TV Ratings : NBC Looks to Have Clinched February Sweeps Win

NBC virtually locked up victory in the February ratings sweeps with another prime-time win last week, including a 1-2-3 finish by its Thursday powerhouse lineup of “ER,” “Seinfeld” and “Friends.”

The sweeps, one of the key periods during the year that help determine advertising rates, don’t end until tonight, but NBC executives declared Tuesday that they couldn’t be overtaken. ABC continues to lead for the season.

According to figures released Tuesday by the A.C. Nielsen Co., NBC got Top 20 showings last week from “Frasier,” “Mad About You” and the concluding installments of its miniseries “A Woman of Independent Means.”

But its Sunday movie “Op Center” was edged out by CBS’ “Children of the Dust” with Sidney Poitier (although “Op Center” did better among the 18-49 crowd). ABC’s rerun of the Oscar-winning “Dances With Wolves” not only lost to them but also to a double-dose of Fox’s “Married . . . With Children.”

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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.

Program Network Rating 1. ER KNBC 22.2 2. Seinfeld KNBC 21.4 Home Improvement KABC 21.4 4. Friends KNBC 20.3 5. Frasier KNBC 19.5 6. 60 Minutes KCBS 18.7 7. Friends (special) KNBC 18.5 8. “A Woman of Ind. Means” KNBC 18.4 9. 20/20 KABC 17.9 10. Simpsons KTTV 17.4

Weekly Averages

NBC: 13.3 CBS: 11.6 ABC: 11.3 FOX: 8.3 UPN: 4.1 WB: 2.0

Season to Date

ABC: 12.2 NBC: 11.6 CBS: 11.5 FOX: 7.8 UPN: 5.1 WB: 2.0