TV RATINGS : A Big Bye-Bye for CBS’ ‘Dallas’

Viewers gave “Dallas” a big send-off Friday, but their overall network preference last week was NBC. The inconclusive conclusion to CBS’ 13-year-old soap opera was seen in about 20.5 million homes--about 1 million less than tuned to the second installment of NBC’s “Switched at Birth,” according to figures released Tuesday by the A.C. Nielsen Co. With big audiences also tuning in for NBC’s “Cheers,” “L.A. Law,” “A Different World,” “Unsolved Mysteries,” “The Golden Girls,” “Seinfeld” and “The Cosby Show,” the Peacock network finished first for the week, with an average prime-time rating of 13.5, compared to 12 for CBS and 10.8 for ABC. Each point represents 931,000 households. The full list of ratings is on F9.

Show Points Share 1. “Switched at Birth (Part 2)” (NBC) 23.1 35 2. “Dallas” (CBS) 22.0 38 3. “Cheers” (NBC) 20.8 33 4. “Roseanne” (ABC) 17.0 27 5. “L.A. Law” (NBC) 16.8 28 * “Night of the Hunter” (ABC) 13.7 23

* Despite its third-place finish overall, ABC won the battle of TV movies Sunday night. Its remake of “Night of the Hunter,” starring Richard Chamberlain, won the time period with an audience of about 12.8 million homes. NBC’s “White Hot” attracted about 11.5 million, while CBS’ “Victim of Love” garnered about 11.2 million. ABC also was cheering the performance of its new comedy “Dinosaurs,” which won its Friday night time slot and then came in second when it was rerun Sunday.