Peacock Network Struts Atop Ratings

Fri., Dec. 20, 1996

David Bauder Associated Press

The television ratings race reverted to form last week as NBC rode its dominant Thursday night schedule to its ninth win in the 13-week fall season. Led by the season’s top-ranked show, “ER,” the five shows in NBC’s prime-time Thursday night lineup were the top five rated shows of the week, according to Nielsen Media Research.

NBC had a 10.6 rating and an 18 share for the week ending Sunday. As it has for the season as a whole, CBS narrowly edged ABC for second place with a 9.3 rating and 16 share. ABC finished with a 9.0 rating and 15 share, while Fox slumped for the week with a 6.3 rating and 10 share.

The week’s most-watched holiday special belonged to CBS, with the movie “Christmas in My Hometown” finishing in 15th place. Kathie Lee Gifford narrowly edged Martha Stewart in dueling Christmas specials, both on CBS.

A rating point represents 970,000 households, or 1 percent of the nation’s 97 million TV homes. A share is the percentage of televisions in use and tuned to a show.

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