TV RATINGS : The Battle for Runner-Up Heats Up

The battle for second continues! NBC appears to have a lock on narrowly winning the prime-time ratings race this season for the sixth consecutive year, but CBS, which captured its third victory in a row last week, could overtake ABC for the runner-up spot by the time the season officially ends next month. Right now the two are tied with a Nielsen average of 12.5, behind NBC at 12.8 (each point represents 931,000 homes). Besides the usual strong showing from “60 Minutes,” CBS got a big boost last week from two TV movies: the conclusion of “And the Sea Will Tell” ranked No. 4 for the week and “Lies Before Kisses” was No. 7. In news, meanwhile, ABC remained first among the evening newscasts last week, with CBS second and NBC third. The full list of ratings is on F9.

* Lots of people saw “Down Home” when it returned to the NBC lineup last Thursday after “Cheers,” but lots fewer tuned in two nights later when it settled into its regular Saturday berth. The sitcom’s season debut drew viewers in about 16.7 million homes and ranked 13th among the week’s 93 prime-time programs. The second outing was seen in about 9.1 million homes and ranked 59th.

Show Points Share 1. “60 Minutes” (CBS) 23.5 38 2. “Cheers” (NBC) 23.4 36 3. “Murphy Brown” (CBS) 19.1 28 4. “And the Sea Will Tell (Part Two)” (CBS) 19.0 29 5. “A Different World” (NBC) 18.6 29 5. “Roseanne” (ABC) 18.6 27 * “Down Home” (NBC) 9.8 18