NBC’s Big Hitters Outslug an Improving Fox Lineup

In a week where prime-time programming included baseball playoffs, the first game of the World Series and a presidential debate, the top two shows in the Nielsen ratings last week were, as usual, “ER” and “Seinfeld.” And their network, NBC, maintained its No. 1 status.

Fox, however, was crowing Tuesday. After getting off to a very slow start this season, the network registered its highest weekly household rating since becoming a seven-night-a-week service in 1993, thanks to the first game of the World Series on Sunday, the Atlanta Braves’ come-from-behind victory in the National League championship series and the continued strongshowing of “The X-Files,” which tied for 17th place.

Game 1 of the World Series ranked sixth among the week’s 111 prime-time network programs, with about 23.7 million viewers watching. The household ratings were down about 4.3% from Game 1 last year, but that’s not bad considering Sunday’s contest was so one-sided (the Braves, led by John Smoltz and Andruw Jones, beat the Yankees 12-1). On the other hand, Game 1 last year was on a Saturday, the lowest night of the week for TV viewing. Fox’s game was down 19% from last year’s first Sunday matchup.

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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. ER KNBC 25.8 2. Seinfeld KNBC 22.9 3. NYPD Blue KABC 20.4 4. Friends KNBC 18.6 5. Suddenly Susan KNBC 17.0 6. The Single Guy KNBC 16.0 7. 60 Minutes KCBS 15.8 8. The X-Files KTTV 15.6 9. Home Improvement KABC 14.9 10. Spin City KABC 14.5

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Weekly Averages

NBC: 10.5

ABC: 9.7

FOX: 9.6

CBS: 9.4

UPN: 3.1

WB: 3.1

Season to Date

NBC: 11.1

CBS: 10.4

ABC: 9.9

FOX: 7.3

UPN: 3.4

WB: 2.8

SOURCE: A.C. Nielsen