TV RATINGS : Laughter Wins Out in Time of Crisis

In a week in which ABC’s “World News Tonight” averaged more viewers than 55 of the networks’ prime-time programs, Americans balanced their anxiety about the Middle East crisis with large doses of laughter. Ratings from the A.C. Nielsen Co. showed Tuesday that 12 of the 15 most-watched programs on TV last week were comedies. NBC’s “Cheers” was No. 1 for the second week in a row, and the network itself finished first with an average 9.6 rating, compared to 9.3 for ABC and 9.2 for CBS. Each point represents 921,000 households. “Cheers” only ranked third in Los Angeles, however, with viewers here showing a preference for Fox’s “Married . . . With Children” and “The Simpsons” on KTTV Channel 11. The full list of ratings is on F9.

* News programs weren’t the only serious shows that attracted viewers’ attention. On the 45th anniversary of the atomic bomb being dropped on Hiroshima, a new TV movie about that fateful event, “Hiroshima: Out of the Ashes,” was watched in 10.4 million homes. The NBC drama ranked 23rd among the week’s 91 programs.

Show Points Share 1.”Cheers”(NBC) 14.8 27 2.”60 Minutes”(CBS) 14.7 33 3.”Unsolved Mysteries”(NBC) 14.0 28 4.”Empty Nest”(NBC) 13.3 27 4.”Murphy Brown”(CBS) 13.3 23 4.”Roseanne”(ABC) 13.3 23 *”Hiroshima: Out of Ashes”(NBC) 11.3 20