TV Ratings : ABC Fends Off a Strong NBC to Finish First

Although NBC had the No. 1, 2 and 3 shows (“Friends,” “Seinfeld” and “ER”) in the rankings last week, ABC managed to finish first in the TV ratings among households according to figures released Tuesday by Nielsen Media Research.

ABC placed two newsmagazines in the Top Ten--”PrimeTime Live” and “20/20”--along with four other programs.

The CBS Sunday Night Movie “Treacherous Beauties,” starring Emma Samms, was a repeat that originally aired in the afternoon last fall as replacement programming when the network lost its pro football games to Fox.

The romance finished tied for 23rd with repeats of NBC’s “The John Larroquette Show,” and the miniseries “Trial: The Price of Passion” and the “Laverne and Shirley Reunion” on ABC.

In sports, ABC did well with pro football and forgettable with baseball. The network’s telecast of the Minnesota Vikings-San Diego Chargers football game on Monday night was a respectable 29th, considering it was an exhibition contest. However, the combined rating of regional major league baseball games played Saturday night finished tied for 73.

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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.

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Program Network Rating 1. Friends KNBC 19.0 2. Seinfeld KNBC 18.1 3. Home Improvement KABC 15.0 4. ER KNBC 13.5 5. Hope & Gloria KNBC 13.3 6. 20/20 KABC 13.0 7. Ellen KABC 12.7 8. Grace Under Fire KABC 12.4 9. Murphy Brown KCBS 11.8 10. The Simpsons KTTV 11.6

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Weekly Averages

ABC 8.6

NBC 8.3

CBS 7.3

FOX 5.0

WB 2.7

UPN 2.0

Season to Date

ABC 11.1

NBC 10.8

CBS 10.1

FOX 6.8

UPN 3.4

WB 1.8

Source: A.C. Nielsen Ratings