Abc Sqeaks Past Rivals To Christmas-Week Ratings Victory

ABC won a narrow television ratings victory over its two biggest rivals during a Christmas week when the airwaves were clogged with reruns.

Yet ABC, which has dominated the evening news ratings during the 1990s, suffered its third loss in four weeks to the resurgent “NBC Nightly News,” Nielsen Media Research said Tuesday.

ABC finished with an 8.2 rating and a 16 share for the week. CBS and NBC finished with identical 8.1 ratings and 15 shares for the week, although Nielsen estimated CBS had slightly more viewers. Fox had a 5.4 rating and 10 share.

An estimated 110,000 viewing households across the country separated the top three networks from each other in the ratings. That’s a remarkably small number considering there are 97 million homes with televisions.

ABC’s movie, “Hook,” gave the network its best Thursday night showing of the year. Its Friday night show, “Sabrina the Teenage Witch,” soared into the top 20.

Prime-time ratings as compiled by Nielsen Media Research for Dec. 23-29. Included are the week’s ranking, with rating for the week, season-to-date rankings in parentheses, and total homes.

An “X” in parentheses denotes a 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. (2) “Seinfeld,” NBC, 14.4, 14.0 million homes.

2. (9) “60 Minutes,” CBS, 13.2, 12.8 million homes.

3. (1) “ER,” NBC, 12.7, 12.3 million homes.

4. (5) “NFL Monday Night Football,” ABC, 12.6, 12.2 million homes.

5. (4) “Friends,” NBC, 12.1, 11.7 million homes.

6. (X) “Men Behaving Badly,” NBC, 11.9, 11.5 million homes.

7. (12) “20/20,” ABC, 11.7, 11.3 million homes.

8. (8) “Touched by an Angel,” CBS, 11.4, 11.1 million homes.

9. (6) “Single Guy,” NBC, 11.1, 10.8 million homes.

10. (15) “CBS Sunday Movie: Die Hard 2,” CBS, 10.2, 9.9 million homes.

11. “ABC Sunday Night Movie: Scent of a Woman,” ABC, 9.8, 9.5 million homes.

12. (27) “X-Files,” Fox, 9.7, 9.4 million homes.

13. (18) “3rd Rock From The Sun,” NBC, 9.3, 9.0 million homes.

14. “Sabrina the Teenage Witch,” ABC, 9.2, 8.9 million homes.

15. “Dateline NBC,” (Friday) 9.1, 8.8 million homes.

16. (15) “CBS Wednesday Movie: The Christmas Box,” CBS, 9.0, 8.7 million homes.

17. (18) “Walker, Texas Ranger,” CBS, 8.8, 8.5 million homes.

18. “Simpsons,” Fox, 8.7, 8.4 million homes.

19. (22) “NBC Sunday Night Movie: The Paper,” NBC, 8.6, 8.3 million homes.

20. (17) “NBC Monday Night Movie: Her Hidden Truth,” NBC, 8.5, 8.2 million homes.