Disney hits high notes with ‘High School Musical 2’

Disney Channel’s unprecedented ratings success didn’t end when the credits rolled for Friday’s record-setting premiere of “High School Musical 2.”

With that premiere drawing 17.24 million viewers -- the largest audience in cable television history -- Disney Channel averaged 5.93 million viewers for its prime-time programming from Aug. 13 through Monday, making it the third-most-watched network of the week, according to figures released Tuesday by Nielsen Media Research.

The weekly prime-time average was the second-highest in cable history, behind ESPN’s 6 million for the week of Dec. 26, 2005-Jan. 1, 2006.

CBS averaged 6.71 million viewers to finish first for the 11th time in the 12 weeks of television’s summer season.

The “High School Musical 2” premiere was the week’s most-watched program, the first time a cable show earned that distinction, and television’s most-watched program since May 29, when 17.3 million watched the season finale of “House.”

The premiere of the series “Phineas & Ferb,” which followed the “High School Musical 2” premiere, drew 10.8 million viewers, matching the week’s most-watched broadcast series, NBC’s “America’s Got Talent.” An episode of “Hannah Montana” that aired next drew 10.7 million viewers, putting it fourth for the week.

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Here are the rankings for national prime-time network television last week (Aug. 13-19) as compiled by Nielsen Media Research. They are based on the average number of people who watched a program from start to finish. Nielsen estimates there are 283.5 million potential viewers in the U.S. ages 2 and older. Viewership is listed in millions.

*--* -- Program Network Viewers 1 America’s Got Talent (Tue.) NBC 10.83 2 60 Minutes CBS 9.91 3 Singing Bee (Tue.) NBC 9.73 4 Hell’s Kitchen FOX 9.68 5 So You Think You Can Dance (Thu.) FOX 9.61

6 CSI CBS 9.49 7 Two and a Half Men CBS 9.22 8 Without a Trace CBS 9.10 9 So You Think You Can Dance (Wed.) FOX 8.68 10 NCIS CBS 8.52

11 Criminal Minds CBS 8.25 12 Cold Case CBS 8.24 13 CSI: Miami CBS 8.20 14 CSI: NY CBS 8.14 15 So You Think You Can Dance (Mon.) FOX 7.87

16 Power of 10 CBS 7.67 17 Big Brother 8 (Tue.) CBS 7.56 18 Extreme Makeover: Home Edition ABC 7.55 19 Big Brother 8 (Thu.) CBS 7.51 20 Big Brother 8 (Sun.) CBS 7.38

21 Law & Order: SVU NBC 7.30 22 Shark CBS 7.26 23 “NFL: Preseason Football” (Sun.) NBC 7.15 24 Rules of Engagement CBS 7.13 25 Just for Laughs (8:30 p.m.) ABC 6.88

26 Just for Laughs (8 p.m.) ABC 6.72 27 Dateline: NBC (Wed.) NBC 6.61 28 America’s Funniest Home Videos ABC 6.51 29 20/20 ABC 6.49 30 Primetime: Crime ABC 6.09

31 Dateline: NBC (Mon.) NBC 6.03 32 Most Outrageous Moments NBC 5.97 33 Family Guy (9:30 p.m.) FOX 5.86 -- Wife Swap ABC 5.86 35 “NFL Preseason Pregame” (Sun.) NBC 5.77

36 Last Comic Standing 5 NBC 5.69 37 Family Guy (9 p.m.) FOX 5.41 38 House FOX 5.25 39 Old Christine CBS 5.23 40 i-Caught ABC 5.22

41 Ghost Whisperer CBS 5.20 42 How I Met Your Mother CBS 5.19 43 Destilando Amor (Wed.) UNI 5.09 44 Cops (8:30 p.m.) FOX 5.08 45 The Simpsons FOX 5.07

46 Destilando Amor (Mon.) UNI 5.04 47 Primetime: The Outsiders ABC 4.96 48 Destilando Amor (Thu.) UNI 4.88 49 Numb3rs CBS 4.87 50 America’s Most Wanted FOX 4.83

51 Destilando Amor (Tue.) UNI 4.61 52 American Dad FOX 4.46 53 1 vs. 100 NBC 4.45 54 My Name Is Earl NBC 4.41 55 Fat March ABC 4.30

56 Supernanny ABC 4.29 57 Destilando Amor (Fri.) UNI 4.23 58 The Unit CBS 4.15 59 Law & Order: Criminal Intent NBC 4.02 60 Desperate Housewives ABC 4.01

