‘Old-Timers’ Still Bring in the Ratings : Television: Sinatra, Hope and Ball make the top 30. NBC wins Nielsens for the week.

NBC won the ratings race last week, with “Cheers” leading the list. But Frank Sinatra was up there in the top 20, and Bob Hope and Lucille Ball made the top 30.

CBS aired Sinatra’s 75th birthday bash in its Sunday night movie slot, and it tied for 15th, a decided winner in the time period. The ABC Sunday movie, “The Witches of Eastwick,” tied for 30th, while NBC’s Sunday entry, “Back to the Future,” tied for 49th.

Bob Hope’s Christmas Special from Bermuda came in 22nd, winning its time period for NBC with better-than-usual time period numbers.

CBS reran its “I Love Lucy Christmas Special,” which tied for 30th with “Witches.” Another old-timer, “Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer” on CBS, tied for 36th.

The older generation was flexing its muscles on Tuesday, the only night on which NBC has an older-skewing audience. The network scored its biggest Tuesday win of the season for its regular lineup.

“Matlock,” “In the Heat of the Night” and “Law & Order” were in the top 20. NBC had a 15.8 rating and a 26 share, with ABC on “Roseanne” night having a 14.2 rating and a 24 share, while CBS had an 8.4 rating and a 14 share.

The Tuesday audience also made “Law & Order,” in 20th place, the highest-rated of the season’s new shows, beating even ABC’s “America’s Funniest People,” in a tie for 23rd.

CBS premiered a new sitcom last week: Nell Carter in “You Take the Kids,” which ranked 66th.

NBC recaptured the lead for the week--its ninth win this season--with a 12.4 rating and a 21 share. ABC was second with an 11.6 rating and a 20 share, barely beating CBS, which had an 11.5 rating and a 19 share.

In the highly competitive 13-week-old season-to-date, NBC maintained its lead with a 13.0 rating and 22 share, while ABC was just 0.4 of a ratings behind with a 12.6 rating and a 21 share, and CBS only 0.6 of a rating point off the lead with a 12.4 rating and a 21 share.

Night-by-night competition saw NBC win Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday and Saturday, while ABC took Monday and Friday, and CBS captured Sunday.

ABC’s “World News Tonight” was No. 1 for the 49th consecutive week, with an 11.6 rating and a 22 share. “CBS Evening News” with Dan Rather came in second with a 10.0 rating and a 19 share, and “NBC Nightly News” with Tom Brokaw was third with a 9.9 rating a 19 share.

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 the A.C. Nielsen Co.:

1. Cheers (NBC)

2. 60 Minutes (CBS)

3. (tie) A Different World (NBC);NFL Monday Night Football (ABC)

5. Empty Nest (NBC)

6. (tie) The Cosby Show (NBC);In the Heat of the Night (NBC)

8. Roseanne (ABC)

9. Golden Girls (NBC)

10. Unsolved Mysteries (NBC)