Reagan mourning aids 'Morning'

ABC soaps beat Eye sudsers for first time since '94

By PAMELA MCCLINTOCK

NEW YORK -- With normal viewership disrupted by Ronald Reagan memorial coverage last week, ABC News' "Good Morning America" achieved its closest margin with NBC News' "Today" in almost eight years.

According to Nielsen Media Research, 500,000 viewers separated "GMA" from "Today" (4.8 million vs. 5.3 million). Typically, 1 million viewers or more separate the shows.

In the key 25-54 news demo, "Today" delivered a 2.1 rating and "GMA" a 1.7.

TV execs cautioned that ratings for last week were skewed by the intense news coverage of Reagan's death. All three morning newsshows were preempted at certain points with news specials.

CBS News' "The Early Show," which didn't air on Friday because of Reagan news, delivered 2.7 million viewers and a 1.1 rating in adults 25-54 for its four-day average.

ABC soaps clean up

Daytime, which also experienced programming disruptions because of Reagan news, saw ABC soaps beating CBS sudsers in total viewers for the first time since December 1994 (3.7 million vs. 3.5 million). Alphabet soaps also won in women 18-49 (2.1), ahead of NBC (1.7) and CBS (1.5).

CBS' full daytime lineup was No. 1 in total viewers (3.8 million).

In latenight, NBC's "Tonight Show With Jay Leno" stayed on top (1.9 rating in 18-49, 5.1 million viewers overall) despite its least-watched week of originals since July 2002.

At the same time, CBS' "Late Show With David Letterman" continued to enjoy season-to-date increases in adults 18-49.

"Letterman" delivered 4.1 million viewers and a 1.4 rating in 18-49, up over last year in most categories.

Last Sunday, NBC News' "Meet the Press With Tim Russert" nabbed 4 million viewers and a 1.1 rating in adults 25-54, while ABC News' "This Week With George Stephanopoulos" very narrowly beat out CBS News' "Face the Nation" in total viewers (2.55 million vs. 2.53). "Face" and "This Week" tied in the demo (0.8).