61 “U.S. Gymnastics Championships” (Sun.) NBC 3.97 62 “NFL Preseason Football” (Fri.) FOX 3.96 63 The Office NBC 3.93 64 According to Jim (8 p.m.) ABC 3.92 -- Friday Night Smackdown CW 3.92

-- Thank God You’re Here NBC 3.92 67 According to Jim (8:30 p.m.) ABC 3.81 -- Cops (8 p.m.) FOX 3.81 69 Ugly Betty ABC 3.61 70 Grey’s Anatomy ABC 3.59

71 Jericho CBS 3.49 72 Men in Trees ABC 3.48 73 Scrubs NBC 3.44 -- George Lopez (9:30 p.m.) ABC 3.44 75 30 Rock NBC 3.41

-- Las Vegas NBC 3.41 77 ER NBC 3.39 -- America’s Got Talent (Sat.) NBC 3.39 -- Set for Life ABC 3.39 80 Familia P. Luche UNI 3.35

81 Aqui y Ahora UNI 3.32 82 Don Francisco Presenta UNI 3.28 83 “NFL Preseason Pregame” (Fri.) FOX 3.25 84 NASCAR In Primetime ABC 3.19 85 George Lopez (9 p.m.) ABC 3.16

86 Heroes NBC 3.10 87 Cristina UNI 3.00 88 Brothers & Sisters ABC 2.96 89 “NFL Preseason Football” (Sat.) CBS 2.89 90 “U.S. Gymnastics Championships” (Sat.) NBC 2.78

91 “Win a Date With Tad Hamilton” ABC 2.76 92 King of the Hill FOX 2.73 -- Amar Sin Limites (Wed.) UNI 2.73 94 Singing Bee (Sat.) NBC 2.72 95 Familia De Diez UNI 2.64

96 Masters of Science Fiction ABC 2.57 97 Yo Amo Juan Querendon (Fri.) UNI 2.46 98 Amar Sin Limites (Mon.) UNI 2.40 99 Yo Amo Juan Querendon (Thu.) UNI 2.39 100 Amar Sin Limites (Tue.) UNI 2.36

101 Til Death FOX 2.34 -- Amar Sin Limites (thu.) UNI 2.34 103 SOS: Sexo y Otros Secretos UNI 2.31 104 Amar Sin Limites (Fri.) UNI 2.24 105 Yo Amo Juan Querendon (Tue.) UNI 2.12

106 Smallville (Thu.) CW 2.08 -- Yo Amo Juan Querendon (Wed.) UNI 2.08 108 On the Lot FOX 2.00 109 Sabado Gigante UNI 1.93 110 Yo Amo Juan Querendon (Mon.) UNI 1.92

111 Hora Pico UNI 1.91 112 Supernatural CW 1.82 113 Buscando Timbiriche UNI 1.66 114 Girlfriends CW 1.65 115 All of Us CW 1.64

116 The Game CW 1.63 117 Everybody Hates Chris CW 1.53 118 America’s Top Model 1 (9 p.m.) CW 1.42 119 America’s Top Model 1 (8 p.m.) CW 1.38 120 Casos Familia Ed Esp UNI 1.29

-- Madre Luna (Mon.) TEL 1.29 122 Gilmore Girls CW 1.27 123 Beauty and the Geek CW 1.25 124 7th Heaven CW 1.23 125 Dame Chocolate (Mon.) TEL 1.15

126 Smallville (Sun.) CW 1.14 127 Esclava Isaura (Thu.) TEL 1.12 -- Madre Luna (Tue.) TEL 1.12 129 Esclava Isaura (Wed.) TEL 1.07 130 Esclava Isaura (Tue.) TEL 1.06

131 Madre Luna (Thu.) TEL 1.05 132 Esclava Isaura (Mon.) TEL 1.03 133 Dame Chocolate (Tue.) TEL 1.02 134 Madre Luna (Wed.) TEL 1.00 135 Madre Luna (Fri.) TEL 0.98

136 Pussycat Dolls CW 0.96 137 Amor Mio (Thu.) TEL 0.94 138 Dame Chocolate (Thu.) TEL 0.91 139 Dame Chocolate (Wed.) TEL 0.89 140 Esclava Isaura (Fri.) TEL 0.88 *--*

Network averages

Here is the number of viewers (in millions) that each network averaged per hour of prime time, for last week and for the season.

*--* Network Last Season week To date CBS 6.71 10.78

FOX 5.97 9.06

NBC 5.32 7.82

ABC 4.44 8.39

UNI 2.89 3.53

CW 1.82 2.79

TEL 0.89 0.90 *--*