Nbc And Cbs Share Top Spot In Prime Time

NBC, with five shows in the Top 10, and CBS with only one, dueled to a dead heat in the weekly prime time race, according to Tuesday’s Nielsen ratings.

For the week of Feb. 27-March 5, CBS and NBC each notched an 11.7 rating and a 19 percent share of the audience, while season-to-date frontrunner ABC stumbled with an 11.3 rating, 18 share.

Fox Broadcasting Co., which programs only 15 of the 22 prime time hours, had a 6.8 rating, 11 share. Of TV’s “emerging networks,” United Paramount Network had a 4.1 rating, 6 share, and The WB Network had a 1.8 rating, 3 share.

One ratings point equals 954,000 households, or 1 percent, of the nation’s 95.4 million TV homes estimated by Nielsen Media Research. Share is the percentage of sets tuned to a network during a specific time period.

CBS and NBC also tied for second place in the nightly newscasts. “CBS Evening News” and “NBC Nightly News” each earned an 8.1 rating and a 15 share. ABC’s “World News Tonight” won its 130th week of the past 131, with a 9.7 rating and an 18 share.

“The Critic,” an animated sitcom which left ABC after a short run last season, resurfaced in 64th place on Fox.

Fox’s other premiere, “The Great Defender,” finished 88th, still ahead of all other emerging network series except UPN’s “Star Trek: Voyager,” which warped into 69th place for the week.

Top 20 listings include the week’s ranking, with rating for the week, season-to-date rankings in parentheses, and total homes.

An “X” in parentheses denotes one-time-only presentation. A rating measures the percentage of the nation’s 95.4 million TV homes. Each ratings point represents 954,000 households.

1. (1) “Seinfeld,” NBC, 21.4, 20.4 million homes

2. (2) “Home Improvement,” ABC, 21.0, 20.0 million homes

3. (4) “Grace Under Fire,”ABC, 20.5, 19.6 million homes

4. (11) “Friends,” NBC, 20.4, 19.5 million homes

5. (3) “E.R.,” NBC, 20.3, 19.4 million homes

6. (6) “60 Minutes,” CBS, 18.1, 17.3 million homes

7. (X) “Wings,” NBC, 17.5, 16.7 million homes

8. (7) “NYPD Blue,” ABC, 16.4, 15.6 million homes

9. (17) “Tom Clancy’s Op Center - NBC Monday Movie,” 15.8, 15.1 million homes

10. (12) “Ellen,” ABC, 15.7, 15.0 million homes

11. (10) “Mad About You,” NBC, 15.4, 14.7 million homes

12. (14) “Frasier,” NBC, 14.9, 14.2 million homes

12. (16) “Murphy Brown,” CBS, 14.9, 14.9 million homes

14. “Children of the Dust - CBS Tuesday Movie,” 14.7, 14.0 million homes

14. “Chicago Hope,” CBS, 14.7, 14.0 million homes

16. (9) “Murder, She Wrote,” CBS, 14.0, 13.4 million homes.

16. (8) “Roseanne,” ABC, 14.0, 13.4 million homes

18. (20) “America’s Funniest Home Videos-7:30,” ABC, 13.8, 13.2 million homes

19. (17) “20-20,” ABC, 13.6, 13.0 million homes

20. (X) “Cybill,” CBS, 13.4, 12.8 million homes

20. (19) “Dave’s World,” CBS, 13.4, 12.8 million homes