Ratings Archives: Week of April 6, 1998

The USA Today was a little confused what the dates of the previous week really were. In 1998, April 6 was on a Monday, but for some reason, they thought the week started on April 4. If you remember, the previous posting was the week of March 30, 1998.

Now, on to the ratings.
The Thursday night line up was all original episodes and took the top 5 spots. ER led the way with just under 31 million viewers and a 20.7 household rating. SEINFELD was just behind, in the #2 position, with 29.6 million viewers. JUST SHOOT ME was the lowest rated program of the night, for NBC, with 20 million viewers.

In addition to the Must See TV lineup, NBC placed another three programs in the top 20. FRASIER, on Tuesday nights, placed 8th with 15.9 million viewers.

With the strength of its line up in originals, NBC won the week with a 8.8 rating, topping #2 CBS by eight tenths of a ratings point.  ABC, once again, follows up in third place with a 7.4 average ratings and FOX cleans up in 4th place with a 6.2 rating.

The WB holds of UPN to take the distant 5th spot, as the two smaller networks draw a 2.7 and 2.3 ratings, respectively.

The Sunday of this week was the Easter holiday and ABC gave us the traditional airing of the epic movie THE TEN COMMANDMENTS. The four hour movie drew 13.8 million viewersIt averages as the #2 program in each hour, with CBS taking each hour of the night.

Nielsen Broadcast ratings chart for the week of April 6, 1998.