NBC Lineup More Special Than Holiday Fare

If Americans had the Christmas spirit last week, it wasn’t reflected in their television viewing. Ratings released Tuesday by Nielsen Media Research showed “ER,” “Seinfeld” and the other usual favorites at the top of the chart, with nary a holiday special until CBS’ movie “Christmas in My Hometown” at No. 15.

Other CBS Christmas specials with Kathie Lee Gifford, Martha Stewart and an assortment of country music stars drew respectable if unspectacular numbers, but ABC’s “Edith Ann’s Christmas” on Saturday attracted only 9% of the available audience and ranked 91st among the week’s 119 network prime-time programs.

With its Thursday lineup accounting for the first five Nielsen positions, NBC handily won the weekly competition in both households and the 18-to-49-year-old demographic that advertisers prize. “The Single Guy,” which had been off the air for two weeks, finished at No. 5 with an episode in which Suzanne Pleshette appeared for the first time playing the mother of Jonathan Silverman’s character.

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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 Network Rating 1. ER KNBC 23.4 2. Seinfeld KNBC 20.4 3. Suddenly Susan KNBC 18.3 4. Friends KNBC 18.1 5. NYPD Blue KABC 17.1 6. The X-Files KTTV 16.5 7. Home Improvement KABC 15.4 8. Frasier KNBC 14.9 9. Beverly Hills, 90210 KTTV 14.2 10. The Single Guy KNBC 14.0

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Weekly Averages

NBC: 10.6

CBS: 9.3

ABC: 9.0

FOX: 6.3

UPN: 3.1

WB: 2.5

Season to Date

NBC: 10.8

CBS: 9.9

ABC: 9.7

FOX: 8.1

UPN: 3.3

WB: 2.7

Source: A. C. Nielsen