Abc Edges Out Nbc To Top The Weekly Nielsen Ratings

ABC reclaimed the ratings trophy last week after its five weeks in NBC’s display case.

In prime time for the week ending March 26, ABC took back the lead with an 11.6 rating and 20 share, Nielsen Media Research reported Tuesday.

NBC was close behind with an 11.1 rating and 19 share. CBS had a 9.3 rating and 16 share, and Fox Broadcasting Co. a 7.3 rating and 12 share.

One ratings point equals 954,000 TV households. Share is the percentage of in-use TV sets tuned to a particular broadcast.

Two new Tuesday night NBC sitcoms had promising premieres.

“Pride & Joy” ranked 31st for the week, while “NewsRadio,” starring “Saturday Night Live” comic Phil Hartman, won its time slot and was 20th for the week.

In its second week, yet another NBC midseason sitcom, “Hope & Gloria,” held a hot 12th place as part of the network’s blazing Thursday night lineup.

In the evening news race, ABC’s “World News Tonight” recorded its 133rd first-place win of the last 134 weeks with a 9.9 rating. NBC had an 8.4.

CBS, affected by West Coast pre-emptions for the NCAA basketball tournament, had a 7.4.

Here are the top 10 shows, their networks and ratings: “Seinfeld,” NBC, 20.2; “Friends,” NBC, 19.7; “Home Improvement,” ABC, 19.5; “ER,” NBC, 19.3; “Grace Under Fire,” ABC, 18.0; “60 Minutes,” CBS, 17.7; “NYPD Blue,” ABC, 17.1; “Mad About You,” NBC, 15.3; “Roseanne,” ABC, 15.3; and “Murphy Brown,” CBS, 15.0.

“Ellen,” ABC, 14.9; “Hope & Gloria,” NBC, 14.8; “Frasier,” NBC, 14.6; “Murder, She Wrote,” CBS, 14.3; “Chicago Hope,” CBS, 14.1; “PrimeTime Live,” ABC, 13.6; “Cybill,” CBS, 13.5; “20-20,” ABC, 13.4; “Wings,” NBC, 12.7; “Newsradio,” NBC, 12.5.

New Gen X primetime soap

Mariel Hemingway has been cast in Darren Star’s next Generation X prime-time soap, “Central Park West,” for CBS, the network confirmed.

Madchen Amick (“Twin Peaks”) and Justin Lazard (“Extreme”) also are cast in the 13-episode committed drama series from Darren Star Productions and CBS Entertainment.

Hemingway will play Stephanie Weller, the new editor of a slick monthly Manhattanbased magazine called Communique. Amick will play Carrie Fairchild, a “naughty nighttime columnist” who seduces Stephanie’s husband to keep her job. Lazard takes the role of Gil Chase, a love ‘em and leave ‘em Wall Street stockbroker.