TV Ratings : NBC Relinquishes Top Spot to ‘Home Improvement’

“Home Improvement” returned to No. 1 in the ratings last week, breaking NBC’s season-long grip on the top spot, according to information released Tuesday by Nielsen Media Research. In an episode about a possible illness in the family, the ABC comedy, starring Tim Allen, edged “ER” (No. 2) and finished well ahead of the rest of NBC’s successful Thursday block of “Seinfeld,” “Friends” and “Caroline in the City.” Locally, “Home Improvement” was also No. 1.

“The Dana Carvey Show,” which has been up and down in the ratings since its premiere last month, got a boost from “Home Improvement’s” lead-in and finished at No. 10 in the 9:30 p.m. slot. Both shows walloped the CBS movie “Never Give Up: The Jimmy V. Story,” which wound up a dismal 66th.

But CBS’ broadcast of the NCAA basketball tournament’s championship game between Kentucky and Syracuse was No. 5, and the network’s Sunday movie “To Sir, With Love II,” starring Sidney Poitier, beat ABC’s Easter offering of the Cecil B. DeMille seasonal epic “The Ten Commandments.”

In series openers, Fox’s “Kindred: The Embraced” premiered in its regular Wednesday time slot at No. 80 after finishing at No. 81 in a preview the night before. And CBS’ new Wednesday show “My Guys” barely got out of the gate at No. 76.

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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 50,064 households.

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Program Network Rating 1. Home Improvement KABC 26.6 2. Seinfeld KNBC 25.3 3. ER KNBC 24.4 4. Friends KNBC 22.6 5. Caroline in the City KNBC 21.1 6. Melrose Place KTTV 17.8 7. Boston Common KNBC 16.9 8. NYPD Blue KABC 16.3 9. The Dana Carvey Show KABC 15.9 10. 3rd Rock From the Sun KNBC 14.7

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Weekly Averages

NBC: 10.3

ABC: 10.0

CBS: 9.7

FOX: 6.5

UPN: 2.6

WB: 2.3

Season to Date

NBC: 11.8

ABC: 10.9

CBS: 9.7

FOX: 7.5

UPN: 3.2

WB: 2.5

Source: A. C. Nielsen