Major Networks’ Prime-Time Ratings Dip--Again : Television: Despite a few hits, the Big Three find nothing to brag about as final season Nielsen numbers are released.

“ER” provided the pizazz, “60 Minutes” was in the Top 10 for the 18th consecutive year and ABC won most of the viewers--but the 1994-95 network prime-time season was nothing to crow about, final season statistics showed Tuesday.

Thanks mostly to a collapse by CBS, which lost more than 21% of its share of the audience from a year ago, the three networks slipped significantly in their total percentage of viewers in the 30-week, so-called official season that ended Sunday.

Last season, the Big Three--ABC, CBS and NBC--attracted 61% of the TV audience. In 1994-95, that figure dropped to 57%, even as NBC spiced the action with such talked-about hits as “Seinfeld” and “ER,” which finished No. 1 and 2 for the season, in addition to “Friends” and “Frasier.”

The drop, reported by Nielsen Media Research, came after the networks--buoyed, ironically, by a CBS comeback in the last three years--appeared to have stabilized their sharp slump against increasing television alternatives, primarily cable.

But there were other, more serious ramifications than the fall from grace of CBS, previously No. 1. And this centered around the loss of a regular flow of blockbuster special programming that draws vast audiences.

While they were not to blame, the four major networks, including Fox, this season were without several of the few remaining major events that create audience momentum--last year’s Winter Olympics and the World Series, which was wiped out by the baseball strike.

Some observers also believe that cable may have cut a bit into the network audience with its heavy coverage of the O.J. Simpson case on various channels.

Furthermore, although sponsors were pleased by the networks’ increasing pursuit of the desired 18-to-49-year-old audience, the second-rank status now imposed on older and younger viewers robs traditional TV of loyal watchers at a time when the industry needs all the tune-in it can get.

With cable joined by the tiny new direct broadcast satellite dishes, computers and other developing technology, the 18-to-49 philosophy is painting the networks into a corner where sponsors come first and a huge, left-out audience is second.

And with networks such as top-ranked ABC boasting about their heavy reliance on regular series, primarily for financial reasons, the increasing loss of major events--once epitomized by such miniseries as “Roots” and “The Winds of War”--is probably a further inducement for many viewers to seek out the alternative TV choices.

In this scenario, the networks, which once preempted more liberally for news and special broadcasts, will find themselves with an audience restricted by age and repetitive, similar series while the new world of TV beckons like a vast electronic newsrack. As networks become more predictable and limited, so will programming.

Back in that limited world of ratings and desirable sponsor demographics, ABC, as predicted last fall, won the season in virtually all major categories, although onrushing NBC stole its thunder and displaced “Home Improvement” as the No. 1 series, sending it to No. 3 among 146 shows.

ABC was first in households, adults 18-to-49 and total viewers. For the season, ABC averaged a 12 rating and 20% of the audience; NBC had an 11.5 and 19% and CBS an 11.1 and 18%. (One rating point equals 954,000 households.)

CBS’ 18% share was disastrous because last season it averaged 23%. In the wake of CBS’ problems, rumors have arisen again of a possible sale of the network; the company’s Broadcast Group president, Howard Stringer, left for another job, leading to a top-level executive shake-up; and the organization’s first-quarter earnings dropped 68%.

For the season, the Top 10 series were “Seinfeld,” “ER,” “Home Improvement,” “Grace Under Fire,” “Monday Night Football,” “60 Minutes,” “NYPD Blue,” “Friends,” “Roseanne” and “Murder, She Wrote.”

Advocates of the 18-to-49 focus point out “Murder, She Wrote” as a reason why. While the series ranked in the Top 10 in total households, it plummeted to No. 80 with the 18-to-49 audience. Other examples: “Beverly Hills, 90210” was No. 46 in total households but No. 17 with the 18-to-49 set. And “Melrose Place” was 63rd in total households but 21st with the 18-to-49ers.

One show that can’t seem to pick up ratings respect, despite its two consecutive Emmys as best drama series, is CBS’ “Picket Fences.” Last season, it ranked 66th in total homes, and in 1994-95 it could do no better than 64th.

In other highlights of the 1994-95 season, CBS reported that it had the two highest-rated movies when it brought back a couple of old favorites: “The Rockford Files: I Still Love L.A.” and “Cagney & Lacey: The Return.”

“Murphy Brown” slipped a bit this season--from 11th place last year to 16th. “Frasier,” which challenged “Home Improvement” head-on, did quite well considering the competition; although it was No. 7 last season, it was still a potent No. 15 this time around, helping NBC build a new base on Tuesday nights.

One of the beneficiaries of the “Frasier” move was “The John Larroquette Show,” which follows it. Last season, without the potent “Frasier” lead-in, it was No. 88. This time around, “Frasier” helped propel the “Larroquette” sitcom to No. 45.

Despite NBC’s big moves on Thursday with “ER” and “Seinfeld” and on Tuesday with “Frasier,” ABC’s victory was still convincing. ABC won or tied in the ratings for total households in 21 of the 30 weeks. It also dominated Mondays, Tuesdays, Wednesdays and Fridays.

In addition, in the 18-to-49 category that now has captured the networks, ABC had a 38% advantage over CBS (last in this demographic), a 35% margin over Fox but only a 6% lead over NBC, which seems to have thrown virtually all its resources and promotion to this age group that pays off on Madison Avenue.

Fox, meanwhile, with its expansion to seven nights a week, quietly continues to pick up viewers. It was up 7% in total homes this season and 8% with the 18-to-49 audience.

The total household competition since last season offers these figures as well: NBC was up 5%, ABC down 3% and CBS, of course, plummeted more than 21%. Worse than that drop, CBS also lost 28% of its 18-to-49 viewers.

There’ll be some changes made.