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NBC touted it as ''The Television Event of a Lifetime,'' but when the final numbers came in, the last Cheers turned out to be only the ninth- highest- rated entertainment special since 1960, sandwiched between part 5 of Roots and Bob Hope's 1971 Christmas special. Still, 80 million viewers watched the 98-minute show, and advertisers (who shelled out $650,000 a pop for 30-second commercials) were not disappointed. In a display of naked network greed, NBC scheduled an instant rerun of the finale for Sunday. Though the ''encore'' only finished 42nd, it served as a solid, sentimental warm-up for the network's much-maligned TV movie In the Line of Duty: Ambush in Waco, which placed fifth, clobbering part 1 of CBS' ! Love, Honor & Obey: The Last Mafia Marriage (25th) and Judith Krantz's Torch Song (51st) on ABC.
VIEWERS* TOP TEN LAST WEEK
1 80.4 Cheers - NBC, Thursday, 9:22 p.m. 2 67.8 Last Call! A Cheers Celebration - NBC, Thursday, 9 p.m. 3 32.8 Seinfeld - NBC, Thursday, 8 p.m. 4 31.5 Home Improvement 1 ABC, Wednesday, 9 p.m. 5 29.3 Home Improvement 4 ABC, Tuesday, 9:30 p.m. 29.3 Movie: Ambush In Waco - NBC, Sunday, 9 p.m. 7 28.8 Roseanne 4 ABC, Tuesday, 9 p.m. 8 26.9 Coach 7 ABC, Wednesday, 9:30 p.m. 9 24.1 Murphy Brown 14 CBS, Monday, 9 p.m. 10 23.0 60 Minutes 9 CBS, Sunday, 7 p.m.
BOTTOM FIVE
75 7.5 The Road To Hollywood - NBC, Friday, 8 p.m. 76 6.8 Primetime Live 16 ABC, Thursday, 10 p.m. 77 6.7 America's Most Wanted - Fox, Thursday, 9 p.m. 78 6.1 Shaky Ground - Fox, Sunday, 7:30 p.m. 79 5.3 Parker Lewis - Fox, Sunday, 7 p.m. *In millions week of may 17-23
