TV Ratings : NBC, ABC Tie for First Place in Week Full of Reruns

N BC once again had the three top-rated series and wound up tying ABC in the network race for prime-time supremacy last week, according to figures released Tuesday by Nielsen Media Research. Both reached an average of 8.1 million homes with schedules dominated by reruns.

NBC was led by its Thursday night trio of “Friends,” “Seinfeld” and “ER,” and also placed “Mad About You” in the Top 10. ABC’s Top 10 finishers were “Grace Under Fire,” “Home Improvement,” “Coach” and “PrimeTime Live.”

CBS won on Monday, Saturday and Sunday nights but finished third overall. Its coverage of the Miss Teen USA pageant on Tuesday, one of the week’s few first-run programs, was 35th among 96 prime-time network programs.

Fox’s top-ranked show was “Married . . . With Children,” which finished 44th nationally but No. 9 locally. Fox’s “The Simpsons” also performed better here than across the country, finishing at No. 10 in the local standings and No. 52 nationally.

(BEGIN TEXT OF INFOBOX / INFOGRAPHIC)

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. Seinfeld KNBC 17.3 2. Friends KNBC 17.0 3. ER KNBC 16.1 4. Mad About You (special) KNBC 14.9 5. Home Impovement KABC 14.3 6. 20/20 KABC 13.4 7. Coach KABC 13.2 8. 60 Minutes KCBS 13.1 9. Married ... With Children KTTV 12.8 10. The Simpsons KTTV 12.7

*--*

Weekly Averages

ABC: 8.5

NBC: 8.5

CBS: 7.6

FOX: 5.2

WB: 2.3

UPN: 2.1

Season to Date

ABC: 11.0

NBC: 10.7

CBS: 10.0

FOX: 6.8

UPN: 3.3

WB: 1.9

Source: A.C. Neilsen