ABC Takes Advantage of NBC’s Rare Slip

With repeats and specials dominating last week’s schedule, usual front-runner NBC slipped to third in the weekly ratings for the first time in nearly two years, while ABC eked out its second prime-time victory this season.

Movies offered the few network highlights, based on figures issued Tuesday by Nielsen Media Research. CBS danced to its top movie rating since April with the musical “Mrs. Santa Claus,” starring Angela Lansbury, while Fox’s telecast of “Home Alone 2: Lost in New York” found that network’s highest rating for any movie ever. ABC’s Barbara Walters special “10 Most Fascinating People ‘96” also inspired more than 19 million people to tune in.

Overall, TV’s winter doldrums have set in early, as ABC, CBS and NBC together fell by 10% compared to the same week a year ago, partly due to preemptions caused by a Billy Graham special.

NBC has now finished first in homes eight of 12 weeks this season. CBS won once and Fox claimed the network’s first weekly victory thanks to the World Series.

Despite NBC’s prime-time performance, “NBC Nightly News With Tom Brokaw” topped ABC’s “World News Tonight” for the first time since mid-September in what’s become a neck-and-neck evening news race.

(BEGIN TEXT OF INFOBOX / INFOGRAPHIC)

Southland Ratings

Here are the Nielsen’s Top 10 prime-time programs in the Los Angeles area during the same week. Each rating point equals 49,464 households.

*--*

Program Network Rating 1. Seinfeld KNBC 20.1 2. NYPD Blue KABC 18.6 3. Monday Night Football KABC 18.0 4. Friends KNBC 16.6 -- The X-Files KTTV 16.6 6. “Home Alone 2: Lost in N.Y.” KTTV 16.3 7. ER KNBC 15.9 8. Home Improvement KABC 15.0 9. Men Behaving Badly (Thur.) KNBC 14.6 10. “Billboard Music Awards” KTTV 14.5

*--*

Weekly Averages

ABC: 9.5

CBS: 9.4

NBC: 9.2

FOX: 8.3

UPN: 2.9

WB: 2.2

Season to Date

NBC: 10.9

CBS: 10.0

ABC: 9.8

FOX: 8.3

UPN: 3.4

WB: 2.7