Par hours regain ground; WB's slip

By RICHARD KLEIN

The news was good for Paramount and not-so-good for Warner Bros.' new firstrun hours in national Nielsen syndication standings for the week ending Feb. 7, roughly corresponding to the start of the February sweeps.

Par's "Star Trek: Deep Space Nine" enjoyed the greatest percentage increase among top 10 finishers, correcting its flight 11% and completely erasing its drop-off of the prior round. Studio's "The Untouchables" gained 6% after falling 20% (when 40% of its firstrun airings were opposite the Super Bowl on Sunday, Jan. 31) from its season premiere week rating. Further, the distribs' "Star Trek: The Next Generation" was strong, adding 3%.

New Warner Bros. action entries in their first week airing back-to-back, meanwhile, came down to earth following their two-hour premieres, as "Kung Fu: The Legend Continues" took a 37% slide vs. the 9.6 of its debut, while "Time Trax" fell 25% from its 8.0.

"Deep Space Nine" and "The Next Generation" were one-two in the demo derby, while further back was "Time Trax" in ninth and "Kung Fu" (10th) among adults 18 -49.

Among off-network comedies, Columbia's "Married ... With Children" built on its record ratings a notch, while Viacom's "Roseanne" grew 5% and Turner's "The Wonder Years" (a 4.4 rating) added 7%. Meantime, MGM's "In the Heat of the Night" (3.4) dipped 3% from the prior week's all-time best.

Among talkers, Multimedia's "Sally Jessy Raphael" (5.4) lost 2% following an 18% loss the prior week. Tribune's "Geraldo" maintained its season's peak 5.1 for the third consecutive session. Buena Vista's "Live With Regis & Kathie Lee" (4.6) was down marginally and Multimedia's "Jerry Springer" (2.0) sprouted up 11 % to 2.0 after falling 18% the previous week.

WB's "Jane Whitney Show" (1.5) added 15%, while distrib's "Jenny Jones Show" slipped 4% to 2.2.

In late night, Multimedia's "Rush Limbaugh" added 3% to 3.4, while Par's "Arsenio Hall" was again flat at a 2.8 and Genesis' "The Whoopi Goldberg Show" held its troubled 1.6.

Fox Children's Network's "Batman: The Animated Series" delivered an all-time best 8.1 rating with kids 2-11 (up 11%) and continued as the most popular weekday children's entry, followed by Buena Vista's "Goof Troop" at 7.0 (a 1% differential).