TV RATINGS : World Series a 4-Bagger for CBS

Viewers in about 19.9 million homes were watching Saturday as the Cincinnati Reds swept the Oakland A’s out of the World Series. According to figures released Tuesday by the A. C. Nielsen Co., that ranked as the second most-watched program of the week--right behind Game 2 of the baseball championships, which attracted about 400,000 more households. With games 1 and 3 also ranking among the week’s top six programs, CBS handily beat rivals NBC and ABC in the prime-time ratings race and closed to within two-tenths of a point of front-runner NBC in the season-to-date derby. NBC, meanwhile, did well with its two first-run Danielle Steele movies: “Kaleidoscope” ranked fourth and “Fine Things” was 10th. The full list of ratings is on Page 12.

* One month into the fall TV season, “L.A. Law” fans had begun to wonder if maybe the producers hadn’t taken their lastest Emmy Award for TV’s best drama series and set sail for Tahiti. Nonetheless, they turned out when the show finally returned last Thursday. The program won its time slot, attracting viewers in about 15.7 million homes. CBS’ “Knots Landing” drew about 11.8 million and ABC’s “PrimeTime Live” got about 8.2 million.

Show Points Share 1.”World Series Game 2” 21.8 37 (CBS) 2.”World Series Game 4” 21.4 38 (CBS) 3.”Cheers” (NBC) 21.1 33 4.”Kaleidoscope” (NBC) 20.3 32 5.”World Series Game 1” 20.2 32 (CBS) * “L.A. Law” (NBC) 16.9 29