TV Ratings : ABC’s ‘Langoliers’ Gobbles Up Sunday but Not NBC

“The Langoliers” gobbled up a big portion of the TV audience Sunday night for ABC, but not enough to unseat NBC’s Thursday triumvirate from the top of the Nielsen list. Coupled with Top 10 showings for two movies, NBC won the prime-time ratings race last week for the fourth time in a row.

The Nielsen ratings, released Tuesday, showed that Part 1 of Stephen King’s “The Langoliers”--with Kate Maberly among its stars--was the top-rated movie on Sunday night, attracting viewers in about 17.5 million homes and finishing fourth behind “ER,” “Friends” and “Seinfeld.”

But NBC was close behind on Sunday night with its movie, “Naomi & Wynonna: Love Can Build a Bridge,” which ranked sixth among the week’s 94 prime-time network programs. And NBC’s “Virus,” based on a Robin Cook thriller, tied for No. 8 in its Monday outing.

The loser on Sunday night was CBS’ second reunion of “The Rockford Files.” The first one last November was the season’s highest-rated TV movie, but the ratings this time out were 40% lower. CBS didn’t have a program in the Top 10.

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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 25.1 2. “The Langoliers” KABC 22.0 3. Seinfeld KNBC 21.6 4. Friends KNBC 21.0 5. Home Improvement KABC 20.4 6. “Virus” KNBC 17.9 7. Home Improvement (sp) KABC 17.6 8. Ellen KABC 17.1 9. NYPD Blue KABC 15.9 10. Mad About You KNBC 15.7

Weekly Averages NBC: 11.7 ABC: 11.2 CBS: 9.3 FOX: 6.6 UPN: 3.1 WB: 1.9

Season to Date ABC: 11.9 NBC: 11.7 CBS: 10.9 FOX: 7.5 UPN: 4.1 WB: 1.9 Source: A. C. Nielsen