‘Boston’ Helps Nbc Top Ratings

NBC debuted its midseason comedy “Boston Common” at No. 3 and landed five other Thursday comedies in the Top 10 to squeak past ABC in the Nielsen ratings.

For the week of March 18-24, NBC finished with a 10.8 rating and an 18 percent share of the audience. ABC was just four-tenths of a point back, with a 10.4 rating, 17 share.

Third-place CBS was well off the pace, with a 9.6 rating, 16 share, and the Fox network had a 7.2 rating, 12 share programming on only 15 of the 22 prime-time hours.

Listings include the week’s ranking, with rating for the week, season-to-date rankings in parentheses, and total homes.

An “X” in parentheses denotes one-time-only presentation. A rating measures the percentage of the nation’s 95.9 million TV homes. Each rating point represents 959,000 households.

1. (3) “Friends,” NBC, 19.9, 19.1 million homes.

2. (2) “Seinfeld,” NBC, 19.3, 18.5 million homes.

3. (5) “Boston Common,” NBC, 17.6, 16.9 million homes.

4. (4) “Caroline in the City,” NBC, 16.6, 15.9 million homes.

5. (1) “ER,” NBC, 15.1, 14.5 million homes.

6. (8) “Home Improvement,” ABC, 14.2, 13.6 million homes.

7. (16) “NBC Monday Night Movies: The Ultimate Lie,” NBC, 14.0, 13.4 million homes.

8. (9) “60 Minutes,” CBS, 13.7, 13.1 million homes.

9. (11) “20/20,” ABC, 12.9, 12.4 million homes.

10. (10) “NYPD Blue,” ABC, 12.8, 12.3 million homes.