Prime-Time TV Rankings : Networks Fire a Dud as Viewers Take Off Fourth

Americans celebrated their independence from the major television networks last week, as Fourth of July festivities helped depress prime-time ratings to an all-time record low, according to results issued Tuesday by Nielsen Media Research.

Overall viewing of ABC, CBS, NBC and Fox sank 8% compared to the holiday week last year, lagging behind the previous low established during the Republican National Convention last August.

Even “Seinfeld” and “ER” felt the heat, with newsmagazines accounting for three of the top five programs and the hit NBC medical drama finishing ninth. Meanwhile, NBC’s “Suddenly Susan,” with Brooke Shields, has shown promise since moving to Mondays, outperforming “Murphy Brown” in its time slot the past two weeks.

Though reruns generally fizzled, the few new programs didn’t provide much improvement. An ABC special titled “Senior Prom” drew a record-low rating Wednesday, while Fox’s “Pacific Palisades” attracted a smaller audience than reruns of WB network sitcoms in the same hour.

Holiday patriotism also didn’t extend to the CBS special “What’s Right With America,” which ranked No. 101 out of 109 shows broadcast.

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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: 9.09 million

CBS: 9.04

ABC: 7.81

FOX: 6.03

WB: 3.46

UPN unavailable

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Season to Date

NBC: 14.67 million

CBS: 13.18

ABC: 12.72

FOX: 10.86

WB: 3.55

UPN unavailable

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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. 60 Minutes KCBS 686,999 2. Seinfeld KNBC 637,575 3. “Awakenings” KABC 607,920 4. NYPD Blue KABC 573,328 5. ER KNBC 538,726 6. 20/20 KABC 528,841 7. Dateline NBC (Tue.) KNBC 523,899 -- Touched by an Angel KCBS 523,899 9. PrimeTime Live KABC 504,129 -- 3rd Rock From the Sun KNBC 504,129

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Source: Nielsen Media Research