Prime-Time TV Rankings

ABC’s worst fears were realized as even the usually sure-fire attraction of Stephen King scared up subpar ratings Sunday with “The Shining,” according to results issued Tuesday by Nielsen Media Research.

That was just part of ABC’s lost weekend, as “Lois & Clark: The New Adventures of Superman” flew to a record low Saturday and the special “U2: A Year in Pop” hit an especially sour note--scoring the lowest prime-time rating ever for an hour on ABC, CBS or NBC (excluding paid political ads).

Sunday’s “The Shining” telecast was watched by nearly 20 million people but fell more than 30% short of the average for King’s previous miniseries such as “The Stand” and “The Langoliers.” The six-hour production continued Monday and concludes Thursday opposite NBC’s deadly “Must See TV” lineup.

Those shows staked NBC to an early lead in the May ratings sweeps, which began Thursday. CBS is off to a good start too, as its “Dukes of Hazzard” reunion paced the network’s highest Friday rating since a similar “Dallas” revival movie six months ago. Ellen DeGeneres’ “20/20” interview salvaged the night for ABC, with 19.5 million viewers tuning in.

Fox’s “King of the Hill” is living up to its name, on Sunday posting its highest rating in 12 weeks. ABC’s Dan Aykroyd comedy, “Soul Man,” has also shown promise Tuesdays but this week finished its three-week spring tryout.

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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

NBC: 15.98 million

CBS: 14.26

ABC: 11.73

FOX: 10.92

UPN: 4.06

WB: 3.37

Season to Date

NBC: 15.22 million

CBS: 13.76

ABC: 13.45

FOX: 11.72

UPN: 4.48

WB: 3.63

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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.

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Program Station Households 1.ER KNBC 1,240,552 2.Seinfeld KNBC 1,097,222 3.60 Minutes KCBS 889,639 4.20/20 KABC 884,697 5.NYPD Blue KABC 879,754 6.The X-Files KTTV 864,927 7.Fired Up KNBC 845,157 8.Frasier KNBC 780,906 9.Home Improvement KABC 751,251 10.Friends KNBC 746,308

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