TV RATINGS

It was business as usual in last week’s Nielsen ratings, released Tuesday--both in entertainment and news programming. For the second week in a row, “The CBS Evening News” finished last in the ratings with a 9.1 rating (NBC’s news broadcast finished first, with a 10.5; one ratings point equals 874,000 homes). CBS news executives say that will change when Dan Rather returns to the anchor chair next week. On the entertainment front, NBC’s “The Cosby Show” and “Family Ties” finished one-two among a Top 10 composed almost entirely of repeats. The only new show to place among the leaders was NBC’s “Days and Nights of Molly Dodd,” which finished ninth. The Top 10 in order for last week: “Cosby,” “Ties,” “Cheers,” “Growing Pains,” “60 Minutes,” “Who’s the Boss?” “Golden Girls,” “Murder, She Wrote,” “Dodd” and “Moonlighting.” NBC News’ special “Life in the Fat Lane” finished 11th. (The complete Nielsens lists appear on Page 8.)