Thursday Lineup Leads NBC; Network Numbers Off

In a week in which the three major networks attracted only 51% of the viewers to prime time, NBC finished on top of the ratings last week with the usual strong showing by its Thursday night schedule. “Seinfeld,” starring Julia Louis-Dreyfus, was No. 1 with more than 32.2 million people watching, Nielsen Media Research reported Tuesday.

Fox, which is off to a slow start this season, had its best ratings of the month-old season thanks to three National League playoff telecasts and solid outings by its Friday night duo of “Sliders” and “The X-Files,” both of which won their time slots among viewers aged 18 to 49--the demographic group most prized by television advertisers. ABC, CBS and NBC also were impacted by their coverage of the vice presidential debate on Wednesday night.

Five freshman series made the Top 20 for the week: NBC’s “Suddenly Susan” (No. 3), ABC’s “Spin City” (No. 8) and CBS’ “Cosby” (No. 12), “Pearl” (tied at No. 15) and “Early Edition” (tied at No. 20).

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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 49,464 households.

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Program Station Rating 1. Seinfeld KNBC 24.6 2. 20/20 KABC 23.3 3. ER KNBC 22.9 4. Suddenly Susan KNBC 19.8 5. The Single Guy KNBC 19.3 6. Friends KNBC 18.8 7. PrimeTime Live (Tue.) KABC 18.0 8. Home Improvement KABC 17.8 9. The X-Files KTTV 17.3 10. Spin City KABC 15.9

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Weekly Averages

NBC: 10.9

CBS: 10.0

ABC: 9.8

FOX: 7.7

UPN: 3.6

WB: 2.9

Season to Date

NBC: 11.3

CBS: 10.6

ABC: 9.9

FOX: 6.6

UPN: 3.4

WB: 2.7