TV Ratings : Alexander Flies With ‘Seinfeld,’ Dives With ‘Birdie’

“Birdie” went bye-bye in the ratings. ABC’s remake of the 1960 musical “Bye Bye Birdie,” starring Jason Alexander, got clobbered Sunday night, attracting only about 10 million viewers, compared to 20.4 million for NBC’s “Shadow of a Doubt” and 13.6 million for CBS’ “The Haunting of Helen Walker.”

Instead, it was Alexander’s regular series, “Seinfeld,” that fared best last week. Ratings released Tuesday by Nielsen Media Research showed the NBC comedy atop the list with about 27.6 million viewers.

That No. 1 spot has been occupied most often this season by NBC’s “ER,” but the medical drama was preempted last week by the special “Kelsey Grammer Salutes Jack Benny,” which placed 18th among the week’s 105 prime-time network programs. Like Alexander, Grammer did better with his regular series, “Frasier,” which was shown three times last week and had each episode place in the Top 10.

NBC won the weekly network competition in both households and the coveted demographic of 18- to 49-year-olds and continues to lead both for the season as a whole.

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Weekly Averages

NBC: 11.7

ABC: 10.3

CBS: 9.8

FOX: 7.9

UPN: 3.6

WB: 2.4

Season to Date

NBC: 12.1

ABC: 11.7

CBS: 9.6

FOX: 7.5

UPN: 3.3

WB: 2.3

Source: A.C. Nielsen