NBC, ABC Tie in Race for Decreasing Viewers : Television: Reruns and old movies dominate the airwaves as more and more sets remain dark.

With network television viewers turning off their sets in near-record numbers, all three networks looked like losers last week.

With reruns and old movies dominating the airwaves, NBC and ABC tied for first, each with an 8.9 rating and a 17 share, and CBS was close behind with an 8.4 rating and a 17 share.

NBC won Wednesday, Thursday and Saturday nights, CBS took Sunday and Monday and ABC was champ on Tuesday and Friday.

In the 45-week season-to-date competition, NBC has a 13.3 rating and a 23 share, followed by ABC with an 11.9 rating and a 21 share, and CBS with an 11.3 rating and a 20 share.

Among the more interesting shows last week, Jane Pauley’s “Real Life” on NBC had its second outing and wound up in a tie for 21st with Fox’s “In Living Color,” which is down from Pauley’s first show the previous week, which tied for fifth.

Pauley did win her time period, and she also came in ahead of “Face to Face With Connie Chung,” which tied for 27th. CBS announced Monday that the Chung news magazine will be around in the fall only as a series of specials instead of a weekly regular on the lineup, giving its anchor more time to try to have a baby.

CBS was the big winner in the Sunday movie competition, with a repeat of “Murder Ordained, Part 1,” in a tie with “The Cosby Show” for third place. ABC’s repeat of the James Bond’s “Moonraker” tied for 46th, and NBC, with an original titled “Johnny Ryan,” could only tie for 61st.

Fox had a so-so week. On the up side, “Married . . . With Children” tied for 10th and “In Living Color” performed well. “The Simpsons,” however, was knocked out of the top 10 and wound up tied for 19th.

Worse, Fox’s new Wednesday lineup ended up on the very bottom of the Nielsen list, with “Hollywood Dog” in 88th place, “Molloy” in 89th and “Glory Days” wallowing in 90th.

ABC’s “World News Tonight” with Peter Jennings again was the top-rated evening news program for the week with an 8.9 rating and a 20 share.

TOP TV SHOWS

The top programs for the week ending Sunday, July 29, according to the A.C. Nielsen Co., were:

1. Roseanne (ABC)

2. Cheers (NBC)

3. The Cosby Show (NBC)

(tie) Murder Ordained, part 1, CBS Sunday movie

5. Empty Nest (NBC)

6. 60 Minutes (CBS)

(tie) Golden Girls (NBC)

8. Unsolved Mysteries (NBC)

(tie) A Different World (NBC)

10. America’s Funniest Home Videos (ABC)

(tie) Married With Children (Fox)