3. Friends KNBC 19.4 4. ER KNBC 18.4 5. 60 Minutes KCBS 16.1 6. The X-Files KTTV 14.6 7. Murphy Brown KCBS 14.3 8. Mad About You KNBC 13.8 PrimeTime Live KNBC 13.8 10. Hope & Gloria KNBC 13.5

Weekly Averages

ABC: 10.5 NBC: 10.2 CBS: 8.9 FOX: 6.5 UPN: 3.6 WB: 1.7

Season to Date

ABC: 12.0 NBC: 11.5 CBS: 11.1 FOX: 7.7 UPN: 4.3 WB: 1.9 Source: A.C. Nielsen Ratings