NBC Gets Back in Front

With two out of every five viewers looking somewhere other than the three networks for prime-time programming last week, NBC edged out ABC for the weekly sweepstakes honors in figures released Tuesday by the A.C. Nielsen Co. The two networks had tied the previous week, but NBC was back on top last week with an average rating of 12.5, compared to 12 for ABC and 9.7 for CBS. ABC helped itself by programming two installments of “America’s Funniest Home Videos” on Sunday night, but was hurt on Saturday by its telecast of the American Film Institute salute to David Lean, which attracted only 8% of the available audience. The full list of ratings is on page 9.

* Carol Burnett is right back at home at 10 p.m. Saturday. She dominated that time slot for five years during the 1970s--until “The Love Boat” forced CBS to move her--and now she seems to have settled in again. Her NBC series won the time slot last weekend and ranked 11th among the week’s 90 prime-time programs, attracting viewers in about 15.2 million homes.

TV RATINGS

Show Points Share 1.”Cheers”(NBC) 21.9 35 2.”Funniest Home Videos”(ABC) 21.7 38 3.”The Cosby Show”(NBC) 21.1 37 4.”Funniest Home Videos”(ABC) 20.9 33 5.”A Different World”(NBC) 20.8 35 *”Carol & Company”(NBC) 16.5 32