NBC Wins Week, but ‘Videos’ Keeps Rolling

“America’s Funniest Home Videos” and Marshal Matt Dillon were in the prime time top 10 last week, with “The Simpsons” almost making the elite group, it was reported today.

NBC won for the week, as usual. CBS came in second in its seesaw battle with ABC, which was third.

ABC’s “Videos,” one of two authentic hits of the season, topped the list the previous week and last week was the second most-watched show, beaten only by NBC’s “Cheers.”

The season’s other hit, “The Simpsons,” was in 11th place, the highest rating ever for a Fox show. The goofy real-life families on “Videos” are working as a lead-in for the goofy cartoon “The Simpsons,” as a sizable chunk of ABC’s “Videos” audience switches channels to Fox.

They certainly aren’t sticking around for ABC’s “Elvis,” which was tied for 58th.

The top movie of the week was “Gunsmoke: The Last Apache” on CBS, which tied for seventh, way ahead of “Phantom of the Opera,” Part 1, on NBC, in a tie for 41st, and ABC’s “Love and Lies,” ranked 47th.

Jane Pauley’s first NBC News special since she left the “Today” show, “Changes,” tied for 33rd and was the highest-rated news special on any network since NBC’s “Bad Girls” in August, 1989. “Bad Girls” was anchored by Deborah Norville, the new “Today” co-host.

On a night-by-night basis, NBC took Monday, Wednesday, Thursday and Saturday, ABC won Tuesday and Friday and CBS won Sunday.

NBC did not come in third on any night--not even on Friday, long the network’s problem period. Part of the credit goes to “Nasty Boys,” which beat CBS’s “Dallas”--the first time a regular series has gotten the best of J. R. Ewing since “Miami Vice” did it in December, 1987.

TOP 20 SHOWS Here are ratings for national prime-time television last week (March 12-18), as compiled by the A. C. Nielsen Co.

Program Rating 1. Cheers (NBC) 22.1 2. Funniest Home Videos (ABC) 22.0 3. Roseanne (ABC) 21.9 4. The Cosby Show (NBC) 21.8 5. 60 Minutes (CBS) 20.4 6. A Different World (NBC) 20.3 7. Gunsmoke: Last Apache (CBS) 19.7 Wonder Years (ABC) 19.7 9. Who’s the Boss? (ABC) 18.1 10. Heat of the Night (NBC) 17.9 11. The Simpsons (Fox) 17.5 12. Golden Girls (NBC) 17.4 13. Unsolved Mysteries (NBC) 17.1 14. Empty Nest (NBC) 17.0 15. L.A. Law (NBC) 16.7 Coach (ABC) 16.7 17. Grand (NBC) 16.0 18. Designing Women (CBS) 15.7 19. Murder, She Wrote (CBS) 15.5 20. Married. . .With Children (Fox) 15.4