The good news for NBC is that it won an extremely narrow victory in the May sweeps war.
The bad news is that the Peacock used up an awful lot of the ammunition in its arsenal to claim what may turn out to be a hollow victory.Powered by the highly rated finales of "The Cosby Show," "The Golden Girls," "Night Court" and even the last NBC episodes of "In the Heat of the Night" and "Matlock," the Peacock averaged a 12.0 rating and a 21 share over the four weeks of sweeps. CBS was in a virtual tie for first with an 11.9/20 and ABC a bit further back with an 11.6/20.
Fox finished last with a 7.7/13, but it may have had more to celebrate than the Big Three - its ratings were up 20 percent over May 1991.
And not only can losing sometimes be winning, but winning can sometimes be losing. NBC was actually down 2 percent from May 1991, while CBS was up 3 percent and ABC up 7 percent.
The good news for all the networks is that both the three-network and four-network share of the audience was up 3 percent, another indication that the erosion of the network audience may finally have bottomed out. (At least, so the networks hope.)
According to the A.C. Nielsen Co., here were the most-watched shows that aired during May sweeps, their network and rating:
SERIES
1. Roseanne, ABC, 21.3; 2. Murphy Brown, CBS, 20.6; 3. Cosby Show, NBC, 19.6; 4. Cheers, NBC, 19.5; 5. Home Improvement, ABC, 18.5; 6. Coach, ABC, 18.2; 7. 60 Minutes, CBS, 17.1; 8. Designing Women, CBS, 16.9; 9. Northern Exposure, CBS, 16.6; 10. Night Court, NBC, 16.5; 11. Murder, She Wrote, CBS, 15.7; 12. Major Dad, CBS, 15.4; 13. CBS Sunday Movie, CBS, 15.2; 14. Full House, ABC, 15.1; 15. Unsolved Mysteries, NBC, 14.8; 16. Wings, NBC, 14.7; 17. Different World, NBC, 14.6; 18. PrimeTime Live, ABC, 14.5; 19. Golden Girls, NBC, 14.4; 20. L.A. Law, NBC, 14.1
MINISERIES
1. Cruel Doubt, NBC, 16.0; 2. Stay the Night, ABC, 15.9; 3. Intruders, CBS, 12.6; 4. Trial: Price of Passion, NBC, 12.2.
THEATRICAL MOVIES
1. Bird On a Wire, NBC, 15.1. 2. Back to the Future II, ABC, 14.3; 3. Kindergarten Cop, NBC, 12.9; 4. Look Who's Talking, 12.6; 5. Coming to America, CBS, 11.5.
SPECIALS
1. Country Music Awards, NBC, 15.9; 2. Best of Barbara Walters, ABC, 14.2; 3. Jennings: Men, Sex & Rape, ABC, 14.2; 4. Oprah Behind the Scenes, ABC, 14.0; 5. Saturday Night Live: Mothers' Day Special, NBC, 13.1.