TV Ratings : NBC, Led by ‘ER,’ Wins Week With a High Five

“Seinfeld” was the most-watched prime-time program in the Los Angeles TV market last week, but it got edged nationally by “ER,” co-starring Sherry Stringfield, as NBC’s Thursday night lineup made a clean sweep of the ratings, winning the top five spots.

That stunning accomplishment helped propel NBC to its first victory in the 3-week-old season, Nielsen Media Research reported Tuesday. NBC was first both in total households reached and the number of 18-to-49-year-olds watching. That is the demographic group most sought after by advertisers.

Three rookie series made the Top 10--NBC’s “Caroline in the City” and “The Single Guy” and ABC’s “Hudson Street”--and ABC’s prime-time news special on the verdict in the O.J. Simpson murder trial was No. 10.

The conclusion of the trial also sparked a big jump in ratings for the networks’ nightly newscasts: All three were up significantly over the preceding weeks, with ABC’s “World News Tonight” in the No. 1 spot.

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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 Station Rating 1. Seinfeld KNBC 24.9 2. ER KNBC 24.8 3. Friends KNBC 20.0 4. Home Improvement KABC 18.5 5. Caroline in the City KNBC 17.7 6. Single Guy KNBC 17.4 7. The X-Files KTTV 16.2 8. ABC News Special: O.J. Simpson KABC 15.7 9. Murphy Brown KCBS 14.9 10. The Simpsons KTTV 14.6

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Weekly Averages

NBC: 11.7

ABC: 11.0

CBS: 10.0

FOX: 7.2

UPN: 2.9

WB::2.3

Season to Date

ABC: 11.7

NBC: 11.4

CBS: 9.7

FOX: 7.4

UPN: 3.3

WB: 2.1