Television: Fresh Crews over Sixth Avenue

ABC continues to score in the network dogfight

In most businesses success or failure is measured in years. In TV the message can be delivered overnight—and almost certainly within the first month or two of a new season. Last week, just five weeks into the fall season, CBS gave its own unhappy assessment: TV's new year has brought it disaster. CBS—until last year the undisputed leader for two decades-was in third place in the ratings, miles behind ABC and irritating inches behind NBC.

Then, following a ritual as intricate as an Aztec sacrificial rite —and only slightly less colorful —CBS...