‘The Wedding’ Proves Olympian for Winfrey, ABC

When it comes to winning ratings gold, Oprah Winfrey still has the Midas touch. As proof, the talk-show host’s latest producing effort for ABC, “The Wedding,” plowed through the Olympic closing ceremonies Sunday, according to results issued Tuesday by Nielsen Media Research.

“The Wedding,” starring Halle Berry, joins Winfrey’s last production, “Before Women Had Wings,” as one of this season’s five highest-rated made-for-TV movies. The union of “The Wedding” and “Casper” put ABC on top Sunday night, marking the first second-place finish for Olympic coverage in a decade.

The Winter Games clearly proved a ratings disappointment, falling 15% short of the level CBS had guaranteed advertisers; still, the Olympics also won 16 straight nights before Sunday, gave CBS an unassailable lead in the February sweeps and last week attracted more viewers than NBC and ABC combined. Fox--buoyed by its Sunday lineup and the movies “Sister Act 2,” “The Mask” and “Speed”--snagged second place.

CBS’ coverage peaked with Friday’s skating competition, dropping ABC’s “20/20” to a season-low Friday rating despite an exclusive interview with Bernard Lewinsky, the father of Monica Lewinsky.

(BEGIN TEXT OF INFOBOX / INFOGRAPHIC)

Network Averages

Here is the number of viewers that each network averaged per hour of prime time, for last week and for the season.

Last Week

CBS: 24.35 million

FOX: 13.08

ABC: 12.19

NBC: 11.90

WB: 4.78

UPN: 3.41

*

Season to Date

NBC: 15.32 million

CBS: 14.69

ABC: 12.62

FOX: 10.81

WB: 4.50

UPN: 4.16

Southland Viewing

Here are Nielsen’s Top 10 prime-time programs in the Los Angeles area during the same week. The rankings are based on the number of households watching.

*--*

Program Station Households 1. 60 Minutes KCBS 911,680 2. “The Wedding” KABC 906,671 3. Seinfeld KNBC 901,661 4. Winter Olympics (Sat.) KCBS 661,588 5. The X-Files KTTV 611,495 6. Friends KNBC 791,458 7. “Greatest Police Chases 4” KTTV 766,412 8. ER KNBC 746,375 9. Veronica’s Closet KNBC 666,228 10. “Surviving Moment of Impact” KTTV 651,200 3rd Rock From the Sun KNBC 651,200

*--*