The Times Herald from Port Huron, Michigan • Page 35

ABC gains make 3-network race for new season work was also an easy second ner and Rod Taylor on NBC on Monday night with its. and CBS are in trouble as NFL football. well. By TOM GREEN Gannett News Seivice HOLLYWOOD One thing is apparent in the early Nielsen ratings: television's new season is shaping up as a definite three-network race. In the Oct.

10 Nielsens, ABC wound up on top in the overall numbers for the first time this fall, edging the previous week's leader CBS. Rarely has TV's traditional third network done so well so early in a new season. ABC had the No. 1 show, five of the top 10 shows, 13 shows in the top 40, and clear wins of three nights Sunday, Tuesday and Friday. The net Jones," James Franciscus' new one, "Longstreet," and Arthur Hill's "Owen Marshall." Franciscus and Hill both made the top 40.

"Smith and Jones" have considerably more opposition with Flip Wilson on NBC. One week's ratings is a long way from settling the ratings dispute for the whole season. CBS has been the strongest network overall to date, a position it has enjoyed every year more often than not. But given ABC's fewer affiliated stations and historic third-place image, the strides it has made toward a three- way race in the ratings are impressive. The 70-market Nielsen ratings for the week ending Oct.

10 give the top 10 spots to these shows: 1 a Welby, M.D., ABC. 2. ABC Movie of the Week, "Last Child," ABC. 3. Flip Wilson, NBC.

4. All in the Family, CBS. 5 A Sunday Movie, "Five-Card Stud," ABC. 6. Mystery Movie, "Colum-bo," NBC.

7. Funny Face, CBS. 8. Mod Squad, ABC. 9.

Mannix, CBS. 10. Room 222, ABC. If ABC has a nightmare on Wednesday night, it can be excused for being boastful about Tuesday nights. For the last two years, its combination of "Mod Squad," "Movie of the Week," and "Marcus Welby" has been awesome.

Nothing has changed so far this year. NBC had an awesome night for years with its Sunday shows, but this fall the line-up has been blitzed. The corn-pet i i also went after ABC's Tuesday night power with highly regarded shows like Glen Campbell, "Ironside," "Hawaii Five-O," and George Kennedy's new one, "Sarge." They have scarcely made a dent in ABC's domination and are merely chewing each other up. Only "Five-O" even made the 40 shows. ABC has an enviable Friday night roster with a package of half-hour situation comedies that begins with the fluffy "Brady Bunch" and moves to "The Partridge Family," "Room 222," and "The Odd Couple," capping it with the hour comedy, "Love, American Style." ABC is also quite competitive this season on Thursday nights with three good shows in "Alias Smith and In the midst of all that elation, ABC is also saddled with one of the major headaches the new season.

Its Wednesday night line-up, which on paper had looked like a strong competitor, has turned out to be a near-disaster. ABC's Wednesday shows are going down the ratings tube with alarming facility. Two of the shows, the gentle and intelligent "Courtship of Eddie's Father," and Anthony Quinn's promising first starring series, "The Man and the City," seem worth salvaging. "Bewitched," for years a stalwart in the ABC lineup, is also weak, as is "The Smith Family," the Henry Fonda outing which did well as a mid-season entry last January. Shirley MacLaine's first rie "Shirley's World," generally panned by the television critics, is also anemic in the ratings.

As conceived, ABC's Wednesday night lineup is a night of stars Elizabeth Montgomery, Bill Bixby, Fonda, Miss MacLaine and Quinn. Their failure may be even more telling because this new season was to be a season of stars. Others like Jimmy Stewart, James Gar- rfc f. -Sky 4 1 zfyU WKlf Ota. ihv ST Coifs vs.

Rams Roman Gabriel, Los Angeles Rams quarterback, who holds all major Ram passing records and also is a strong runner, prepares to pass. He will lead the Rams against the Baltimore Colts in the game to be shown on ABC network at 9 p.m. Monday on Channels 7 and 12. Love and the law Clint Eastwood stars as Coogan, an Arizona sheriff's deputy sent to New York to return a convicted murderer, and Susan Clark plays a parole officer with whom he becomes romantically involved, in the movie "Coogan's Bluff" at 9 p.m. Monday on Channels 4 and 5.

FCC's cut in network hours proves flop HOME HEATING COMFORT Jff (J I I i I Jffl WIS I Is happy to announce that they have taken over the By CYNTHIA LOWRY NEW YORK (AP) Those new rules which returned a half hour of prime time nightly to individual television stations for local programming just aren't working out as expected. Although network production line entertainment isn't often tops, by and large it is superior to the assortment of low budget, syndicated programs now filling the time spots. The new Federal Communications Commission rules were designed in part to stim-u 1 a local programming. Since reruns of old network shows are forbidden and most stations can't afford elaborate productions, the rules have stimulated production by independent entrepreneurs. Their product is what is being seen, for the most part, be Since the early time period has a large "family audience" in trade jargon that means lots of children and grandparents many of the shows are specially aimed at two ends of the viewer spectrum.

There is "Circus," simply a half hour of big tent acts, and "Rollin' On The River," a well produced rock and country music show. "Stand Up And Cheer," a jolly, patriotic musical outing, reaches out for the older viewer. "The Golddiggers" is a bouncy musical show spun off Dean Martin's network hour onto the syndication circuit. Dreariest of the new shows are "Primus," an underwater adventure and twin brother of the old "Sea Hunt." Other dreary shows include "Dr. Simon Locke," a doctor drama, and "Monte Nash," a standard private eye series.

Anne Murray special If you spot a resemblance in the faces above, you're right. Brothers Stewart, on the left, and Bruce Murray join their singing sister Anne Murray on the first of her three specials this season on the Canadian network. It will be at 8:30 p.m. Monday on Channel 10 and is called Anne Again. It's the first time the three have sung together professionally.

The brothers are students at St. Xavier University. With them for an hour of music will be The Stampeders singing group of Calgary and young singer composer Shirley Eikhard. FOR RENT AND UPHOLSTERY We will serve all accounts, both coal and oil from both our own location at 104 Water St. and the Webb location at 3 1 1 Gris-wold St.

with dual service of the same type that the Cosgrove Oil Co. has been famous for over the past 46 years. FOR FUEL TODAY CALL 982-8522 tween 7:30 and 8 on week nights. The show business journal, Variety, estimates on the basis of a survey that there has been a drop of 7 per cent in, viewers during the early evening time period. Among the best efforts appearing around the country is "Story Theatre," which is witty and specializes in retelling old fairy tales in contemporary and droll idiom.

And there also is "The David Frost Revue," a show slightly reminiscent of "That Is The Week That Was." Wallpaper Steamers Rug Scrubbers Floor Polishers Floor Sanders AT Port Huron Paint Co, 317 MeMORRAN BLVD. YU 3-8563 Free Pickup Delivery FREE ESTIMATES PHONE 982-4657 31 15 CONNER ST. THE TIMES HERALD FRIDAY, NOVEMBER 5, 17.1., PAGE SEVENTEEN.