Ratings: 'Geena' Up, 'Bette' Down

By Stephen M. Silverman

07/03/1998 at 12:00 AM EDT

All the usual suspects are scoring high in the Nielsen ratings for the new season, including "ER," "Friends," "Everybody Loves Raymond" and "Who Wants to Be a Millionaire." But the new CBS series "C.S.I." is also doing well, as is ABC's "The Geena Davis Show" (buoyed by its preceding program, "Dharma & Greg"). "Bette," starring Bette Midler, is slipping in the ratings with each subsequent episode. (The rating is the percentage of the nation's estimated 100.8 million TV homes. Each ratings point represents 1,008,000 households.) The Top 10 for Oct. 30-Nov. 5:

1. "ER," NBC, 18.1, 18.5 million homes

2. "Friends," NBC, 15.2, 15.6 million homes

3. (tie) "Everybody Loves Raymond," CBS, 13.9, 14.2 million homes

4. (tie) "Who Wants to Be a Millionaire" (Wednesday), ABC, 13.9, 14.2 million homes

5. "NFL Monday Night Football: Tennessee at Washington," ABC, 13.8, 14.1 million homes

6. "Will & Grace," NBC, 13.0, 13.3 million homes

7. "Who Wants to Be a Millionaire" (Tuesday), ABC, 12.8, 13.1 million homes

8. "The West Wing," NBC, 12.7, 12.1 million homes

9. (tie) "Who Wants to Be a Millionaire" (Sunday), ABC, 12.5, 12.8 million homes

10. (tie) "The Practice," ABC, 12.5, 12.8 million homes