TV & VIDEO - Oct. 6, 1988

Although TV stations are reportedly paying record prices for reruns of “The Cosby Show,” the syndicated series, which debuted on Monday, did not earn spectacular ratings in its first day out of the blocks. The show averaged a 9.3 rating and a 19% share of the audience in A.C. Nielsen’s 16 peoplemetered markets nationwide. In Los Angeles “Cosby” reruns on KCOP-TV Channel 13 came in second in the 6 p.m. time slot--behind the first half-hour of ABC’s “Monday Night Football”--with an 8.9 rating and 17 share. While those numbers fall short of what many stations expect from Cosby during the November sweeps, the KCOP rating represents a 68% improvement over the numbers it earned for the sitcom “Gimme A Break” in the same time period last year.