9/21: National Nielsen Ratings for Simpsons and King of the Hill

[Ondre Lombard]

It was a close call again for Simpsons and King of the Hill, however,
both series managed to outrank The X-Files, and even crack the top 20 shows--a
rare feat. No doubt about it, this is because The X-Files is going to be
rerunning till November.

At any rate, this is what the picture looks like:

7 pm: The World's Funniest... (Series Premiere): 5.3/10.
8 pm: The Simpsons ("The City of New York vs. Homer Simpson") (Season
Premiere): 10.7/17. Ranked 18th out of 108 shows.
8:30: King of the Hill ("How to Fire a Rifle Without Really Trying") (Season
Premiere): 10.5/16. Ranked 20th out of 108 shows.
9 pm: The X-Files ("Small Potatoes"): 8.7/13.

The Simpsons was up +23% in the ratings in the Adults Aged 18-49
demographic in comparison to the 96-97 season. The premiere of "The City of
New York vs. Homer Simpson" was up +2% in rating (10.7) and +16% in shares
(17.44) in comparison to last season's premiere (in terms of the Adults 18-49
age demographic). This year: 8.6/22. Last year: 8.4/19. The Simpsons
delivered its highest share in the A18-49 demographic since September 17th,
1995, and its highest A18-49 rating since January 12th, 1997.

A brief little note from myself: I suspect this is because most of the
networks were rerunning while Fox and CBS were the only two networks airing
premieres. Last season, The Simpsons had returned so late that everything
else was new and the competition was stiffer.

King of the Hill's second season premiere outdid its entire 96-97
season average. +8% in rating and +11% in share among Adults 18-49 (8.4/10
vs. 7.8/18) and +14% in general Households. (10.5/16 vs. 9.2/14). If this
keeps up (and it possibly will, if ABC and CBS don't stiffen the
competition--NBC has already given Sunday night to every network besides the
WB), it looks like it will be a good year for KotH and The Simpsons. The
Simpsons seems to be on a serious rebound from the slip it suffered ever since
the fifth season.

Ondre