NBC Overcomes Weak At-Bat by World Series

A record-low rating for the opening game of the World Series on Saturday still helped NBC secure its title as the top-rated network last week, based on results issued Tuesday by Nielsen Media Research.

Baseball did better Sunday, but Cleveland-Florida still seems destined to finish at or near the bottom of all-time World Series ratings.

Meanwhile, the batting average for new prime-time programs remains equally low, with two shows getting yanked from the schedule after last week: NBC’s “Built to Last,” which finished last in its time slot; and “413 Hope St.,” which addressed Fox’s smallest audience at 9 p.m. Thursday since 1990.

In addition, ABC shuffled the order of its Friday comedies after watching its lead dwindle from 3 million viewers separating “Sabrina, the Teenage Witch” and CBS’ “Family Matters” at 8 p.m. to a gap of 1 million between “Teen Angel” and “Step by Step” by 9:30 p.m. NBC finished second Friday at 8 p.m. with the premiere of “Players,” starring rapper Ice-T, beating Fox’s “The Visitor.”

A musical episode of CBS’ “Chicago Hope’s” scored that show’s best rating since moving to Wednesdays, while NBC’s weakness that night is taking its toll on “3rd Rock From the Sun,” which last week drew 75% fewer viewers than ABC’s “The Drew Carey Show.”

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Network Averages

Here is the number of viewers that each network averaged per hour of prime time, for last week and for the season.

Last Week

NBC: 16.89 million

CBS: 12.91

ABC: 12.90

FOX: 9.57

UPN: 4.58

WB: 3.75

Season to Date

NBC: 15.19 million

CBS: 13.49

ABC: 12.91

FOX: 10.06

UPN: 4.62

WB: 4.03

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Southland Viewing

Here are Nielsen’s Top 10 prime-time programs in the Los Angeles area during the same week. The rankings are based on the number of households watching.

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Program Station Households 1. Seinfeld KNBC 1,161,473 2. ER KNBC 1,126,876 3. Friends KNBC 879,754 4. Veronica’s Closet KNBC 869,869 5. Union Square KNBC 800,675 6. 60 Minutes KCBS 766,078 7. NYPD Blue KABC 751,251 8. Home Improvement KABC 721,596 9. Touched by an Angel KCBS 706,769 10. The Simpsons KTTV 642,517

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Source: Nielsen Media Research