NBC Gets Close Win in Lackluster Week for Networks

The three major networks finished bunched close together in last week’s prime-time standings, with NBC eking out a victory in results issued Tuesday by Nielsen Media Research.

Highlights were scarce, among them CBS’ “Hallmark Hall of Fame” production “Old Man,” starring Jeanne Tripplehorn and Arliss Howard, which topped the Sunday movie race with the second-highest rating (behind “Mrs. Santa Claus”) for any TV movie this season. The Tom Cruise film “The Firm,” co-starring Tripplehorn, also gave ABC a rare Saturday win.

Two annual events weren’t especially special. The NBA All-Star Game and the Miss USA Pageant essentially mirrored their year-ago ratings, watched by audiences of roughly 17 million and 14 million, respectively. Fox’s “Star Wars” special (postponed from Tuesday to Thursday by the O.J. Simpson verdicts) didn’t provide much ratings force despite its box-office power, as “High Incident” and “Diagnosis Murder” each booked their best rating this season in the same hour.

In general, even the front-running NBC peacock has little to crow about thus far during this month’s ratings sweeps. Network viewing is down compared to a year ago, indicating continued prime-time viewing erosion. Fox remains competitive, meanwhile, especially in the key demographics that determine advertising rates.

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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: 15.30

ABC: 14.87

CBS: 14.86

FOX: 11.25

UPN: 4.97

WB: 3.57

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Season to Date

NBC: 15.44

ABC: 13.98

CBS: 13.95

FOX: 12.24

UPN: 4.54

WB: 3.65

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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 Network Viewers 1. Seinfeld KNBC 1,230,668 2. ER KNBC 1,201,013 3. Friends KNBC 978,603 4. 60 Minutes KCBS 939,064 5. The X-Files KTTV 919,294 6. The Naked Truth KNBC 894,581 7. The Simpsons KTTV 815,503 8. 20/20 KABC 751,251 9. “Clear and Present Danger” KABC 746,308 10. The Single Guy KNBC 741,366

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