TV RATINGS : Reruns Rule Ratings; Swaggart Stumbles

You know the TV season is sliding into reruns when movies-of-the-week and NCAA basketball playoff games are making it into the Top 10 of the A. C. Nielsens ratings. Two TV movies--NBC’s “Scandal in a Small Town” and CBS’ remake of “Red River”--cracked the Top 10 last week. NBC’s “The Wonder Years,” the nostalgia series for baby boomers, fell out of the Top 10 for the first time since its debut. And former ratings stalwarts are hanging out in unaccustomed company: “L.A. Law” was 26th for the week, “Moonlighting” 29th and “Miami Vice” 49th. A complete ratings list appears on page 12.

* Controversy in the secular TV world tends to drive up ratings, but on religious TV it hurts them. Witness Jimmy Swaggart’s fall from grace, in the broadcasting world and the world at large: His Arbitron ratings (similar to Nielsen’s count) have fallen off about four-tenths of a point since last year. That may not seem like much, but it represents almost 20% of Swaggart’s viewers.

Show Points Share Week 1. The Cosby Show 23.2 40 4/10 (NBC) (repeat) 2. Murder, She Wrote 21.8 34 4/10 (CBS) 3. My Two Dads 20.7 35 4/10 (NBC) (special) (repeat) 4. Cheers 20.2 33 4/10 (NBC) (repeat) 5. NBC Sunday Night Movie 20.0 31 4/10 (NBC) (special) * The Jimmy Swaggart Show 2.1 n.a. 4/3 (syndicated) (Arbitron figures)