TV RATINGS

With the Minnesota Twins’ winning of the World Series, NBC’s recapture of the weekly Nielsen prime-time ratings became assured. The combined successes of the reliable Thursday night lineup (“Cosby,” “Cheers,” etc.) and some newly established NBC series (“My Two Dads,” which finished 17th overall, and “Matlock,” which took 18th) vaulted NBC back into the No. 1 spot. But the ratings boost of the seven-game World Series--and the gradually improving numbers for ABC’s new shows--brought the network into second place for the fall TV season. And CBS? Its Sunday night TV movie “Echoes in the Darkness”--starring Peter Coyote--did well, finishing 11th. Weekly network averages: NBC, 15.8 rating/26 share; CBS, 13.4/22; ABC, 12.6/21. Evening news ratings: CBS 12.4, ABC 11.3, NBC 11.1. (One Nielsen point equals 886,000 homes; “share” refers to the percentage of households watching a particular program.) The complete Nielsens appear on Page 10.

Dabney Coleman’s critically praised new Wednesday night “Slap Maxwell” series on ABC is consistently lagging behind its equally highly praised lead-in series, “Hooperman,” by 10 to 12 ranking spots. It looks as if a sizable portion of the “Hooperman” audience is switching to the second half of “Magnum, P.I.” on CBS. “Magnum’s” second-half-hour audience share is generally two to four points higher than the first half-hour’s.

SHOW POINTS SHARE WEEK 1. The Cosby Show 31.3 47 11/1 (NBC) 24.2 36 10/25 2. A Different World 27.7 43 11/1 (NBC) 23.4 35 10/25 3. Cheers 26.8 41 11/1 (NBC) 22.8 34 10/25 4. Growing Pains 25.7 38 11/1 (ABC) ---- -- 10/25 5. Night Court 25.0 38 11/1 (NBC) 20.8 32 10/25 The “Slap” Maxwell Story 10.5 17 11/1 (ABC) ---- -- 10/25