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ABC's Early Ratings Victories The ABC premieres of John Ritter in "Hooperman" and Dabney Coleman in "Slap Maxwell," and the return of "Dynasty" battered the competition in the ratings Wednesday night. Ritter's 21.5 Nielsen, 35 share, Coleman's 18.2, 31, and "Dynasty's" 16.5, 28 laid out CBS' "The Equalizer," with a 14.4, 20 for its twohour season premiere. During the same two hours, NBC's "A Year in the Life" got 13.8, 23 and "St. Elsewhere" 13.4, 23. For all of Wednesday's prime time, ABC scored 17.6, 30 to NBC's 14.3, 24 and CBS' 13.1, 22.
ABC's Early Ratings Victories The ABC premieres of John Ritter in "Hooperman" and Dabney Coleman in "Slap Maxwell," and the return of "Dynasty" battered the competition in the ratings Wednesday night. Ritter's 21.5 Nielsen, 35 share, Coleman's 18.2, 31, and "Dynasty's" 16.5, 28 laid out CBS' "The Equalizer," with a 14.4, 20 for its twohour season premiere. During the same two hours, NBC's "A Year in the Life" got 13.8, 23 and "St. Elsewhere" 13.4, 23. For all of Wednesday's prime time, ABC scored 17.6, 30 to NBC's 14.3, 24 and CBS' 13.1, 22.
ABC also won Tuesday. The network's two other new shows, "Full House" and "I Married Dora," garnered ratings of 21.7, 34 and 20.3, 33, respectively. These two combined with the returning hits "Who's the Boss?" "Growing Pains" and "Moonlighting" gave ABC a total rating for the night of 20.9, 34 against NBC's 15.4, 25 and CBS' 11.9, 20.
Champagne was being poured at ABC entertainment president Brandon Stoddard's Los Angeles offices.
WNBC/4, WCBS/2 News Staff Changes
WCBS/2 news director Paul Sagan would not confirm yesterday what everybody seems to know: newsman Mike Taibbi of WNBC/4 will move over to Ch. 2 soon. It's one of a series of moves at both stations. Anna Bond will leave Ch. 4 to be with her husband in Texas. Ch. 4's John Miller's contract is up the end of the year, and he's talking to other TV news organizations. And Lisa Rudolph, who was a news writer at WCBS/2 before gaining on-camera experience in Rochester and San Antonio, Texas, is returning to Ch. 2 as a reporter.
`Wheel of Fortune' Goes Strictly Cash
Starting Monday, Oct. 5, Pat Sajak and Vanna White will give away only cash on "Wheel of Fortune." The manufacturers who gave the merchandise to the show in exchange for free on-air plugs may not like that much, but the changeover will allow for still more spins of the wheel.
Even as this is happening, "Wheel" has been given a production commitment for five more years, with White having already signed for equal time. Sajak is expected to follow.
NBC News' China Visit
NBC's "Sunday Today" (8 a.m.) comes from Shanghai as part of NBC News' week of China broadcasts. On Monday, viewers will awake to Bryant Gumbel, Jane Pauley, and Willard Scott doing "Today" live from the Great Wall of China. On
Monday night, "NBC Nightly News with Tom Brokaw" will be anchored from the Forbidden City in Beijing. Other Chinese locales will be visited in the course of the week.
1) Photo-Bryant Gumbel. 2) Photo-John Ritter
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