Pistons Sweep Keeps NBC in No. 1

NBC got a break when the Detroit Pistons swept the Los Angeles Lakers in four games to win the NBA championship. The short playoff series deprived CBS of extra prime-time telecasts and enabled NBC to extend its record string of consecutive first-place ratings finishes to a full year. The A. C. Nielsen figures released Tuesday showed that NBC’s prime-time programs last week had an average audience of about 10.5 million homes, compared to 9.2 million for CBS and 8.3 million for ABC. The full list of ratings is on Page 8.

* If viewers were in a mood for something besides reruns last week, you couldn’t tell it from ABC’s first Thursday night baseball telecast of the season. The regional broadcasts had a combined audience of about 5.9 million homes. By contrast, CBS’ coverage of Game 4 of the NBA finals drew about 15.7 million homes.

TV RATINGS

Show Points Share 1.”Roseanne” 19.1 31 ABC 2.”Cheers” 18.0 32 NBC 3.”The Cosby Show” 17.6 34 NBC 4.NBA Basketball Playoffs, Game 4 17.4 31 CBS 5.”Perry Mason” 16.7 30 NBC * Major League Baseball 6.5 14 ABC