Returning Series Have a Tough Week

A case of midseason blues quickly descended on the major networks after the February ratings sweeps ended Wednesday, as NBC regained first place in figures issued Tuesday by Nielsen Media Research.

Several series temporarily pulled from the lineup returned and were greeted with a collective yawn from viewers. ABC’s acclaimed yet controversial drama “Nothing Sacred,” for example, finished a weak fourth in its Saturday time slot, as did a tribute to the one-time king of Saturday night, “Love Boat” and “Fantasy Island” producer Aaron Spelling. CBS’ “Cybill” and “Michael Hayes,” ABC’s “Hiller and Diller” and NBC’s “Players” also landed with a dull thud in their comeback efforts.

Specials, by contrast, performed well last week, with NBC lassoing a bigger-than-usual audience Wednesday thanks to a Garth Brooks concert and Fox again drawing strong numbers with its “Magic’s Biggest Secrets Revealed” franchise, featuring the “Masked Magician.”

Buoyed by such fare as well as shows like “The X-Files” and “Ally McBeal,” Fox has even crept ahead of ABC--a fourth-place finisher four of the last five weeks--for the season among adults age 18 to 49, the main category used to set advertising rates. NBC ranks first by that measure and CBS fourth.

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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: 14.1 million

CBS: 13.04

FOX: 11.98

ABC: 11.65

WB: 5.45

UPN: 4.25

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Season to Date

NBC: 15.27 million

CBS: 14.66

ABC: 12.56

FOX: 10.90

WB: 4.56

UPN: 4.16

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. Seinfeld KNBC 1,056,948 2. ER KNBC 996,837 3. Frasier KNBC 951,754 4. “Magic’s Biggest Secrets 2” KTTV 846,560 5. The X-Files KTTV 796,468 6. 60 Minutes KCBS 771,421 7. Veronica’s Closet KNBC 751,385 8. Friends KNBC 731,348 Touched by an Angel KCBS 731,348 10. Ally McBeal KTTV 686,265 “Magic’s/Secrets Revealed” KTTV 686,265

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