Abc Tops Weekly Ratings

Last week’s telecast of the Academy Awards drew their second-worst ratings ever, but it was enough to lead ABC to a narrow victory Tuesday in the Nielsen Media Research rankings.

NBC, meanwhile, celebrated its first quarterly victory in the nightly news ratings in 10 years.

The Oscars, with Billy Crystal returning as host and “The English Patient” dominating the awards, were easily the week’s most-watched program, scoring a 27.4 rating and 46 share for ABC, Nielsen said.

Only the 1987 Academy Awards broadcast, though, drew lower ratings since Nielsen started measuring in 1974. The year’s most popular awards program has been telecast by ABC since 1976.

Movie-watching Americans also gave this verdict: The Waltons beat Tom Cruise and Jack Nicholson. The CBS movie, “Walton’s Easter,” narrowly beat “A Few Good Men,” telecast by NBC, in the ratings.

NBC’s “Nightly News” continued its winning streak with an 8.4 rating and 18 share. ABC’s “World News Tonight,” which last week announced a shakeup with a new executive producer, was second with an 8.2 rating and 17 share. CBS’s “Evening News” was third with a 7.2 rating and 15 share.

NBC announced that it had beaten ABC, until this year the long-time leader in nightly news ratings, in viewers for the first three months of the year.

Prime-time ratings as compiled by Nielsen Media Research for March 24-30. Top 20 listings include the week’s ranking, with rating for the week, season-to-date rankings in parentheses, and total homes.

An “X” in parentheses denotes one-time-only presentation. A rating measures the percentage of the nation’s 97.0 million TV homes. Each ratings point represents 970,000 households.

1. (X) “Academy Awards,” ABC, 27.4, 26.6 million homes

2. (2) “Seinfeld,” NBC, 18.3, 17.8 million homes

3. (4) “Friends,” NBC, 16.0, 15.5 million homes

4. (3) “Suddenly Susan,” NBC, 14.8, 14.4 million homes

5. (X) “Barbara Walters Special,” ABC, 14.5, 14.1 million homes

6. (4) “Naked Truth,” NBC, 13.9, 13.5 million homes

7. (9) “Touched by an Angel,” CBS, 13.7, 13.3 million homes

8. (18) “CBS Sunday Movie: Walton’s Easter,” CBS, 13.3, 12.9 million homes

9. (15) “NBC Sunday Night Movie: A Few Good Men,” NBC, 12.8, 12.4 million homes

10. (X) “CBS NCAA Basketball Championship: Minnesota vs Kentucky,” CBS, 12.5, 12.1 million homes