'ER,' Football Score on TV

By Stephen M. Silverman

06/10/1998 at 12:00 AM EDT

Not surprisingly, football was big on TV last week, with all those New Year's Bowl games. But, clearly, on Thursdays NBC is the place to be, as evidenced by the strong showings of its "ER," "Will & Grace" and "Just Shoot Me," according to the Nielsen ratings. (A rating point represents 1,022,000 households, or 1 percent of the nation's estimated 102.2 million TV homes. The share is the percentage of in-use TVs tuned to a given show.) The Top 10 for Jan. 1-7:

1. "ER," NBC, 19.7, 20.1 million homes

2. "Orange Bowl: Oklahoma vs. Florida State," ABC, 17.8, 18.2 million homes

3. "Friends," NBC, 15.0, 15.3 million homes

4. "Will & Grace," NBC, 13.3, 13.6 million homes

5. (tie) "Rose Bowl-Postgame," ABC, 13.0, 13.3 million homes

5. (tie) "Sugar Bowl: Miami vs. Florida," ABC, 13.0, 13.2 million homes

7. (tie) "Just Shoot Me," NBC, 12.7, 13.0 million homes

7. (tie) "Who Wants to Be a Millionaire," Thursday, ABC, 12.7, 13.0 million homes

9. "Orange Bowl-Pregame," ABC, 12.5, 12.8 million homes

10. "Who Wants to Be a Millionaire," Sunday, ABC, 12.4, 12.7 million homes