TV RATINGS : Specials, Movies Propel CBS

Bolstered by high-rated specials and movies, CBS won the network prime-time ratings competition last week and moved into a tie for second in the season-to-date standings. With “Cheers” again the top-rated program of the week, NBC continues as the season front-runner with an average prime-time rating of 12.8. But figures released Tuesday by the A. C. Nielsen Co. showed that CBS and ABC are right behind, at 12.5. (Each ratings point represents 931,000 households.) CBS’ victory last week came on the strength of Part One of “And the Sea Will Tell” (No. 3 among the week’s 76 prime-time programs), the Grammy Awards telecast (No. 5), the “Mary Tyler Moore Show” special (No. 11) and the Miss USA Pageant (No. 18). The full list of ratings is on F11.

* ABC, the top-rated network when it comes to news, had the highest prime-time ratings Saturday when reports surfaced that the allied ground war against Iraq had begun. ABC’s live coverage averaged an audience of 9.6 million homes, compared to 8.6 million for NBC, 8 million for CBS and 4.6 million for CNN. CNN’s average audience for all of Saturday was 3.8 million homes; for all of Sunday it was 3.4 million.

Show Points Share 1. “Cheers” (NBC) 21.6 33 2. “Love, Lies and Murder” (NBC) 20.3 30 3. “And the Sea Will Tell (Part One)” (CBS) 20.1 31 4. “60 Minutes” (CBS) 19.0 30 5. “The Grammy Awards” (CBS) 18.8 31 * “Gulf War Special (Saturday)” (ABC) 10.3 18