Football Carries Abc To Win
Football, the Emmys and Margot Kidder helped ABC to a ratings win last week.
For the week of Sept. 2-8, ABC logged a 9.2 rating and 16 percent share of the U.S. television audience. Runnerup NBC had an 8.9 rating and 15 share, according to Nielsen Media Research.
CBS was a poor third, with a 6.8 rating and 12 share - and Fox nipped at its heels with a 6.3 rating and 11 share (for Fox’s 15 hours of prime-time programming).
First-place ABC had half of the week’s Top 10 shows, including “NFL Monday Night Football,” “The Emmy Awards” and “20/20,” on the strength of a Barbara Walters interview with actress Margot Kidder discussing her mental illness.
In total household viewing, ABC claimed five nights: Sunday, Monday, Tuesday (tied with NBC), Wednesday and Friday.
ABC’s “World News Tonight” had an 8.7 rating and 18 share. ‘NBC Nightly News” came in second, with a 7.8 rating and 17 share. In third place, “The CBS Evening News” had a 6.2 rating and 14 share.
Prime-time ratings as compiled by Nielsen Media Research for Sept. 2-9. Listings include the week’s ranking, rating for the week and total homes.
An “X” in parentheses denotes one-time-only presentation. A rating measures the percentage of the nation’s 97 million TV homes. Each ratings point represents 970,000 households.
1. (X) “NFL Monday Night Football,” ABC, 19.5, 18.9 million homes
2. “Seinfeld,” NBC, 14.7, 14.2 million homes
3. (X) “Emmy Awards,” ABC, 14.4, 13.9 million homes
4. “Home Improvement,” ABC, 13.5, 13 million homes
5. (X) “20/20,” ABC, 13.0, 12.6 million homes
6. (X) “Prime Time Live,” ABC, 12.1, 11.7 million homes
7. “Friends,” NBC, 12.0, 11.6 million homes
8. “NBC Monday Night Movies,” NBC, 11.9, 11.5 million homes
9. “E.R.,” NBC, 11.4, 11 million homes
9. “Single Guy,” NBC, 11.4, 11 million homes
11. “Dateline NBC,” (Tuesday) NBC, 11.2, 10.8 million homes
12. (X) “Coach,” ABC, 10.9, 10.5 million homes
13.”NBC Sunday Night Movie,” NBC, 10.0, 9.7 million homes
13.”60 Minutes,” CBS, 10.0, 9.7 million homes
15. “Nanny,” CBS, 9.9, 9.6 million homes
16. “48 Hours,” CBS, 9.7, 9.4 million homes
17.”Dateline NBC,” (Wednesday) NBC, 9.5, 9.2 million homes
18. “Dateline NBC,” (Friday) NBC, 9.4, 9.1 million homes
19. “Frasier,” NBC, 9.3, 9.0 million homes
19. “48 Hours,” (Special) CBS, 9.3, 9.0 million homes