TV RATINGS : Baseball Playoffs Cut Off Premieres

As if last summer’s 154-day Writers Guild of America strike didn’t cause enough trouble for television producers this fall: TV series making their season premieres last week also had to dodge fly balls and footballs as NBC’s World Series telecasts and ABC’s National League Playoffs competed for viewers with new series programming. Only “The Cosby Show” (surprise) and its spin-off, “A Different World,” held their own, with “Cosby” in first place and “Different World” coming in 4th in last week’s Nielsen ratings.

*And, although not in the Top 5, ABC’s TV movie “Lady Mobster,” featuring “All My Children” star Susan Lucci as a corporate lawyer protecting her family from its roots in organized crime, managed to land in 18th place.

Show Points Share 1.”The Cosby Show” 23.1 38 (NBC) 2.World Series, Game 2 22.9 36 (NBC) 3.National League Playoffs, Game 7 22.2 37 (ABC) 4.”A Different World” 21.0 34 (NBC) 5.World Series, Game 1 20.5 38 (NBC) *”Lady Mobster” 16.2 26 (ABC Sunday Night Movie)