TV Ratings : ‘Jurassic’ Airing a Romp in the Park for NBC

Even with its successful theatrical run and its availability on home video, “Jurassic Park,” starring Sam Neill, still captured a dinosaur-sized portion of the television audience Sunday night. With viewership estimated by NBC at 68.1 million people, it was the highest-rated theatrical film in two years and the most-watched program on TV last week.

That helped propel NBC to a convincing win in the network competition, as its Thursday night trio of “ER,” “Friends” and “Seinfeld” took the second, third and fourth spots in the national rankings released Tuesday by the A.C. Nielsen Co. (“ER” was No. 1 locally, “Jurassic Park” No. 2.)

The only other non-series to crack the Top 10 was Part 2 of CBS’ “Buffalo Girls,” which ranked sixth among 89 prime-time network programs. CBS’ annual special with magician David Copperfield placed 13th.

The final episode of “Matlock,” which aired opposite “Jurassic Park,” ranked 18th for ABC, while CBS’ second “Cagney & Lacey” reunion was 39th.

Fox got swamped throughout the week, attracting 16% fewer viewers than it has averaged this season. Its top-rated shows were “Beverly Hills, 90210” and “The X-Files,” which tied atNo. 49.

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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 24.8 2. “Jurassic Park” KNBC 23.7 3. Seinfeld KNBC 20.8 4. Friends KNBC 20.6 5. 60 Minutes KCBS 18.4 6. Home Improvement KABC 17.7 7. The Simpsons KTTV 17.1 8. Mad About You KNBC 16.2 9. “David Copperfield XVI” KCBS 15.7 10. Home Improvement (Tue.) KABC 15.5

Weekly Averages NBC: 12.7 ABC: 11.5 CBS: 10.4 FOX: 6.3 UPN: 3.4 WB: 1.7

Season to Date ABC: 11.9 NBC: 11.6 CBS: 10.9 FOX: 7.5 UPN: 4.1 WB: 1.9 Source: A.C. Nielsen