TV Ratings : Interview With Reeve Propels ‘20/20’ to No. 3

Barbara Walters’ exclusive interview with actor Christopher Reeve on “20/20” last Friday helped propel ABC to its second win in the 2-week-old TV season, figures from Nielsen Media Research showed Tuesday.

The interview with Reeve about his battle to recover from a horse-riding injury was watched in about 18.8 million homes and ranked No. 3 among the week’s 110 prime-time network programs, trailing only NBC’s “ER” and “Seinfeld.”

NBC finished second in the household ratings but tied ABC for first among viewers 18-to-49, the demographic group most desired by advertisers. Fox, however, continues to be the only one of the four major networks to show improved ratings over the opening two weeks of last season.

Four new series finished in the Top 20: NBC’s “Caroline in the City” and “The Single Guy,” and ABC’s “Hudson Street” and “Murder One.”

Among the newcomers that wound up near the bottom of the ratings were NBC’s “Brotherly Love,” ABC’s “The Monroes,” CBS’ “Dweebs,” “Courthouse” and “The Bonnie Hunt Show,” and Fox’s “Partners,” “Ned and Stacey” and “The Preston Episodes.”

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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. Seinfeld KNBC 24.2 2. ER KNBC 23.7 3. Friends KNBC 20.8 4. 20/20 KABC 19.7 5. The Single Guy KNBC 17.2 6. Caroline in the City KNBC 17.0 7. The X-Files KTTV 15.8 8. Home Improvemement KABC 15.7 --. Coach KABC 15.7 10. Frasier KNBC 15.1 --. Murder One KABC 15.1

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Weekly Averages ABC: 11.8 NBC: 11.0 CBS: 9.3 FOX: 7.1 UPN: 3.5 WB: 2.0

Season to Date ABC: 12.1 NBC: 11.3 CBS: 9.6 FOX: 7.5 UPN: 3.5 WB: 2.0 Source: A.C. Nielsen