The Los Angeles Times from Los Angeles, California • Page 133

jh nrrr SILVERTON: Matters dffastc Prime-Time TV Rankings Continued from Page 59 ABC-Edges OutNBC With 'I Love So that's how you've been able to make intriguing bitter almond panna cotta. Paul Schrade, a passionate home cook and gardene-whtr shops, with me at the Wednesday Santa Monica farmers' market;" brought back seeds for cavolo nero, the Tuscan black cabbage, and we gave three farmers at the market the seeds to grow it editionoT'DateUneNBC." Even airing mostly against reruns, beyond football the few original programs didn't do particularly well. Viewing of "The Kennedy Center Honors" special dropped nearly 30 compared to last year, while "I Love Trouble" delivered nearly twice as many viewers Sunday as CBS' remake of "The Sunshine Boys." Overall, last week's ratings reflect an ongoing decline in viewing of the major television net- works, with the combined audience for ABC, CBS, NBC and Fox down 8 compared to the corresponding period last season. -BRIAN LOWRY With viewing levels depressed byJEbsaaUaae week festivities and a glut of reruns, the Julia Roberts movie "I Love Trouble" brought a little much-needed cheer to ABC, helping lift the network to only its third first-place finish in this season's 14 weeks, based on results issued Wednesday by Nielsen Media Research. ABC barely edged NBC, which had the misfortune of having Christmas fall on Thursday, putting a damper on what's usually its strongest night.

ABC also closed the "Monday Night Football" season with solid numbers and received a boost from its latest "Behind Closed Doors" special hosted by Joan Lunden, which beat the Tuesday National Nielsen Viewership just basic cooking. You shop the Santa Monica farmers- market'What are some of the hings you find there that inspire your cooking? A woman occasionally shows" up with Persian mulberries that are unbelievable. And she also grows sour cherries, which are normally turned into 10-pound cans of cherry compote with lots of pectin. Certainly the strawberries. You cannot get a better-tasting strawberry than the ones you get from Harry's Berries at the market.

Oh, and the dates. I love the medjocl and the halam and the kadawi. Saying the names is so hard, it took me a year to learn to pronounce them! There's a guy named Bob Polito who has, I think, just the best citrus. Right now he has not only satsumas, which are delicious tangerines, but also his own hybrid, which is called 501. He grows Meyer lemons, too, and the white grapefruit, oro bianco and blood oranges.

To me, it's so exciting that blood oranges are finally being grown as a commercial crop. When you talk to some of these farmers you find out all sorts of things. For instance, 1 mentioned to an almond grower that I was such a fan of bitter almonds. And he said, "You've got to be kidding. I've got 20 pounds here and nobody wants them." Here are the rankings for national prime-time network television last week (Dec.

22-28) as compiled by Nielsen Media Research. They are based on the average number of people who watched a program from start to finish. Nielsen estimates that there are 254 million potential U.S. viewers age 2 and older. Viewership is listed here in millions.

Program And that, in turn, influences menus around town. Right Last year that same friend grew and donated seeds for a white Italian bean called coco bianco, so you'll see them at the farmers' market next year. And those are delicious, delicious beans. Where else can you do that? That's the fun part It's not only the Santa Monica farmers' market, although that is the largest. There's a farmers' market every day in some part of the city.

And it's not just me going there. So many chefs in Los Angeles are doing it, too, and across the country. And what you hear is chefs' excitement with their local farmers' markets. That's one trend that's available to everyone. At Campanile, we're not in the position to buy or sell, say, white truffles.

Not only are they out of our budget, they just don't fit in here. Foie gras, we don't always have. Caviar, we don't always have. But we can always have a great tomato. feet- View- Pro(ram work ere 98.

The Jamie Foxx Show WB 144 The Parent 'Hood WB 3.44 100. Trie Parent 'Hood (Sun.) WB 3.32 Star Trek: Voyager UPN 3.32 102. NickFreno: Licensed Teacher WB 2.64 103. Alright Already 'WB 2.49 104. TheSentinal UPN 2.43 105.

Hrn UPN 2.38 106. Head Over Heels UPN 2.23 1. Mon. Night Football ABC 21.84 2. Touched by an Angel CBS 18.82 3.

