TV Ratings : Thursday Night Trio Pays Off for NBC

In the age of the remote control, the TV programmer’s goal of achieving successful “audience flow”--holding viewers from one program to the next--is more difficult than ever. But when it’s done well, the results can be spectacular--as demonstrated with the ratings released Tuesday by Nielsen Media Research.

NBC’s 9-11 p.m. Thursday block of shows--”Friends,” “Seinfeld” and “ER”--won the top three positions among last week’s prime-time network programs while ABC’s 9-11 p.m. Wednesday night block--”Grace Under Fire,”

“Roseanne” and “PrimeTime Live”--took the next three.

Viewers showed a clear preference for reruns over first-run programming, except in the case of newsmagazines. A new “CBS Reports” about migrant farm laborers ranked 66th, a new episode of NBC’s “High Sierra Search and Rescue” was 71st, a new episode of CBS’ “Northern Exposure” was 73rd and the first installment of Fox’s “TV Nation” ranked 81st among the week’s 94 prime-time entries.

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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. Friends KNBC 18.2 2. Seinfeld KNBC 15.3 3. ER KNBC 14.3 4. Home Improvement KABC 13.4 5. 60 Minutes KCBS 13.2 -. Grace Under Fire KABC 13.2 7. Roseanne KABC 12.9 8. Married ... With Children KTTV 12.5 9. PrimeTime Live KABC 12.0 10. “A Matter of Justice” KNBC 11.9

Weekly Averages NBC: 8.5 ABC: 8.1 CBS: 8.0 FOX: 5.2 UPN: 2.3 WB: 1.5

Season to Date ABC: 11.3 NBC: 10.9 CBS: 10.2 FOX: 7.0 UPN: 3.5 WB: 1.8 Source: A. C. Nielsen Ratings