TV Ratings : ‘Christmas Box,’ Tyson-Mathis Win on Points

Christmas cheer delivered a one-two knockout punch to a story about schizophrenia in the battle of movies on TV Sunday night. But Mike Tyson’s knockout of Buster Mathis Jr. on Saturday night did even better--though nothing came close to dislodging “ER” from the top of last week’s popularity chart.

Prime-time ratings released Tuesday by Nielsen Media Research showed that CBS’ “The Christmas Box,” with Maureen O’Hara, was the most-watched movie Sunday night in the measurement of households (No. 7), closely followed by NBC’s repeat telecast of “National Lampoon’s Christmas Vacation” (No. 12).

That left ABC’s “Dare to Love,” starring Josie Bissett as a woman battling mental illness, with less than half as many viewers as each of the other two movies. It ranked 66th among the week’s 108 prime-time network programs.

The Tyson-Mathis fight on Fox Saturday night tied for No. 8 in the household rankings but actually finished fifth in total viewers with 26.5 million. “ER” had 34.8 million.

(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. ER KNBC 25.7 2. Seinfeld KNBC 23.6 3. Friends KNBC 20.4 4. Caroline in the City KNBC 19.7 5. The Single Guy KNBC 17.9 -- Roseanne KABC 17.9 -- Home Improvement KABC 17.9 8. Beverly Hills, 90210 KTTV 14.9 -- “The Christmas Box” KCBS 14.9 -- America’s Funniest Home Videos KABC 14.9

*--*

Weekly Averages

NBC: 11.2

ABC: 10.7

CBS: 9.9

FOX: 9.1

UPN: 2.3

WB: 2.3

Season to Date

NBC: 11.9

ABC: 11.6

CBS: 9.6

FOX: 7.6

UPN: 3.2

WB: 2.3

Source: A. C. Nielsen