 NBC had renewed Homicide for a second season to assess how the show performed in the Nielsen ratings and make a determination whether to continue the series . The series premiere , " Bop Gun " , drew unusually large viewership numbers due to a guest appearance by Robin Williams , but the subsequent episodes had dropped in the ratings , making the viewership of " A Many Splendored Thing " particularly important for the future of the series . Fontana said if the episode performed well , " NBC 's going to have to do some hard thinking . " In its original American broadcast on January 27 , 1994 , " A Many Splendored Thing " was watched by 11 @.@ 2 million households , according to Nielsen Media Research , earning the episode an 11 @.@ 9 rating . That constituted a slight increase from the previous week 's episode , " Black and Blue " , which was seen by 10 @.@ 83 million households . It was the 37th highest rated television show of the week , tied with the Fox animated comedy series The Simpsons . " A Many Splendored Thing " faced unusually tough competition in its timeslot from the ABC news series Primetime Live , which did a special report about convicted murderer Richard Allen Davis . 
