TV Ratings : ‘Cheers’ Wrapping Up in Good Cheer

“Cheers” is going out a winner. The NBC comedy, which concludes its nearly 11-year run on NBC Thursday night, headed into the home stretch in the lead, A.C. Nielsen ratings showed Tuesday. Last week’s episode, in which Sam (Ted Danson) began re-evaluating his life and Rebecca (Kirstie Alley) fell in love, was watched in about 18.9 million homes and claimed the No. 1 spot among the week’s prime-time programs. (In Los Angeles, however, it only placed No. 7--well behind Fox’s “The Simpsons.”)

With “Cheers” leading the way and strong showings from the Country Music Awards and a three-hour salute to Bob Hope, NBC eked out a victory over CBS and ABC to maintain its lead in the May ratings sweeps, which help determine advertising rates for the months ahead.

In the battle of TV movies Sunday night, CBS claimed victory, with “There Was a Little Boy” attracting 22% of the available viewers compared to 20% for ABC’s highly promoted “Wild Palms” and 18% for NBC’s “Woman on the Run.”

Meanwhile, “The Wonder Years” and “Knots Landing,” which broadcast their concluding original episodes on successive nights last week, pulled identical ratings and tied at No. 13 among the week’s 85 prime-time programs. Presumably, however, it was not the same 12.9 million homes that tuned in both nights. . . .

Southland Ratings

Here are A. C. Nielsen’s Top 10 prime-time programs in the Los Angeles area during the same week. Each rating point equals 49,657 households.

Station Rating Program 1. The Simpsons KTTV 20.9 2. Home Improvement KABC 20.7 3. Roseanne KABC 20.7 4. Home Improvement (Tue.) KABC 19.0 5. The Wonder Years KABC 18.7 6. “Barbara Walters Special” KABC 18.2 7. Cheers KNBC 18.2 8. Seinfeld KNBC 17.4 9. Beverly Hills, 90210 KTTV 16.8 10. Full House KABC 16.7

Weekly Averages

NBC 11.9

ABC 11.8

CBS 11.7

FOX 7.1