`Er’ Tops The Nielsen Ratings One More Time

The NBC doctor drama “ER” bagged the No. 1 spot in the Nielsen ratings for the third time in four weeks with a 23.3 rating/37 share.

The NBC sitcom “Seinfeld” grabbed second place, followed by the ABC sitcom “Home Improvement” in third. The CBS newsmagazine “60 Minutes” clocked in at No. 4. The NBC sitcom “Mad About You” ranked No. 5. The ABC sitcom “Grace Under Fire” landed in sixth. The “NBC Monday Night Movie: `Pretty Woman,’ ” was seventh. The ABC sitcom “Roseanne” placed eighth. Rounding out the top 10 in a tie for ninth were the “ABC Sunday Night Movie: `Under Siege,’ ” and “The American Music Awards” on ABC.

ABC had the highest network ratings for the week (12.8), followed by NBC (12.4), CBS (11.0), Fox (9.1) and the fledgling UPN (4.4) and WB (1.8) networks.

A rating point equals 954,000 television households. A share is the percentage of TV sets tuned to a particular program during its time period.

No big deal

The nudity on “Chicago Hope” Monday night caused barely a ripple of viewer protest, CBS said. Context, of course, is everything. This wasn’t a steamy “NYPD Blue” sex scene but a serious story line concerning a 17-year-old girl with breast cancer. There was a brief frontal glimpse of the young woman’s breasts following successful reconstructive surgery.

“It certainly wasn’t shown for prurient reasons,” said CBS spokeswoman Terri Corigliano.

Butt bulletin

The Jimmy Smits backside on “NYPD Blue” Tuesday night? Hohum. Maybe we’re just getting jaded with all those law enforcement buns. Far cooler was the musical moment when Sipowicz and Simone did the automotive a capella, singing “Duke of Earl” in their cop car.