TV RATINGS : ‘Seinfeld’ Uses Combination to Beat CBS’ ‘Scarlett’

Scarlett? Rhett? No, it was Jerry that viewers were clamoring for last week--Jerry Seinfeld. Two episodes of his NBC comedy series scored a decisive one-two punch in the national A.C. Nielsen Co. ratings released Tuesday, while the concluding three installments of CBS’ miniseries “Scarlett,” which started out at No. 1 the week before, finished at Nos. 7, 8 and 10.

While “Scarlett” didn’t deliver blockbuster numbers, it did well enough to boost CBS to a first-place finish among the networks for the week. CBS, which got off to a slow start this fall in its effort to win a fourth consecutive prime-time crown, has now narrowed the gap with front-running ABC to one-tenth of a point.

NBC, meanwhile, has been losing ground in the last few weeks--”Seinfeld” notwithstanding. Its new science-fiction series “Earth 2,” which lost 33% of its audience after the first week, dropped another 16% in its third outing.

Fox’s strongest series continues to be “Beverly Hills, 90210,” which finished 43rd among last week’s 84 prime-time network programs.

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.

Program Station Rating 1. Seinfeld KNBC 21.2 2. Roseanne KABC 20.5 3. Seinfeld (9:30 p.m.) KNBC 20.1 4. Home Improvement (8 p.m.) KABC 19.9 5. Beverly Hills, 90210 KTTV 18.3 6. Home Improvement KABC 17.8 7. NYPD Blue KABC 17.7 8. 60 Minutes KCBS 17.0 9. ER KNBC 16.7 10. Ellen KABC 16.7

Weekly Averages

CBS: 14.3 ABC: 12.5 NBC: 11.4 FOX: 8.0

Season to Date

ABC: 12.2 CBS: 12.1 NBC: 11.6 FOX: 7.8 Source: A.C. Nielsen