TV RATINGS

“The Cosby Show” fell out of the Top 10 for the first time this season (its third time ever) but no one was terribly surprised. Its Thanksgiving night broadcast finished 12th. Viewing levels were down for the entire holiday weekend, but not down enough to keep an NBC schedule filled with comedy specials from coming out on top in the network race. CBS, which scored poorly with holiday specials, did well enough to catch ABC in the season-to-date averages. Both, however, trail NBC by 2.7 points--a margin unlikely to be overcome. Weekly network averages: NBC, 15.1 rating/25 share; CBS, 13.7/23; ABC, 12.4/21. Evening news ratings: CBS 11.3, ABC 10.5, NBC 10.2. (One Nielsen point equals 886,000 homes; “share” refers to the percentage of households watching a particular program.) The complete Nielsens appear on Page 10.

* Once a Top-10 staple, “Newhart” has fallen in the ratings this season as CBS’s Monday night comedy lineup begins to age. Recent changes in the network’s lineup, however, seem to have given it something of a renewed ratings life. A short football game that freed up a number of viewers also helped.

SHOW POINTS SHARE WEEK 1. 60 Minutes 24.0 35 11/29 (CBS) 23.2 37 11/22 2. Murder, She Wrote 23.4 33 11/29 (CBS) 22.8 33 11/22 3. Golden Girls 22.9 39 11/29 (NBC) 21.7 37 11/22 4. The Long Journey Home 21.3 34 11/29 (CBS) ---- -- 11/22 5. Who’s the Boss? 20.7 32 11/29 (ABC) 22.1 35 11/22 * Newhart 18.1 37 11/29 (CBS) 15.5 23 11/22