FALLING INTO 'PLACE'

Melrose Place moved to Monday and brought its demographically desirable audience with it. Though the show finished 36th (losing to the top 20 season premieres of CBS' The Nanny and Dave's World), Melrose cleaned up among viewers 18-49. Fox's new serials Party of Five (53rd) and Models Inc. (68th) are struggling, but its surging sci-fi series The X-Files (34th, tied with Lois & Clark) bested CBS' new Under Suspicion (40th). Several new shows benefitted from previews in cushy time slots: ABC's Margaret Cho sitcom All American Girl (2nd), CBS' hospital drama Chicago Hope (6th), and NBC's The Martin Short Show (10th). On PBS, the first night of Ken Burns' Baseball fell short of The Civil War's numbers. Last Week Viewers* Top 20 1 29.8 Home Improvement (R) ABC, Wednesday, 9 p.m. 1 2 25.3 All American Girl ABC, Wednesday, 9:30 p.m. - 3 24.4 Frasier (R) NBC, Thursday, 9:49 p.m. 6 4 24.3 Seinfeld (R) NBC, Thursday, 9:19 p.m. 4 5 22.8 Football: Bears vs. Eagles ABC, Monday, 9 p.m. - 6 22.5 Chicago Hope CBS, Sunday, 8 p.m. - 7 21.4 Home Improvement (R) ABC, Wednesday, 8 p.m. - 8 20.9 Miss America Pageant NBC, Saturday, 10 p.m. - 20.9 Roseanne (R) ABC, Tuesday, 9 p.m. 5 10 20.8 The Martin Short Show NBC, Thursday, 8:30 p.m. - 20.8 20/20 ABC, Friday, 10 p.m. 13 12 20.4 Thunder Alley ABC, Wednesday, 8:30 p.m. - 13 20.3 60 Minutes CBS, Sunday, 7 p.m. 10 14 20.2 Primetime Live ABC, Thursday, 10 p.m. 24 15 19.5 Movie: A Perfect Stranger NBC, Monday, 9 p.m. - 16 19.4 Ellen (R) ABC, Tuesday, 9:30 p.m. 8 17 19.1 Seaquest DSV NBC, Sunday, 9 p.m. - 18 18.9 Seinfeld (R) NBC, Thursday, 8 p.m. - 19 18.3 Dave's World CBS, Monday, 8:30 p.m. 28 20 17.6 The Nanny CBS, Monday, 8 p.m. 28 Bottom 10 74 9.7 Cops (R) Fox, Saturday, 8:30 p.m. 70 9.7 Dr. Quinn, medicine woman (R) CBS, Saturday, 8 p.m. 54 9.7 My So-Called Life ABC, Thursday, 8 p.m. 72 77 9.5 New York Undercover Fox, Thursday, 9:19 p.m. 46 78 9.3 America's Most Wanted Fox, Saturday, 9 p.m. 73 79 9.2 M.A.N.T.I.S. Fox, Friday, 8 p.m. 68 80 9.0 She TV ABC, Tuesday, 10 p.m. 54 81 8.8 Cops Fox, Saturday, 8 p.m. 78 82 8.2 Fortune Hunter Fox, Sunday, 7 p.m. 71 83 8.0 Sports Illustrated 40th anniv. NBC, Wednesday,10 p.m. - 84 7.5 Movie: Bonanza: the return (R) NBC, Friday, 9 p.m. - 85 7.0 Back to Bonanza (R) NBC, Friday, 8 p.m. - *In millions Week of september 12-18, 1994 (r) Rerun