60 Minutes CBS 18.02 4. "I Love Trouble" ABC 17.64 5. Seinfeld NBC 16.34 6. FoxNFCPostgame FOX 14.82 vV I 7. "HomeChristmas" CBS 14.67 8.

King of the Hill 9. Th X-Files 10. Veronica's Closet Julia Roberts Vktw- 58. Early Edrton CBS 59. Grace Under Fire ABC 60.

Melrose Place FOX The Simpsons (Thur.) FOX 62. "Ed Bradley: Under Siege" CBS 63. DharmaSGreg ABC AHyMcBeal FOX King of the HI (Thur.) FOX 66. Soul Man ABC -Iff AlfilTuW Mill 1 14.56 14.48 14.36 14.34 13.96 13.80 13.70 1344 13.43 12.71 12.70 12.61 12.52 12.48 12.42 12.35 12.23 11.51 11.42 11.38 11.23 11.05 11.04 11.03 11.02 10.96 10.88 10.64 10.54 10.45 10.44 10.33 10.30 10.29 10.18 10.06 9.95 9.66 9.65 9.57 9.15 9.00 8.91 8.90 8.87 841 8.56 8.50 8.47 8.45 FOX FOX NBC NBC ABC. ABC ABC FOX NBC NBC NBC CBS NBC CBS NBC NBC ABC ABC NBC ABC CBS ABC ABC NBC FOX NBC NBC ABC CBS NBC NBC NBC CBS NBC NBC NBC CBS NBC CBS FOX NBC NBC FOX CBS ABC CBS ABC ABC ABC NBC FOX ABC ABC CBS CBS ABC ABC ABC FOX 67.

"Life Magaiine Christmas" 68. "Trapped in Paradise" 69. The Practice 70. Spin City 71. "Kennedy Center Honors" 72.

Chicago Hope 73 Family Matters 74. Ellen 75. PnmeTmeLrve 76. Uterinum 77. The Gregory Hire Show 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 ABC 11.58 million NBC 11.51 CBS 10.15 FOX 8.55 WB 3.80 UPN 3.28 Season to Date NBC 15.02 million CBS 13.70 ABC 13.02 FOX 10.68 UPN 4.45 WB 4.31 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. St Houte-Pragrm floe kotos 1. Mon. Night FootD KABC 811,495 2.

60 Minutes KCBS 796.468 3. TheX-FUes KTTV 711,311 4. Seinfeld KNBC 676,061 5. Touched by an Angel KCBS 546,006 6. "I Love Trouble" KABC 530.978 7.

Veronica's Closet KNBC 505.932 a The Simpsons KTTV 500,923 9. "Behind Closed Doors" KABC 465,895 10. ER KNBC 475,877 11. Eft 12. Hotm Improvement 13.

"BeNnd Closed Doors' 14. 3020 15. ThBSiTipuni 16. 'The RMf Wild" 17. Dateline NBC (Mon.) 18.

OateineNBC(Sun.) 19. Walker, Tens Ranger 20. Friends 21. Cosby 22. 3rd Rock From the Sun 23.

Dateline NBC (Tue.) 24. WonderM Wo of Disney 25. Sabrfta, the Teenage Witch 26. Frasler 27. Boy Meets World (9:30 (un.) 28.

"The Christmas Bo" 29. Grace Under Fire (9:30 p.m.) 30. Sabrina, Teen. Witch (8 p.m.) 31. Mad About You 32.

World's Funniest! 33. "Derm the Menace" 34. Just Snoot Me 35. Boy Meets World 36. Promised Land 37.

Ducks" 38. "The Mighty Ducks" 39. Suddenly Susan (Tue.) 40. Gregory rknes Snow (Tue.) 41. rjsteSneNBCftVed.) 42.

Caroline St the City 43. The Pretender 44. "World Team Figure Skating" 45. Fred Up 46. Cybi 47.

Cops (8:30 p.m.) 48. Dateline NfiC(FrL) 49. Suddenly Susan 50. Cops 51. "The Sunshine Boys" 52.

The Drew Carey Show 53. George Leo 54. "To Kill a Mockingbird" 55. 56. "Peter ienmngs Reporting" 57.

