Weekly Ratings End Up In A Tie For Cbs, Nbc

CBS tied with NBC in the weekly television ratings competition last week, benefiting from the Grammy Awards telecast and two showings of “Touched By an Angel.”

NBC’s Thursday night lineup accounted for the week’s top five shows in Nielsen Media Research’s rankings, but its numbers were down because three of those programs were reruns, including the top-rated “Seinfeld.”

CBS and NBC both had a 10.6 household rating and audience shares of 18 for the week, Nielsen said. ABC was third with an 8.9 rating and 15 share, while Fox had a 7.8 rating and 13 share.

The Grammy Awards telecast was the week’s 10th-rated show. However, the music awards show’s 13.4 rating was the second lowest since CBS began televising it in 1974, Nielsen said. Only 1995’s program drew a lower rating.

A “Touched By an Angel” repeat on Sunday finished 12th for the week, and a special showing of the program Tuesday was 15th.

But CBS’s David Letterman still has numbers trouble. His video special Monday night was beaten by a John Stossel “Freeloaders” program on ABC and the second half of an NBC movie.

Fox drew its highest ratings of the week for two “reality” shows: “World’s Scariest Police Chases” and “When Disasters Strike 2.”

A rating point represents 970,000 households, or 1 percent of the nation’s estimated 97 million TV homes. Share is the percentage of those televisions tuned to a given show during a specified time period.

Prime-time ratings as compiled by Nielsen Media Research for Feb. 24-March 2. Listings include the week’s ranking (season-to-date rankings in parentheses), with rating for the week and total homes. An “X” in parentheses denotes one-time-only presentation.

1. (2) “Seinfeld,” NBC, 19.5, 18.9 million homes

2. (5) “Friends,” NBC, 16.7, 16.2 million homes

3. (4) “Naked Truth,” NBC, 15.4, 14.9 million homes

4. (3) “Suddenly Susan,” NBC, 14.9, 14.5 million homes

5. (1) “ER,” NBC, 14.8, 14.4 million homes

6. (8) “Home Improvement,” ABC, 14.7, 14.3 million homes

7. (9) “60 Minutes,” CBS, 14.4, 14 million homes

8. (15) “NBC Sunday Night Movie: The Fugitive,” NBC, 14.1, 13.7 million homes

9. (19) “CBS Sunday Movie: Journey of the Heart,” CBS, 13.5, 13.1 million homes

10. (X) “Grammy Awards,” CBS, 13.4, 13 million homes

11. (11) “20/20,” ABC, 13.2, 12.8 million homes

12. (10) “Touched by an Angel,” CBS, 13.0, 12.6 million homes

13. (16) “PrimeTime Live,” ABC, 12.9, 12.5 million homes

14. (12) “NYPD Blue,” ABC, 12.8, 12.4 million homes

15. (X) “Touched By an Angel,” CBS, 12.6, 12.2 million homes

16. (13) “Spin City,” ABC, 12.3, 11.9 million homes

17. (13) “Frasier,” NBC, 12.2, 11.8 million homes

18. (17) “Drew Carey Show,” ABC, 12.0, 11.6 million homes

19. (19) “Dateline NBC” (Tuesday), NBC, 11.9, 11.5 million homes

20. (33) “CBS Tuesday Movie: Night Sins Pt. 2 of 2,” CBS, 11.5, 11.2 million homes