Before "Seinfeld" slips off into television history, NBC is making the most of its comic appeal.
The Peacock network aired two "Seinfeld" episodes that were the top two rated programs in prime time last week, helping power NBC to victory in the Nielsen Media Research rankings.NBC led for the week with a 9.6 rating and 16 share, according to Nielsen. CBS was second with an 8.8 rating and 15 share, followed by ABC's 8.1 rating and 14 share and Fox's 6.7 rating and 11 share.
Reasoning that rehashed comedy scores better than drama reruns, NBC plugged "Seinfeld" and "Frasier" episodes into the "ER" time slot last Thursday and billed it as a special night of comedy. A third "Seinfeld" repeat ran on Wednesday.
Fox's freshman "Ally McBeal" continues to build into a hit. It was the network's top-rated show for the week and won its Monday night time slot for the first time.
In its second week, ABC's "Two Guys, a Girl and a Pizza Place" finished a solid 24th in the rankings but saw its audience drop ominously to 13 million from nearly 18 million the week before.
Fox's new comedy "Damon" finished 34th for the week at its premier, but that was still better than Fox's new drama "Significant Others," which was the network's lowest-rated show for the week.
Among the emerging networks, the WB ran its winning streak to 16 straight weeks with a 3.3 rating and 5 share compared to UPN's 2.3 rating and 4 share.
A rating point represents 980,000 households, or 1 percent of the nation's estimated 98 million TV homes. Share is the percentage of in-use televisions tuned to a given show.
The "NBC Nightly News" won the evening news competition with an 8.5 rating and 17 share. ABC's "World News Tonight" was second with an 8.0 rating and 16 share, followed by the "CBS Evening News" at 7.7 and 16.
For the week of March 16-22, the top 20 shows, their networks and ratings were: 1. "Seinfeld," NBC, 20.8; 2. "Seinfeld" special, NBC, 16.3; 3. "Friends," NBC, 15.9; 4. (tie) "Caroline in the City" special, NBC, and "Just Shoot Me," NBC, 15.7; 6. (tie) "Frasier" special, NBC, and "60 Minutes," CBS, 14.2; 8. "CBS Sunday Movie: It Could Happen to You," CBS, 14.0; 9. "Touched By an Angel," CBS, 12.9; 10. (tie) "Dateline NBC" (Monday) and "Dateline NBC" (Wednesday), 12.1.