ABC's heavily hyped ''event series'' Wild Palms looks to be a non-event with viewers. The sci-fi mindblower's two-hour premiere got blown away on May 16, placing 25th behind CBS' Cybill Shepherd movie There Was a Little Boy (12th) and Fox's Married With Children (22nd). Palms did edge out part one of NBC's Tatum O'Neal movie, Woman on the Run (35th), but viewership was expected to decline over the series' ensuing three nights. ABC gambled by inserting the dense, difficult Palms into its crucial May sweeps, and it now appears the network will lose the sweeps to NBC due to the show's lackluster performance.
May also means ratings-boosting series finales, and The Wonder Years (11th) and Knots Landing (12th) are the latest two shows to leave on a high note. Next on tap: Cheers. VIEWERS* TOP TEN LAST WEEK 1 33.0 Home Improvement 1 ABC, Wednesday, 9 p.m. 2 29.5 Cheers 2 NBC, Thursday, 9 p.m. 3 27.6 Seinfeld - NBC, Thursday, 9:30 p.m. 4 27.0 Home Improvement - ABC, Tuesday, 9:30 p.m. 27.0 Roseanne 5 ABC, Tuesday, 9 p.m. 6 25.8 The Tommyknockers, part 2 - ABC, Monday, 9 p.m. 7 24.5 Coach 3 ABC, Wednesday, 9:30 p.m. 8 24.2 Murder, She Wrote 6 CBS, Sunday, 8 p.m. 9 23.4 60 minutes 8 CBS, Sunday, 7 p.m. 10 21.6 The 28th Annual Academy of Country Music Awards - NBC, Tuesday, 8 p.m.
BOTTOM FIVE 81 6.9 Sightings 72 Fox, Friday, 9 p.m. 82 6.2 Sightings 82 Fox, Friday, 9:30 p.m. 83 5.2 Dudley - CBS, Friday, 8 p.m. 84 3.7 1968: 25th anniversary - Fox, Tuesday, 9 p.m. 85 3.6 Class of '96 89 Fox, Tuesday, 8 p.m. *In millions Week of May 10-16
