NEW YORK -- CBS held on to its seasonlong frontrunner status with another narrow ratings win last week.
Generally, it was business as usual as "ER" came in first and NBC's other four Thursday series were nestled in the top eight, according to Nielsen Media Research figures released this week.ABC's "Monday Night Football" took seventh place, while CBS's "60 Minutes" tied for fifth with NBC's drama "Law & Order."
Overall, CBS won for the week of Dec. 13-19, with an average prime-time audience of 13 million viewers (a 9.0 household rating, 15 share). NBC ranked second with 12.9 million viewers (8.9, 15) and ABC had 10.4 million viewers (7.2, 12).
Fox had an average prime-time audience of 8.3 million viewers (5.5 rating, 9 share).
Inching back above UPN after two weeks, the WB had 3.7 million viewers (2.7 rating, 4 share), while UPN had 3.6 million viewers (2.5 rating, 4 share).
The fledgling Pax network had 1.0 million viewers (0.8 rating, 1 share).
NBC's "Nightly News" won the evening news competition with 11.3 million viewers (8.4 rating, 17 share). ABC's "World News Tonight" had 10.7 million viewers (7.8 rating, 16 share), while the "CBS Evening News" had 9.2 million viewers (6.9 rating, 14 share).
A rating point represents 1,008,000 households or 1 percent of the nation's estimated 100.8 million TV homes. The share is the percentage of in-use televisions tuned to a given show.
For the week of Dec. 13-19, the top 30-positioned shows, their networks and ratings were: 1. "ER," NBC, 20.0; 2. "Frasier," NBC, 19.0; 3. "Friends," NBC, 15.0; 4. "Stark Raving Mad," NBC, 14.1; 5. (tie) "60 Minutes," CBS, and "Law & Order," NBC, both 13.4; 7."NFL Monday Night Football: Denver at Jacksonville," ABC, 13.3; 8."Jesse," NBC, 13.2; 9. "Everybody Loves Raymond," CBS, 12.2; 10. "CBS Sunday Movie: Miracle on the 17th Green," CBS, and "Touched By an Angel," CBS, both 11.4.
12. "Judging Amy," CBS, 11.3; 13. "Becker," CBS, 11.2; 14. "JAG," CBS, 11.0; 15. "Providence," NBC, 10.6; 16. "NFL Monday Showcase," ABC, 10.0; 17. (tie) "Ally McBeal," Fox, and "West Wing," NBC, both 9.9; 19. "The Drew Carey Show," ABC, 9.7; 20. "King of Queens," CBS, 9.5.
21. "Dateline" (Monday), NBC, 9.3; 22. "Dateline" (Wednesday), NBC, 9.2; 23. "Dateline" (Friday), NBC, 9.1; 24. (tie) "Dateline" (Tuesday), NBC, "Family Law," CBS, and "Frasier" (Tuesday), NBC, all 9.0; 27. "Dharma & Greg," ABC, 8.8; 28. "Ladies Man," CBS, 8.7; 29. (tie) "60 Minutes II," CBS, and "Norm," ABC, both 8.6.