‘Seinfeld’ Pushes Nbc To Ratings Top

Fri., March 21, 1997

Associated Press

After two weeks with CBS on top, the television ratings race returned to form with NBC riding its powerhouse Thursday night lineup to a weekly ratings win.

“Seinfeld” was the week’s most-watched show and is running just behind the vacationing “ER” as the top program of the year in Nielsen Media Research rankings released Tuesday.

For the week, NBC had a 9.9 rating and 17 share. CBS was second with a 9.1 rating and a 16 share, followed by ABC’s 8.5 rating and 14 share and Fox’s 7.4 rating and 12 share.

Four television newsmagazines finished among the top 10 shows for the week. CBS’s “60 Minutes,” which featured an interview with presidential accuser Paula Jones, topped them all.

“Law and Order,” the show NBC tried out in “ER’s” Thursday night time slot, finished in seventh place for the week. “Prince Street” had finished in 15th place in the same 10 p.m. time slot the previous week and was summarily canceled.

ABC’s “Arsenio,” which finished in 21st place for its premiere, sagged to 47th in the ratings last week.

CBS’s much-touted “EZ Streets” had a disastrous week. It finished in 88th place, and only a special postNCAA basketball special showing of “Everybody Loves Raymond” finished lower for the network.

Prime-time ratings as compiled by Nielsen Media Research for March 10-16 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. (2) “Seinfeld,” NBC, 21.6, 20.9 million homes

2. (5) “Friends,” NBC, 18.7, 18.1 million homes

3. (3) “Suddenly Susan,” NBC, 17.7, 17.2 million homes

4. (4) “Naked Truth,” NBC, 17.0, 16.5 million homes

5. (9) “Touched by an Angel,” CBS, 15.7, 15.2 million homes

6. (9) “60 Minutes,” CBS, 14.5, 14.1 million homes

7. ( ) “Law and Order,” NBC, 14.4, 14.0 million homes

8. (20) “Dateline NBC,” (Tuesday) NBC, 13.7, 13.2 million homes

9. (16) “PrimeTime Live,” ABC, 13.4, 13.0 million homes

10. (11) “20/20,” ABC, 13.1, 12.7 million homes

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