Jenny 8.42 8.41 8.25 8.25 8.04 8.01 8.01 8.01 7.88 7.72 7.62 7.67 7.49 7.45 7.38 7.28 6.79 6.61 6.48 6.39 6.29 6.21 5.38 5.25 5.15 4.98 4.36 4.18 4.09 4.06 4.02 385 3.83 3.82 3.81 3.80 3.80 3.74 3.61 3.51 7a ''Skating international" (Wed.) FOX FOX 79. The Visitor 80. The Nanny (wed.) 81. 4l3HopeSt 82. "007: The James Bond Files" 83.

7thHeaven 84. The Steve Harvey Show 85. Buffy. the Vampire Slayer 86. Clueless 87.

Moesna CBS FOX CBS WB WB WB UPN UPN ENDORSED BY THE GREATER IA MOTOR CAR DEALERS ASSOCIATION OPENS TOMORROW! Over 1000 1998 domestic and import cars and trucks everything from sedans to sport cars to pickups, minivans and sport utilitites. 88. The Gregory Hmes Show (Wed.) CBS 89. Unnappey Ever After WB 90. me House UPN 91.

Good Hews UPN 92. Makxurn Eddie UPN 93 The Wayans Bros. WB Smart Guy WB 95. Sister, Sater WB 96. Sparks UPN 97.

"Weping America's Promae" FOX (World US Debuts!) 1 999 Porsche 91 1 Carrara Coupe, plus Cadillac Seville, BMW Coupe M3 Convertable, Mazda Miata, Lexus LX 470, and many more. (New Exhibit Hdt gddadp RADIO Featuring the largest display of automotive j-w Porsche 911 Carrera Coup accessories, performance products, and sport-utility conversions of it's kind in the S. Over a dozen futuristic concept cars and electric vehicles plus classic cars, lowriders, race cars, street rods, Hot Rod magazine's 50th anniversary celebration, and morel simulcast with KCET-TV Channel 28, KUSCFM (91.5). UlMl-CUtEinTUUlV IMS 2-231 UL-bcati: Rudyard Kipling's "The Man Who Would Be King." KNX (1070). ml.

tX i aJL-taaukt: Matt (William Conrad) does a good turn for robbery suspect. KNX (1070). MBS: CUSSXIl I II M-Kaag ttacart, KKGO-FM (105.1). SHUTS VtM ajL-ia ajL-ttlep Faitial: Cotton Bowl, UCU vs. Texas KNX (1070).

Mighty Ducks at Washington Capitals, KRLA (1110). Ul Ol ML-tatefi FaitM: Rose Bowl, Michigan vs. Washington State, XTRA (690). iX ML-Cahfl fartbat Sugar Bowl. Florida State s.

Ohio State, KNX (1070). I I ML-kckti: Kings at Phoenix Coyotes, XTRA (690)- Timnmoi 1-11 lA-Tat el tt Mi, KPCC-FM (89.3). am-laai Ones. KABC (790). TIN FM TOUT I UL-inf It- Teat's 105 CaaaMM: The most popular classical music recordings ire presented, Part 2 (concludes Friday, 6-10 a.m.), KKGO-FM (105.1).

I ul I IJL-Utcttyj Starts Um Ctttr Sixteen short stories by classic and contemporary writers recorded over the past six years at the 1 Paul Getty Museum in Malibu, KCRW-FM (89.9). II tevJ la-Th Tap tt 17, countdown (re peat), KLOS-FM (95.5). 1-11 M-riat Mtraams Tt ftnr Tiv't ttb-r i aritM JtSt Walt. Crortkni. rusts annual concert trtttn Vienna nitnatnonic Orchestra, conducted by Zubnr irom-Jrienna; 1 1 AAH0: 30 PM tat.

10:00 PM (oa. 10:00 PM Adaltti $6.00 tonloni $4.00 on woetuioys CMIdrmu 12 and under free. ut. iir waniita www.laoulOihow.com i i i i i 1 Lsteatfi un (MO); ji.a.-r,:.'-!' -rvW- VJIF tfrtt laajrti-15 and 45 mtnutes past the hour, KFWB (980), KNX ia-I Mt-takEfl FMUat Citrus 'Bowl, Penh State w. Florida, XTRA (taO).

11 ajra-1 M-VTall al the Ratita, KPCC-FM (89.3). 11 ul 3 ML-Ta Cmrai Ir.tlttj StPddar, KLSX- (97.H. 7- ri rMWCMDUUMUW mm! I II. 1'J I .1 I I I 60 THURSDAY, JANUARY 1, 1998 WEEKFND.