Viewers Pass on Leftovers, Pick Up Magazines

Viewing of the major networks continues to wilt in the summer heat, with only news programs and a handful of series favorites pulling in respectable ratings, according to results issued Tuesday by Nielsen Media Research.

Audiences fled from reruns and leftover episodes of canceled series, dropping network viewing to record lows. Only “Seinfeld” attracted more than 20 million viewers, compared to the 10 programs that exceeded that plateau on average during the recently concluded TV season.

CBS is packaging some repeats, airing movie revivals of old series Wednesday nights. Last week’s “Gunsmoke” did the best so far, following “The Rockford Files” and “Simon & Simon.”

As one of the few fresh alternatives, news also continues to perform relatively well, with five magazine shows again gracing the Top 10, led by ABC’s “20/20.” “Dateline NBC” and “PrimeTime Live” held wide advantages over reruns of “NYPD Blue” and “Law & Order,” respectively, in their time slots.

ABC did get some good news outside prime time, as “World News Tonight” ranked first for the seventh straight week, after several months in which the Peter Jennings-anchored nightly newscast trailed NBC.

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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.

NBC: 10.25 million

CBS: 9.44

ABC: 8.54

FOX: 6.41

UPN: 3.47

WB: 3.44

Season to Date

NBC: 14.81 million

CBS: 13.28

ABC: 12.84

FOX: 10.98

UPN: 4.33

WB: 3.55

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. 20/20 KABC 701,827 2. 60 Minutes KCBS 677,114 3. ER KNBC 657,345 4. Seinfeld KNBC 652,402 5. Touched by an Angel KCBS 568,381 6. Dateline NBC (Tue.) KNBC 563,438 7. “The Babysitter’s Seduction” KNBC 558,496 8. The X-Files KTTV 543,668 9. King of the Hill KTTV 538,726 10. Home Improvement KABC 533,784

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Source: Nielsen Media Research