Ratings Archives: Week of December 29, 1997

Another year closes, the holidays are hitting a high. But, The USA TODAY does not have a complete weekly report for the week of December 29, 1997. We don't have the weekly network average for NBC. (If you want to really know, you can do the math for all the NBC shows on this list. Then, please, post what you find in the comments section.) Part of the reason is that NBC does take a hit on New Year's Day, Thursday, and all of its top shows take a back seat to ABC and the College Bowl games.

The ROSE BOWL POSTGAME show is officially the #1 program of the week, but it is only on for 16 minutes, between the Rose Bowl and The Sugar Bowl games. So, I consider the #1 show of this week to be TOUCHED BY AN ANGEL. The feel good drama pulled in 25.4 million viewers and a 24 share of the audience.  The #2 program was the program that lead into TOUCHED, 60 MINUTES. These two programs, plus the ORANGE BOWL lead CBS to a weekly victory, probably even topping NBC.

Of the prime time bowl games, the ORANGE BOWL topped them all with 19.7 million viewers, on January 2nd. The New Year's Day SUGAE BOWL was next with 17.4 million viewers. If ratings for the ROSE BOWL had been reported, It would have easily been the #1 game, with about 30 million viewers (Basrd on the post game's 27.8 million viewers).

If you think rock bottom ratings are something new to the BIG four networks, think again. ABC aired the special CELEBRATION OF AMERICA'S MUSIC on Saturday, January 3rd. It drew a meager 2.8 million viewers and a 4 share. Only a few WB and UPN shows drew smaller audiences.

Nielsen Broadcast ratings chart for the week of December 29, 1997