Olympics Push Nbc To Top Of Weekly Ratings

The spectacle and glory of the Olympics turned immediately into ratings gold for NBC.

With nine of the Top 10 shows and a 1-2-3 finish for the Atlanta games’ first three nights, NBC won the week of July 15-21 with a 14.7 rating, 27 percent audience share that bettered CBS and ABC’s ratings combined.

Third-ranked CBS narrowly won a fourth consecutive week in second place, with a 6.5 rating, 12 share to ABC’s 6.4 rating, 12 share. The Fox network, with 15 prime-time hours, earned a 3.9 rating, 7 share.

Prime-time ratings as compiled by Nielsen Media Research for July 15-21. 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 95.9 million TV homes. Each rating point represents 959,000 households.

1. (X) “Summer Olympics Opening Ceremony” NBC, 23.6, 22.6 million homes.

2. (X) “Summer Olympics Sunday Prime 1,” NBC, 22.9, 21.9 million homes.

3. (X) “Summer Olympics Saturday Prime 1,” NBC, 17.2, 16.5 million homes.

4. (2) “Seinfeld,” NBC, 13.8, 13.2 million homes.

5. (26) “3rd Rock From The Sun,” NBC, 11.6, 11.1 million homes.

6. (4) “Friends,” NBC, 10.8, 10.4 million homes.

6. (X) “Mad About You,” NBC, 10.8, 10.4 million homes.

8. (1) “ER,” NBC, 10.5, 10.1 million homes.

9. (8) “Home Improvement,” ABC, 10.2, 9.8 million homes.

9. (15) “NBC Monday Night Movie: Awake To Danger,” NBC, 10.2, 9.8 million homes.

11. (23) “Dateline NBC,” (Tuesday) NBC, 9.6, 9.2 million homes.

11. (16) “PrimeTime Live,” ABC, 9.6, 9.2 million homes.

13. “48 Hours,” CBS, 9.5, 9.1 million homes.

14. (11) “Frasier,” NBC, 8.9, 8.5 million homes.

14. (13) “Grace Under Fire,” ABC, 8.9, 8.5 million homes.

16. (X) “Dateline NBC,”” (Wednesday) NBC, 8.8, 8.4 million homes.

16. (17) “Nanny,”” CBS, 8.8, 8.4 million homes.

16. (30) “Wings,” NBC, 8.8, 8.4 million homes.

19. (14) “Coach,” ABC, 8.5, 8.1 million homes.

20. “CBS Tuesday Movie: Her Deadly Rival,” CBS, 8.4, 8.0 million homes.

20. (12) “NYPD Blue,” ABC, 8.4, 8.0 million homes.

22. “60 Minutes,” CBS, 8.2.

23. “Cybill,” CBS, 8.0.

23. “Murphy Brown,” CBS, 8.0.

25. “3rd Rock From The Sun,” NBC, 7.9.

26. “ABC Sunday Night Movie: The Tommyknockers, Part 1,” ABC, 7.8.

26. “Fresh Prince of Bel Air,” NBC, 7.8.