NBC takes early lead in November sweeps. (National Broadcasting Company Inc.; television ratings, November 1994)

NBC has jumped out to an early lead in the November sweeps, but the race has been neck and neck among the Big Three networks, and all the networks, including Fox, have seen sweeps programing shine. Despite the closeness of the race early on, the winner could be determined this week after CBS airs its heavily promoted Scarlett miniseries.

Through last Thursday night (Nov. 10), eight days into the sweeps, NBC was averaging a 12.5 rating and 20 share in Nielsen numbers, compared with ABC's and CBS's 11.9/19 and Fox's 8.1/12. For the season, ABC is ahead with a 12.3/20 average, followed by NBC's 11.8/19, CBS's 11.6/19 and Fox's 7.8/12.

NBC has posted two strong Thursday night performances in keeping pace with the other networks, the first coming on the first day of the sweeps (Nov. 3). Promoted as "Blackout Thursday," the network used a common programing thread running through three of its four comedies at 8-10 p.m. Storylines from Mad About You, Friends and The John Larroquette Show featured a citywide power outage. The strategy worked for the network, as Mad About You and Friends posted record ratings. For the night, NBC averaged a 17.6 Nielsen rating/28 share despite lower-than-usual numbers for ER.

Last Thursday night, NBC pulled in its usual heavyweight ratings and averaged a 17.7/28 for the evening, outdistancing CBS's 10.3/16, ABC's 9.0/14 and Fox's 7.8/12. A special repeat episode of Frasier airing in the Madman of the People slot at 9:30 p.m. dropped only 1 rating point and 2 share points from its Seinfeld lead-in. Typically, Madman has been losing about 20% of the Seinfeld lead-in ratings.

CBS pulled into contention over the weekend of Nov. 5-6, thanks to a strong Saturday night lineup and the Sunday movie, a reunion of Cagney and Lacey. Cagney & Lacey: The Return pulled in an 18.4/28 at 9-11 p.m. and helped the network outdistance NBC, which averaged a respectable 14.8/22, thanks to the two-hour premiere of Earth 2 (15.6/23) and the broadcast premiere of "Star Trek Vl: The Undiscovered Country" (13.5/21). CBS had been considering a series of Cagney & Lacey movies, a la Perry Mason, and the movie's performance makes it likely that producer Barney Rosenzweig will be given a greenlight.

ABC came on strong at the beginning of last week, with victories on Monday (thanks to Monday Night Football's 18.8/30), Tuesday (double episodes of Home Improvement and the highest-rated network election coverage), and Wednesday (World's Funniest Commercials [15.8/24], Roseanne [18.0/27] and the Barbara Walters Special [14.7/25]).

Fox pulled off a second-place finish last Tuesday at 8-10 p.m., thanks to its telecast of "My Cousin Vinny" which averaged a 9.7/14, and to the other networks' devoting the latter part of the evening to election coverage. Fox's 9.7/14 average for the evening beat NBC's 9.6/14 and CBS's 8.1/12.