Ratings Archives: Week of June 1, 1998

It has been a while since I last posted a USA TODAY archived ratings chart. The "day job" has been keeping me pretty busy since the beginning of 2014. But, I have the chance to share one week with you, so here we go.

Like most months of June, the NBA Finals are the dominate programming choice of summer viewers. The 1998 finals, then on NBC, took the top three spots, leading NBC to an easy weekly win. The three NBA games averaged over 26 million viewers and 30 share.

With the games and NBC's regular line up, the network captured the top 9 od the top 10 spots of the week, and 14 of the top 20.

ABC and CBS battled it out for the second spot, with CBS getting the better weekly average. ABC capture more top 20 programs, placing four shows on the chart, lead by the network's News Division. For CBS, only 60 MINUTES and  TOUCHED BY AN ANGEL made the top 20.

The WEB topped UPN for the battle of the Netlets. The WB is programming four nights (Sunday - Wednesday), while  UPN is still just placing shows on a Monday through Wednesday schedule.


The 1998 TONY AWARDS aired on CBS and the ratings were relatively similar to today's ratings. in 1998, just under 12 million viewers tuned to the Sunday night wards show, placing 22nd on the week. in 2014, the TONY AWARDS hauled in 7.1 million viewers, but placed 8th in it's week.

In repeat comparisons, SEINFELD was the top regular series of the week, back in June of 1998, placing 5th and getting 17.4 million viewers for it's summer repeat. For the week of June 2, 2014, THE BIG BANG THEORY was the top rerun series, placing 4th, with 8.8 million viewers.

The week's five least watched programs were:

5) THE SENTINEL (UPN) - 2.2 million
4) SISTER, SISTER (WB) - 1.9 million
3) CLUELESS (UPN) - 1.7 million
1) KELLY, KELLY (WB) - 1.6 million
1) CLUELESS (UPN) - 1.6 million viewers

Nielsen Broadcast ratings chart for the week of June 1, 1998.