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As Christmas approached, people saw fit to spend the holidays interacting with real human beings instead of sitting in front of the tube watching reruns. As a result, viewership was down significantly Christmas week, giving the few first-run shows -- Fox's The Simpsons (15th) and ABC's returning Coach (24th) -- the gift of unusually high ratings. (Coach's move from a deadly Saturday slot to a night when people actually watch TV -- Wednesday -- may be what's really making a difference.) NBC used stunt scheduling to its advantage: Nestled snugly in Thursday's Must See lineup, the usually ratings-challenged macho fest Men Behaving Badly (5th) nearly tied with Friends, and the normally overlooked NewsRadio (7th) hung its stocking in the top 10 for the first time this season.
TOP 15, DEC. 23-29
VIEWERS* LAST WEEK 1 22.4 SEINFELD (R) NBC, Thursday, 9 p.m. 2 2 19.6 60 MINUTES (R) CBS, Sunday, 7 p.m. 17 3 19.1 ER (R) NBC, Thursday, 10 p.m. 1 4 18.5 FOOTBALL: LIONS VS. 49ERS ABC, Monday, 9 p.m. -- 5 18.0 FRIENDS (R) NBC, Thursday, 8 p.m. 4 6 17.8 MEN BEHAVING BADLY (R) NBC, Thursday, 9:30 p.m. -- 7 17.4 20/20 ABC, Friday, 10 p.m. 14 17.4 TOUCHED BY AN ANGEL (R) CBS, Sunday, 8 p.m. 9 9 16.4 THE SINGLE GUY (R) NBC, Thursday, 8:30 p.m. -- 10 16.3 MOVIE: DIE HARD 2 (R) CBS, Sunday, 9 p.m. -- 11 15.6 SABRINA THE TEENAGE WITCH (R) ABC, Friday, 9p.m. 29 12 15.3 THE X-FILES (R) Fox, Sunday, 9 p.m. 31 13 14.9 3RD ROCK FROM THE SUN (R) NBC, Sunday, 8 p.m. 51 14 14.8 MOVIE: SCENT OF A WOMAN (R) ABC, Sunday, 8 p.m. -- 15 14.4 THE DREW CAREY SHOW (R) ABC, Wednesday, 9 p.m. 10 14.4 THE SIMPSONS Fox, Sunday, 8 p.m. 57
TOP 15, DEC. 16-22 1 34.3 ER NBC, Thursday, 10 p.m. 1 2 29.7 SEINFELD NBC, Thursday, 9 p.m. 2 3 25.3 SUDDENLY SUSAN NBC, Thursday, 9:30 p.m. 4 4 21.6 FRIENDS (R) NBC, Thursday, 8 p.m. 3 5 21.1 HOME IMPROVEMENT ABC, Tuesday, 9 p.m. 6 6 20.8 FOOTBALL: BILLS VS. DOLPHINS ABC, Monday, 9 p.m. -- 7 20.3 NEWSRADIO NBC, Thursday, 8:30 p.m. -- 8 19.1 MOVIE: SISTER ACT (R) NBC, Sunday, 9 p.m. -- 9 18.6 TOUCHED BY AN ANGEL ABC, Sunday, 8 p.m. 9 10 18.5 THE DREW CAREY SHOW ABC, Wednesday, 9 p.m. 37 11 17.8 NYPD BLUE ABC, Tuesday, 10 p.m. 10 12 17.6 MOVIE: UNLIKELY ANGEL CBS, Tuesday, 9 p.m. -- 13 17.4 WALKER, TEXAS RANGER CBS, Saturday, 10 p.m. 15 14 17.3 20/20 ABC, Friday, 10 p.m. 10 15 17.0 MOVIE: STAND AGAINST FEAR NBC, Monday, 9 p.m. --
*IN MILLIONS (R) RERUN SOURCE: NIELSEN MEDIA RESEARCH
