TV Ratings : NBC Continues to Flex Its Muscle

NBC delivered another 1-2-3 punch in the national TV ratings last week with its 9-11 p.m. Thursday block, while CBS served up the Western of choice Sunday night as “Buffalo Girls” outperformed the Academy Award-winning “Unforgiven” on ABC.

Figures released Tuesday by the A.C. Nielsen Co. showed that NBC won the prime-time ratings race last week behind the formidable strength of “ER,” “Friends” and “Seinfeld.” It had six other programs in the Top 20, and its final original episode of “Empty Nest,” while 54th overall, nevertheless won its 8-9 p.m. time period on Saturday night.

Part I of “Buffalo Girls,” the two-part movie starring Anjelica Huston and Melanie Griffith, ranked No. 4 among the week’s 94 prime-time network programs. It was seen in about 17.8 million homes on Sunday, compared to about 12.5 million for NBC’s “The Return of Hunter” and 10.5 million for ABC’s telecast of “Unforgiven,” with Clint Eastwood.

ABC ranked second overall but saw its one-time ratings champion “Roseanne” fall to 37th in its new time period of 8 p.m. Wednesdays. It was beaten by “The Making of Jurassic Park” on NBC.

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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 22.2 Seinfeld KNBC 22.2 3. Friends KNBC 20.7 4. 60 Minutes KCBS 18.7 5. Home Improvement KABC 17.6 6. Murder, She Wrote KCBS 15.7 Ellen KABC 15.7 8. “Buffalo Girls” Part 1 KCBS 15.6 9. Mad About You KNBC 15.5 10. Married/With Children (9:30 p.m.) KTTV 15.3

Weekly Averages NBC: 11.6 ABC: 10.8 CBS: 10.3 FOX: 6.0 UPN: 3.6 WB: 1.9

Season to Date ABC: 11.9 NBC: 11.5 CBS: 11.0 FOX: 7.6 UPN: 4.2 WB: 1.9 Source: A.C. Nielsen