TV RATINGS : ‘Hulk’ Smashes the Competition

Incredible! In the battle of Sunday-night TV movies, the winner was NBC’s revival of a series based on a cartoon character--”The Incredible Hulk Returns”--which, according to A.C. Nielsen ratings released Tuesday, was seen in about 17.9 million homes. As for its competition, the first part of ABC’s “Baby M” ranked 17th among the week’s 74 prime-time programs with an audience of about 13.3 million homes, and CBS’ “My Father, My Son” placed 21st with about 12 million homes. NBC, which handily won the week, got more good news with the ninth-place finish of “Unsolved Mysteries,” which the network just announced will be a weekly series next season.

* Not quite so incredible was the revival of “That’s Incredible!” on ABC Sunday night. It drew an audience of about 10 million homes to finish third in its time period behind CBS’ “Murder, She Wrote” (No. 12) and NBC’s “Family Ties” (No. 31).

Show Points Share 1. The Cosby Show 21.2 38 (NBC) (repeat) 2. A Different World 21.2 36 (NBC) (repeat) 3. Cheers 20.9 34 (NBC) (repeat) 4. The Incredible Hulk Returns 20.2 33 (NBC Sunday Night Movie) 5. Night Court 19.9 32 (NBC) (repeat) * That’s Incredible! Reunion 11.3 20 (ABC) (special)