Montel Outtalks Oprah for L.A.’s Hosting Crown : Television: NBC ratings dominate prime time, and CBS’ woes include a big drop for Letterman.

Hail to the new Oprah?

Not only did he celebrate the news this week that he’ll be starring in a new prime-time drama on CBS come fall, but Montel Williams also became the king of the talk shows this month for the first time--at least in the Los Angeles market--according to ratings for the May sweeps released Thursday by the A.C. Nielsen Co.

Meanwhile, NBC convincingly won the prime-time network battle as second-place ABC and struggling CBS each lost about 10% of their audience of a year ago. Fox, which was also down from last May, was fourth.

CBS’ ongoing troubles also rubbed off on its local station here as KCBS-TV Channel 2 posted some shockingly low numbers for its afternoon newscasts and even for the network’s biggest star--David Letterman.

The May sweeps, which ended Wednesday night, are one of three monthlong ratings sweepstakes each year that determine bragging rights within the television industry and help local stations set some advertising rates. Audience totals in May, especially in the early evening, are generally lower than the sweeps in February and November because the longer hours of daylight provide more opportunity for outside activities.

“The Ricki Lake Show” had been the prime challenger to Oprah Winfrey’s longtime reign at the top of the talk show heap, but this month “The Montel Williams Show,” airing weekdays at 4 p.m. on KCOP-TV Channel 13, saw its audience jump 38% over last year to edge “Oprah” for the honor of highest-rated talk show here.

In the Los Angeles market, however, Williams faces no direct talk show competition, while “Oprah,” airing at 3 p.m. on KABC-TV Channel 7, competes head-to-head against “The Richard Bey Show,” “Sally Jessy Raphael” and “Geraldo.”

Nationally, “Oprah” and “Ricki Lake” are still battling for the top spot, and although “Montel” is surging, he remains well behind them.

The local news battles in May stayed about the same as they have been recently.

Riding the back of the phenomenally hot “E.R.” and NBC’s other prime-time successes, KNBC-TV Channel 4’s Paul Moyer and Kelly Lange captured the lucrative 11 p.m. news battle with nearly a 20% ratings surge over their totals last spring. KABC, which was tied with its arch-rival a year ago but has been trailing at 11 p.m. ever since, posted a meager 3% gain to place a distant second. KCBS also advanced a bit at 11 p.m. but still fell further out of first place--averaging about 200,000 fewer homes a night than Channel 4.

In the afternoon, KABC, as usual, won the 4, 5 and 6 p.m. news hours with the help of “Oprah’s” fat lead-in advantage. KNBC was second and KCBS was again last.

Will Dan Rather flying solo resurrect the “CBS Evening News”? No one knows, but the newscast can’t really do much worse here. Rather and Connie Chung’s newscast finished sixth in the time period at 6 p.m. on Channel 2, trailing not only local newscasts on Channels 7 and 4, but also reruns of “Roseanne,” “Full House” and “Married . . . With Children” on the independents.

In the early morning, Channel 4 squeaked out another win over Channel 7 at 6 a.m. KTLA-TV Channel 5 was third, KTTV-TV Channel 11 was fourth and CBS’ network newscast on Channel 2 was an almost unwatched fifth.

The wacky gang at Channel 5 continued to prevail during the 7 to 9 a.m. coffee hours, yet again beating all three network morning programs based in New York, although KABC’s “Good Morning America” and KCAL-TV Channel 9’s “Mighty Max” cartoons closed the gap. Steve Edwards’ first stint as host of KTTV’s “Good Day L.A.” went badly; the show finished last in the time period.

Proving that Southern Californians are stubborn creatures of habit, the standings for the 10 p.m. news battle also held to usual form: KTLA, KTTV, KCAL and KCOP.

On the other hand, when it comes to late-night comedy, what a difference a year makes. Not even a week in London could save David Letterman as his ratings on KCBS plummeted 30% from last May, dropping him to fourth in the time period. Meanwhile, Jay Leno and “The Tonight Show” on Channel 4 enjoyed a 52% ratings increase over last year to demolish Letterman’s “Late Show” by a huge margin.

“Nightline” on KABC, which has been beating both Leno and Letterman in the national ratings, was second here, while the “Jerry Springer” talk show on Channel 9 was third, having doubled its audience of last May.

The May numbers also suggest that local viewers are finally growing weary of the O.J. Simpson trial and its assorted characters. “Hard Copy,” “Inside Edition,” “Entertainment Tonight” and Channel 4’s “O.J.: The Trail” all suffered significant ratings dips as compared to the last ratings sweeps in February.