On the week of its 150th birthday, Fox's Melrose Place is beginning to show a few age spots. While two-hour episodes usually cause a spike in ratings, this week's anniversary special (52nd) lost about 800,000 viewers from last week. Though the show has successfully reassembled itself after the creative catastrophe that was last season, Melrose is averaging about 1.4 million fewer viewers so far this season. Maybe Sydney needs to take another job as a stripper. The O.J. verdict and the State of the Union address caused a Tuesday-night ratings anomaly on all networks; UPN's lineup, including Moesha (75th), got an unexpected boost. With Fox and ABC fighting for second place in the key adults 18-49 demo, the Alphabet took a page from the fourth network's reality-themed specials strategy and scored big with I Survived a Disaster (20th).
TOP 30
VIEWERS* LAST WEEK 1 33.8 SEINFELD NBC, Thursday, 9 p.m. 2 2 33.3 ER NBC, Thursday, 10 p.m. 1 3 28.9 FRIENDS NBC, Thursday, 8 p.m. 3 4 25.2 THE SINGLE GUY NBC, Thursday, 8:30 p.m. 6 25.2 THE NAKED TRUTH NBC, Thursday, 9:30 p.m. 4 6 21.9 TOUCHED BY AN ANGEL CBS, Sunday, 8 p.m. 8 7 21.3 MOVIE: WILLIAM FAULKNER'S OLD MAN CBS, Sunday, 9 p.m. -- 8 21.1 60 MINUTES CBS, Sunday, 7 p.m. 14 9 19.1 20/20 ABC, Friday, 10 p.m. 11 19.1 THE X-FILES Fox, Sunday, 9 p.m. 7 11 18.3 MOVIE: CLEAR AND PRESENT DANGER ABC, Monday, 8 p.m. -- 12 18.2 THE DREW CAREY SHOW ABC, Wednesday, 9 p.m. 14 13 17.0 DATELINE NBC NBC, Friday, 9 p.m. 26 17.0 WALKER, TEXAS RANGER CBS, Saturday, 10 p.m. 22 15 16.9 NBA ALL-STAR GAME NBC, Sunday, 6:38 p.m. -- 16 16.2 COSBY CBS, Monday, 8 p.m. 24 17 15.7 THE SIMPSONS Fox, Sunday, 8 p.m. 21 18 15.6 DIAGNOSIS MURDER CBS, Thursday, 8 p.m. 25 19 15.5 ELLEN ABC, Wednesday, 9:30 p.m. 32 20 15.3 SABRINA, THE TEENAGE WITCH ABC, Friday, 9 p.m. 27 15.3 I SURVIVED A DISASTER ABC, Sunday, 8 p.m. -- 15.3 KING OF THE HILL Fox, Sunday, 8:30 p.m. 12 23 15.2 MOVIE: SEDUCTION IN A SMALL TOWN ABC, Sunday, 9 p.m. -- 24 15.0 LAW & ORDER NBC, Wednesday, 10 p.m. -- 25 14.9 PRIMETIME LIVE ABC, Wednesday, 10 p.m. 48 26 14.6 CHICAGO HOPE CBS, Monday, 10 p.m. 76 14.6 UNSOLVED MYSTERIES NBC, Friday, 8 p.m. 29 28 14.4 BOY MEETS WORLD ABC, Friday, 8:30 p.m. 37 29 14.3 MURPHY BROWN CBS, Monday, 9 p.m. 65 14.3 CYBILL CBS, Monday, 9:30 p.m. 55
*IN MILLIONS WEEK OF FEBRUARY 3-9, 1997 (R) RERUN SOURCE: NIELSEN MEDIA RESEARCH
