Monday Sitcoms Are Taylor-Made for CBS’ Ratings

Whether it sells more perfume remains to be seen, but Elizabeth Taylor’s running appearance through four consecutive sitcoms Monday night certainly paid off for CBS. Two of the series registered their best ratings ever and the other two earned their second-largest audience of the season.

Figures released Tuesday by Nielsen Media Research showed that CBS’ “The Nanny,” “Can’t Hurry Love” and “Murphy Brown” won their respective time periods between 8 and 9:30 p.m. Monday. At 9:30 p.m., CBS’ “High Society” ran a close second behind Part 2 of NBC’s movie “Seduced by Madness: The Diane Borchardt Story.”

For first-season shows “Can’t Hurry Love” and “High Society,” Monday’s viewership was the biggest they’ve drawn, and it the second best turnout of the season for veterans “The Nanny” and “Murphy Brown.”

“Murphy Brown” had the largest audience of the four, with nearly 14.7 million households tuning in.