‘DREAM WEST’ IS DELAYED, RESCHEDULED TO SUNDAY

The CBS miniseries “Dream West,” trounced in the ratings its first night out by NBC’s “Return to Mayberry,” was knocked off the air altogether the second night because of news coverage of the U.S. bombing of Libya, and as a result of the preemption the third and concluding segment has been rescheduled for this coming weekend.

The second installment of the seven-hour production about explorer John C. Fremont was preempted Monday by CBS’ reporting and President Reagan’s televised address concerning the U.S. attacks. That “Dream West” episode was rescheduled for Tuesday night.

The third, and concluding, edition of the miniseries, which originally was planned for Tuesday, will now be shown Sunday from 8-11 p.m., the network said.

Despite the presence of Richard Chamberlain, who has appeared in such other high-rated miniseries as “The Thorn Birds” and “Shogun,” “Dream West” finished well behind the “Andy Griffith Show” reunion film that ran opposite it on NBC Sunday night.

“Return to Mayberry,” an updating of the popular series that ran on CBS from 1960 to 1968, attracted the second largest audience among last week’s 71 prime-time programs--more than 28.3 million households.

Part I of “Dream West” was seen in about 16.7 million homes, making it 16th on the A. C. Nielsen Co. list of the week’s most-watched shows.

ABC’s Sunday night entry, “The Man With the Golden Gun,” ranked 59th, drawing viewers in about 8.5 million homes.

The order of finish on Sunday mirrored the networks’ positions in the prime-time ratings for the entire week and for the season-to-date--with NBC first, CBS second and ABC third. Since this is the final week of what the networks regard as the official prime-time TV season, the same order will prevail when the curtain drops next week.

It will be the first time that NBC has ever finished as the undisputed season champion of the fiercely competitive prime-time arena, capping a remarkable rebuilding effort by chairman Grant Tinker and programming chief Brandon Tartikoff. Until last season, when it finished second behind CBS, NBC had been third in the prime-time ratings for nine years in a row.