TV RATINGS : ‘Cheers’ Still No. 1

A segment about an exorcism rocketed ABC’s “20/20” to No. 2 in last week’s Nielsen ratings and CBS’ Duke-Kansas NCAA basketball final was No. 3, but NBC’s “Cheers” was still the top-ranked show for the 16th time this season.

The basketball game helped CBS to a second-place finish for the week, according to figures released Tuesday, but NBC won again and is ahead in the official ratings season that ends Sunday.

With NBC still carried by its Thursday lineup--”Cheers,” “A Different World,” “Seinfeld” and “L.A. Law” all finished in the Top 10--NBC took the week with a 12.9 ratings average, while CBS had a 12.3 and ABC a 12.2. (One rating point equals 931,000 households.) The full list of ratings is on F-7.

Show Points Share 1. “Cheers” (NBC) 22.0 35 2. “20/20” (ABC) 19.6 37 3. “NCAA Basketball: Duke vs. Kansas” (CBS) 19.4 30 4. “Who’s the Boss?” (Mon.) (ABC) 18.6 29 5. “Roseanne” (ABC) 18.0 29 * “Danielle Steel’s Changes” (NBC) 17.8 28

* NBC also succeeded in counterprogramming the Duke-Kansas game with “Danielle Steel’s Changes,” a romantic drama aimed at women that finished sixth among 87 shows. And ABC also scored on CBS’ basketball night with its own counterprogramming of six special sitcom episodes--with three of them, “Who’s the Boss?,” “Full House” and “Family Matters”--placing among the top 13 shows.