ABC Is No. 1 for 1st Time This Season : Television: Football, videos and ‘It’ help the network knock NBC from the top slot.

A monster, a football game and some home videos helped put ABC on top of the ratings race for the first time this season as Thanksgiving week again proved to be a turkey for NBC, it was reported today.

The top-rated show of the week was CBS’ “60 Minutes,” which had its highest rating of the season, but coming in second was Part 2 of “Stephen King’s ‘It’ ” on ABC, followed by Monday night football and the two “America’s Funniest . . . “ shows, all on ABC. It was the highest-rated multiple-part program of the season.

The week was NBC’s third loss this season; CBS took opening week and World Series week. While NBC came in second for the week and CBS was third, CBS and ABC each had four shows in the top 10, compared with only two for NBC.

Part of the reason was the seasonal slump for Thanksgiving, which every year shows that Americans would rather eat than watch television. Even NBC’s Thursday night lineup can’t keep the couch potatoes away from the candied yams.

When they did tune in, they were slightly more likely to vote for “The Simpsons” on Fox than for “The Cosby Show” on NBC. “Simpsons” tied with “The Trials of Rosie O’Neill” (CBS) for 37th place while “Cosby” was in 39th. “Simpsons” had an 11.9 rating and a 24 share, while “Cosby” had an 11.6 rating and a 23 share.

Another head-to-head contest among new shows was neck and neck: “Fresh Prince of Bel Air” on NBC was in 25th place, while “Evening Shade” on CBS tied for 27th.

The ABC margin for the week was substantial, with the network boasting a 13.4 rating and a 23 share. NBC had an 11.8 rating and a 20 share, while CBS had an 11.3 rating and a 19 share. ABC noted that was the widest gap between first and second place this season, except for World Series week, which CBS won handily thanks to four games in one seven-night stretch.

In the tight 10-week-old season-to-date statistics, NBC holds onto its lead with a 13.2 rating and 22 share, while ABC has moved into second with a 12.7 rating and a 21 share. CBS is only a tenth of a ratings point behind, with a 12.6 rating and a 21 share.

With the November sweeps almost over, NBC leads, with ABC second and CBS third.

Each ratings point represents about 921,000 households. A share is the percentage of TV sets in use that are tuned to a particular show or network.

THE TOP 10

The top 10 programs for the week ending Sunday, according to A.C. Nielsen Co.:

1. 60 Minutes (CBS)

2. “Stephen King’s ‘It,’ ” Part 2 (ABC)

3. NFL Monday night football (ABC)

4. America’s Funniest People (ABC)

5. America’s Funniest Home Videos (ABC)

6. Murder, She Wrote (CBS)

7. Murphy Brown (CBS)

8. Designing Women (CBS)

9. Golden Girls (NBC)

10. Empty Nest (NBC)