TV Ratings : NBC’s Basketball a Fast Break; ABC Magazines Score

The NBA Finals helped power NBC to a win in the prime-time ratings last week, as the first three games of the Houston Rockets-Orlando Magic series all finished in the Top 15 with larger audiences than 1994’s championship series.

Game 1 was the biggest draw of the three, according to figures released Tuesday by the A.C. Nielsen Co. It attracted viewers in about 14 million homes and ranked No. 3 among the week’s 103 prime-time network programs. The Rockets, led by center Hakeem Olajuwon, can sweep the best-of-seven-game series with a win tonight at Houston.

NBC said that ratings for Game 1 were up 13%over last year, while Game 2 was up 27% and Game 3 was up 11%.

But newsmagazines did even better than basketball for ABC: It had three of them in the Top 10--”Turning Point,” “PrimeTime Live” and “20/20.” ABC’s “Day One,” which won’t be back next season, didn’t do as well, finishing 50th.

Other first-run programming drew a tepid response. NBC’s premiere of “High Sierra Search and Rescue” was 48th, CBS’ “Blockbuster Entertainment Awards” and Fox’s “My Wildest Dreams” tied for 73rd, CBS’ “Party for the Planet” was 85th and ABC’s “Bringing Up Jack” was 90th.

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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. Grace Under Fire KABC 17.0 2. ER KNBC 15.9 3. Friends KNBC 15.7 4. 20/20 KABC 15.1 5. Seinfeld KNBC 15.0 - PrimeTime Live KABC 15.0 7. Turning Point KABC 14.7 8. Roseanne KABC 14.6 9. Home Improvement KABC 14.0 10. 60 Minutes KCBS 13.7

Weekly Averages NBC: 9.7 ABC: 9.4 CBS: 7.9 FOX: 5.1 UPN: 2.5 WB: 1.6

Season to Date ABC: 11.7 NBC: 11.4 CBS: 10.6 FOX: 7.3 UPN: 3.8 WB: 1.8 Source: A.C. Nielsen Ratings