Let Them Eat Crow

It was almost like old times--distressingly so. There in the Nielsen top ten last week were the old familiar faces, from NBC's Bonanza, in first place for the second year, to Gomer Pyle, The Farmer's Daughter, Lucy, Dick Van Dyke, The Beverly Hillbillies, Walt Disney and Bewitched. There was Red Skelton, now in his 12th year and ranked No. 6. And back into the lead surged CBS,* which is still indebted to its fired ex-president, James Aubrey, for almost all of its current programming, including six out of the top nine.

What of the new blood? Not one new show had made the top ten, but CBS still managed to look good. Its new series, Green Acres, ranked eleventh, and its Hogan's Heroes was tied for 13th position with still another Aubrey oldie, Gilligan's Island. NBC's top new show, Get Smart!, which in earlier Nielsens had reached No. 7, slipped last week to No. 16. Only seven other new shows were in the top 50.

NBC, which had been on top since the season began, noted that it is now tied with CBS on a cumulative basis.

ABC, in third place, pointed out that it is closing the gap. So which network is really winning? Actually, none. When the Nielsens of prime-time programs are averaged, they show that 1,900,000 fewer people are watching the typical show this fall than last. Comparing just the new programs of the two seasons, the listenership loss is 2,800,000. This should give TV programmers little to crow about considering that, since last year, the number of U.S. households with TV sets has jumped by 1,200,000.

*With a 19.3 rating to NBC's 18.1 and ABC's 17.5. Each point represents approximately 1,120,000 viewers.

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