TV Ratings

CBS Reaches Top Despite Low-Scoring NCAA Tourney

The NCAA basketball tournament didn’t work any wonders for CBS in the prime-time ratings last week, but it didn’t need to: The network’s powerful lineup of Sunday and Monday programming propelled it to another win. Figures released Tuesday by the A.C. Nielsen Co. showed that CBS was the top-rated network for the 20th time in 27 weeks so far this season.

Joining CBS stalwarts “60 Minutes,” “Murphy Brown,” “Murder, She Wrote” and “Rescue 911” in the Top 10 was its Sunday night movie, “The Man With Three Wives,” with Beau Bridges as the busy husband.

Although the NCAA basketball coverage attracted only about 18% of available viewers, CBS said it was nevertheless getting better ratings than the game from last year’s tournament.

The only series to debut last week was Fox’s dramatic anthology “Tribeca,” which challenged ABC’s “Roseanne” at 9 p.m. Tuesday. “Roseanne” was No. 2 among the week’s 92 prime-time network programs; “Tribeca” ranked No. 86. But Tuesday is a new night for Fox this year, and the network said it was pleased that the show did better than what it replaced.

In the network news ratings, ABC’s “World News Tonight” was No. 1 last week for the 30th straight week, with CBS’ “Evening News” second and NBC’s “Nightly News” third.

Southland Ratings

Here are A. C. Nielsen’s Top 10 prime-time programs in the Los Angeles area during the same week. Each rating point equals 49,657 households.

Station Program 1. 60 Minutes KCBS 23.0 2. Roseanne KABC 21.4 3. The Simpsons KTTV 21.3 4. Home Improvement KABC 21.2 5. Martin KTTV 17.7 6. Beverly Hills, 90210 KTTV 17.3 7. “The Man With Three Wives” KCBS 17.2 8. Full House KABC 16.9 9. Cheers KNBC 16.9 10. “Kindergarten Cop” KNBC 16.6

Rating 1. 60 Minutes 2. Roseanne 3. The Simpsons 4. Home Improvement 5. Martin 6. Beverly Hills, 90210 7. “The Man With Three Wives” 8. Full House 9. Cheers 10. “Kindergarten Cop”

Weekly Averages CBS 13.8 ABC 11.8 NBC 10.6 FOX 8.0

Season to Date CBS 13.5 ABC 12.4 NBC 11.1 FOX 7.8