Hmm...An overblown action series starring a football player who fell off the cool list about a decade ago -- why didn't someone at Fox have the sense to intercept Lawless (91st) before it hit the airwaves? Viewers apparently knew better; so few watched that the drama -- starring Brian Bosworth as a renegade PI -- got the death penalty after one airing. NBC's classier crime-related show, Law & Order (9th), on the other hand, is holding its own in ER's Thursday slot, even though its second outing lost about 1.7 million viewers from its premiere. While ER's absence is helping CBS' Touched by an Angel attain new heights as TV's current top-rated drama, the show's good fortune didn't help CBS' 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea (27th), which lost 6.4 million viewers from its Angelic lead-in. No doubt ABC is praying its version of the Verne classic (airing this May) will do a better job staying afloat.
TOP 30
VIEWERS* LAST WEEK 1 26.8 SEINFELD (R) NBC, Thursday, 9 p.m. 1 2 22.8 SUDDENLY SUSAN NBC, Thursday, 8:30 p.m. 3 3 22.6 FRIENDS (R) NBC, Thursday, 8 p.m. 2 4 20.4 TOUCHED BY AN ANGEL (R) CBS, Sunday, 8:28 p.m. 5 5 20.1 60 MINUTES CBS, Sunday, 7:28 p.m. 6 6 19.9 THE NAKED TRUTH NBC, Thursday, 9:30 p.m. 4 7 19.6 HOME IMPROVEMENT (R) ABC, Tuesday, 9 p.m. 8 8 18.4 THE X-FILES Fox, Sunday, 9 p.m. 10 9 18.1 LAW & ORDER NBC, Thursday, 10 p.m. 7 10 17.9 20/20 ABC, Friday, 10 p.m. 9 11 17.3 PRIMETIME LIVE ABC, Wednesday, 10 p.m. 12 12 16.8 THE DREW CAREY SHOW ABC, Wednesday, 9 p.m. 15 13 16.5 SPIN CITY ABC, Tuesday, 9:30 p.m. 22 14 16.4 FRASIER (R) NBC, Tuesday, 9 p.m. 14 15 16.3 MOVIE: MILK MONEY NBC, Sunday, 9 p.m. -- 16 15.9 KING OF THE HILL Fox, Sunday, 8:30 p.m. 29 17 15.8 3RD ROCK FROM THE SUN NBC, Sunday, 8 p.m. 21 18 15.3 SABRINA, THE TEENAGE WITCH ABC, Friday, 9 p.m. 20 19 15.2 DATELINE NBC NBC, Sunday, 7 p.m. 49 20 15.1 MOVIE: OUT OF NOWHERE ABC, Sunday, 9 p.m. -- 21 14.8 MAD ABOUT YOU NBC, Tuesday, 8 p.m. 19 22 14.7 CHICAGO HOPE CBS, Monday, 10 p.m. 32 23 14.5 DATELINE NBC NBC, Tuesday, 10 p.m. 11 24 14.3 STEP BY STEP ABC, Friday, 9:30 p.m. 24 25 14.2 CYBILL (R) CBS, Monday, 9 p.m. 31 26 14.1 PROMISED LAND CBS, Tuesday, 8 p.m. 45 27 14.0 COSBY (R) CBS, Monday, 8 p.m. 16 14.0 MOVIE: 20,000 LEAGUES UNDER SEA CBS, Sunday, 9:28 p.m. -- 29 13.8 EVERYBODY LOVES RAYMOND CBS, Monday, 8:30 p.m. 23 30 13.6 DATELINE NBC NBC, Friday, 9 p.m. 17 13.6 WORLD FIGURE SKATING CHAMPIONSHIPS ABC, Saturday, 8 p.m. --
*IN MILLIONS WEEK OF MARCH 17-23, 1997 (R) RERUN SOURCE: NIELSEN MEDIA RESEARCH
