TV Ratings : Viewers Decide to Take a Holiday From the Tube

All the back-yard barbecues, outdoor fireworks and blockbuster movies over the Fourth of July weekend took the sparkle off the four TV networks’ prime-time ratings last week. Their usually low summer ratings dipped even lower--off 8% from the previous week and down 32% from the regular season. (Daytime ratings measuring audience interest in the media coverage of the preliminary hearing of O.J. Simpson will be released Friday.)

CBS came out slightly on top with an 8.5 rating, followed by ABC’s 8.4, NBC’s 7.9 and Fox’s 5.4, according to A.C. Nielsen Co. figures released Wednesday (each ratings point represents 942,000 U.S. homes).

Fox met with moderate success Wednesday in launching Aaron Spelling’s new series, “Models Inc.,” which it hopes will build an audience for the fall. The soap opera, starring Linda Gray as the head of a chic modeling agency, finished 33rd among 96 prime-time programs. But it squarely hit the young target Fox is aiming for, ranking No. 11 with adults 18 to 34.

The top-rated program for the week was a repeat of last season’s top-rated show, ABC’s “Home Improvement.” Besides newsmagazines loaded with segments on the Simpson case, the networks mostly ran series repeats and leftover episodes of series that won’t be back next season, such as “Good Advice” on CBS and “Dinosaurs” on ABC.

Southland Ratings

Here are A. C. Nielsen’s Top 10 prime-time programs in the Los Angeles area during the same week. Each rating point equals 50,064 households.

Sta- Rat- Program tion ing 1. Home Improvement KABC 17.5 2. Roseanne KABC 16.0 3. Models Inc. KTTV 15.0 4. Grace Under Fire KABC 14.5 5. Coach KABC 14.1 6. Sister, Sister KABC 13.7 7. The Simpsons KTTV 12.3 8. Frasier KNBC 12.2 9. Full House KABC 12.1 10. Seinfeld KNBC 12.1

Weekly Averages

CBS: 8.5

ABC: 8.4

NBC: 7.9

FOX: 5.4