NEW YORK -- The Cosby Show was the most-watched show of the week, NBC was the most-watched network, NBC Nightly News had its biggest lead over CBS since 1975 and Family Ties had its highest rating ever.
It was a good week for NBC in the ratings war, while CBS, the No. 2 network, suffered a disaster with the first episode of its new Joan Collins miniseries, 'Monte Carlo.'
NBC won for the seventh consecutive week of the 7-week-old television season. For the week ending Nov. 9, according to the A.C. Nielsen Co., NBC led with a 18.2 rating and 29 percent share of the audience. CBS had a 15.0 rating and 24 share while ABC had a 13.9 rating and 22 share.
NBC also had the top five shows for the week ending Nov. 9, while ABC had the bottom five of the regularly scheduled programs.
For the season to date, NBC leads with a 19.1 rating and 30 share, followed by CBS with a 15.9 rating and 25 share and ABC with a 14.4 rating and 23 share.
In news, 'NBC Nightly News' with Tom Brokaw had a 12.7 rating and a 22 share, beating 'CBS Evening News' with Dan Rather, which had an 11.9 rating and a 21 share. That's the biggest lead NBC has had over CBS News since the week of Dec. 1-5, 1975. 'ABC World News News Tonight' had a 10.9 rating and 19 share.
Each ratings point represents about 874,000 households and a share is the percentage of operating sets tuned to a particular show.
The predictable bad news for news junkies was that CBS, the only network to devote all its prime time Tuesday night to election results, also was the big loser in Tuesday's ratings.
The surprising flop of the week also belonged to CBS -- the first episode of its much-touted, highly advertised 'Monte Carlo' miniseries starring Joan Collins.
Collins and company finished a poor third in the battle of the Sunday night movies. The big winner was 'Perry Mason: The Case of the Shooting Star,' which came in seventh in the ratings. In second place was ABC's 'Splash,' tied for 27th. 'Monte Carlo' tied for 45th.
Among the new shows this season, only NBC's 'Amen' was in the top 10, while CBS's 'My Sister Sam' placed in the top 20. 'Matlock' (NBC) and 'Designing Women' (CBS) made it into the top 30, which is still part of the winner's circle.
Winners of the week: NBC News and Tom Brokaw.
Losers of the week: CBS, Joan Collins and 'Monte Carlo.'
The top prime-time shows for the week ending Nov. 9, according to the A.C. Nielsen Co., were:
1. The Cosby Show (NBC)
2. Family Ties (NBC)
3. Cheers (NBC)
4. Golden Girls (NBC)
5. Night Court (NBC)
6. Murder, She Wrote (CBS)
7. 'Perry Mason: The Case of the Shooting Star' (NBC Sunday movie)
8. 60 Minutes (CBS)
9. (three-way tie) Amen (NBC)
Monday night football, Los Angeles vs.
