Grammys, ‘Angel’ Episodes Help CBS Win the Week

CBS has won the weekly prime-time ratings for just the second time this season--one more time than the network achieved that feat all last year.

According to Nielsen Media Research, the Grammy Awards, hosted by Ellen DeGeneres, a double dose of “Touched by an Angel” and the movie “Journey of the Heart” helped CBS edge usual leader NBC, while ABC finished a distant third in part due to “The Apocalypse Watch”--the network’s lowest-rated Sunday movie since 1992.

Two new series got off to so-so starts, with nearly a dozen more mid-season hopefuls on the way through March. NBC’s “Crisis Center,” starring Kellie Martin, did slightly worse than “Homicide’s” average in the same slot, while ABC’s medical program “Vital Signs” didn’t look too vital opposite “Seinfeld,” one of TV’s most unhealthy venues for competing programs. Fox’s “King of the Hill” continues to fare well, however, again pulling in a bigger audience than “The Simpsons” mustered in the preceding half-hour.

Despite its second-lowest rating ever, the Grammys drew 19.2 million viewers, out-rating two other award shows airing last week. The Soap Opera Digest and NAACP Image Awards garnered audiences of 13.2 million and 8.5 million on NBC and Fox, respectively.

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Network Averages

Here is the number of viewers that each network averaged per hour of prime time, for last week and for the season.

Last Week

CBS: 15.17 million

NBC: 15.05

ABC: 12.80

FOX: 11.71

UPN: 4.08

WB: 3.33

Season to Date

NBC: 15.66 million

CBS: 13.98

ABC: 13.93

FOX: 12.19

UPN: 4.53

WB: 3.66

Southland Viewing

Here are Nielsen’s Top 10 prime-time programs in the Los Angeles area during the same week. The rankings are based on the number of households watching. *--*

Program Station Households 1.Seinfeld KNBC 1,047,797 2.Friends KNBC 879,754 3.ER KNBC 805,618 4.60 Minutes KCBS 790,790 5.Suddenly Susan KNBC 761,136 6.The Naked Truth KNBC 761,136 7.The X-Files KTTV 751,251 8.The Grammy Awards KCBS 736,424 9.Frasier KNBC 686,999 10.Beverly Hills, 90210 KTTV 682,056

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