CBS Sacks Competition in Absence of Football

The end of Monday night football on ABC means good news for its competitors--particularly CBS, which won the night and placed two of its Monday comedies in the top 10, it was reported today.

“Murphy Brown” and “Designing Women” ranked third and fourth for the week--”Murphy” with its highest rating ever--and helped wrestle the night away from ABC with a 16 rating and a 25 share.

NBC came in second with a 15.3 rating and a 24 share, while ABC had an 11 rating and a 17 share. During the football season, Monday had belonged to the NFL.

ABC’s Monday movie, “Under Cover,” a two-hour pilot for a new series, tied for 62nd.

On Sunday another new--or, rather, refurbished--series made its debut as a movie with NBC airing Part 1 of its revised “Dark Shadows,” with Part 2 airing the next night.

The vampires didn’t draw blood from CBS, however, which won the movie battle with the theatrical film, “Witness,” which preempted “Murder, She Wrote” as well as filling the movie slot. It came in 17th. “Dark Shadows” tied for 30th, and ABC’s “Held Hostage: The Sis and Jerry Levin Story” ranked 44th.

Also on the Sunday agenda, NBC’s “Expose” tied for 48th, 10 places higher than the previous week, and “Real Life With Jane Pauley” tied for 66th--the show came in 73rd the previous week.

CBS’s new series, “Good Sports” with Farrah Fawcett and Ryan O’Neal, tied for 48th, rating second in its time period behind NBC’s “Wings,” which came in 22nd.

CBS reported, however, that the performance of “Good Sports” was a 50% improvement over the time period average of its predecessor, “Doctor, Doctor.”

NBC won the week with its best rating of the season and its widest margin over its nearest competitor--in this case, CBS.

“Cheers” was No. 1 for the 11th week out of the 17-week season.

NBC was on top for the 12th time this season with a 14.4 rating and a 23 share, while CBS had a 12.4 rating and a 20 share, just a tenth of a ratings point ahead of ABC, which had a 12.3 rating and a 20 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. THE TOP 10

The top programs for the week ending Sunday, according to the A. C. Nielsen Co.: 1. Cheers (NBC)

2. 60 Minutes (CBS)

3. Murphy Brown (CBS)

4. Designing Women (CBS)

5. A Different World (NBC)

6. Golden Girls (NBC)

7. Funniest Home Videos (ABC)

8. Roseanne (ABC)

9. (tie) Family Matters (ABC)

Bob Hope Saudi special (NBC)

Full House (ABC)