PRIME-TIME TV RANKINGS

Continuing a trend this summer, Sunday’s premieres of first-run scripted programming on ABC and NBC drew lackluster ratings, with viewers preferring CBS reruns.

The debut of NBC’s take on the Arthurian legend, “Merlin,” drew 5.34 million viewers, putting it second in its Sunday 8-9 p.m. time slot and 26th among all prime-time programs on broadcast television between June 15 and Sunday.

A rerun of CBS’ “Million Dollar Password” won the time slot with 6.25 million viewers, finishing 19th for the week.

From 9-10 p.m. Sunday, a second episode of “Merlin” topped the opening hour of the premiere of the ABC miniseries “Impact,” but both trailed a rerun of “Cold Case” on CBS.

All told, CBS had nine of the week’s 10 most-watched programs and finished first for the week, averaging 6.96 million viewers for its prime-time programming, according to figures released Tuesday by Nielsen Media Research.

Fox Broadcasting was second overall but ranked No. 1 among viewers ages 18-49, the group that many advertisers covet. Episodes of Fox’s “So You Think You Can Dance” were the week’s two most-watched programs in that category.

Fox also led among viewers ages 12-17 and 18-34, while CBS was first among viewers ages 25-54 and 55 and older.

The third episode of USA Network’s medical series “Royal Pains,” with Mark Feuerstein, was the week’s most-watched cable program, averaging 6.50 million viewers, which would have put it in 19th place among the programs on broadcast television.

USA Network had 10 of the week’s 12 most-watched cable programs to be the most-watched cable channel in prime time for the third consecutive week, averaging 3.95 million viewers.

Here are the rankings for national prime-time network television last week (June 15-21) 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 286 million potential viewers in the U.S. ages 2 and older. Viewership is listed in millions.

*--* Program Net- work View- ers *--*

*--* 1 NCIS CBS 10.39 2 Two and a Half Men CBS 10.19 3 The Mentalist (Tue.) CBS 10.12 4 CSI CBS 9.71 5 The Mentalist CBS 8.97 *--*

*--* 6 So You Think You Can Dance (Wed.) FOX 8.48 7 The Big Bang Theory CBS 8.42 8 60 Minutes CBS 8.30 9 CSI: Miami CBS 8.25 10 Criminal Minds CBS 8.04 *--*

*--* 11 Wipeout ABC 7.99 12 So You Think You Can Dance (Thu.) FOX 7.98 13 CSI: NY CBS 7.80 14 NCIS (Thu., 8 p.m.) CBS 7.60 15 48 Hours Mystery (Tue.) CBS 7.20 *--*

*--* 16 The Bachelorette ABC 6.76 17 Cold Case CBS 6.75 18 Without a Trace (Sun.) CBS 6.70 19 Million Dollar Password CBS 6.25 20 The Big Bang Theory (Mon., 8 p.m.) CBS 6.05 *--*

*--* 21 Dateline (Mon.) NBC 5.69 22 How I Met Your Mother CBS 5.67 23 Dateline (Fri.) NBC 5.64 24 Law & Order: SVU NBC 5.60 25 I Survived a Japanese Game Show ABC 5.34 *--*

*--* 26 Merlin (Sun.) NBC 5.34 27 48 Hours Mystery CBS 5.28 28 Merlin NBC 5.19 29 I’m a Celebrity (Thu.) NBC 5.07 30 I’m a Celebrity (Mon.) NBC 5.01 *--*

*--* 31 Numb3rs CBS 5.01 32 Law & Order NBC 4.95 33 House FOX 4.92 34 Manana Es Para Siempre (Mon.) UNI 4.89 35 Manana Es Para Siempre (Thu.) UNI 4.84 *--*

*--* 36 Bones FOX 4.84 37 Manana Es Para Siempre (Wed.) UNI 4.82 38 Flashpoint CBS 4.81 39 Ghost Whisperer CBS 4.73 40 Manana Es Para Siempre (Tue.) UNI 4.71 *--*

*--* 41 I’m a Celebrity (Tue.) NBC 4.70 42 Movie: “Impact” (Part 1, Sun.) ABC 4.69 43 Mental FOX 4.62 44 Lie to Me (Mon., 9 p.m.) FOX 4.52 45 Law & Order: SVU (Tue., 9 p.m.) NBC 4.50 *--*

*--* 46 Manana Es Para Siempre (Fri.) UNI 4.43 47 Cops 2 FOX 4.30 Law & Order: SVU (Sat.) NBC 4.30 49 America’s Most Wanted: America Fights Back FOX 4.21 50 20/20 (Fri.) ABC 4.20 *--*

*--* 51 Family Guy FOX 4.19 52 Gary Unmarried CBS 4.17 53 Cuidado con el Angel (Thu.) UNI 4.14 54 The New Adventures of Old Christine CBS 4.10 55 I’m a Celebrity (Wed.) NBC 4.06 *--*

*--* 56 Saturday (Sat., 8 p.m.) CBS 4.05 57 Here Come the Newlyweds ABC 4.04 58 Cuidado con el Angel (Mon.) UNI 3.96 59 Law & Order: SVU (Sun.) NBC 3.94 60 Cuidado con el Angel (Wed.) UNI 3.89 *--*

*--* 61 Extreme Makeover: Home Edition (8 p.m.) ABC 3.86 62 House (Tue., 8 p.m.) FOX 3.85 63 The Simpsons FOX 3.84 64 Listener NBC 3.83 Tontas No Van al Cielo (Fri.) UNI 3.83 *--*

*--* 66 The Unusuals ABC 3.80 67 Crimetime Saturday CBS 3.75 68 Law & Order (Wed., 9 p.m.) NBC 3.68 Cuidado con el Angel (Tue.) UNI 3.68 70 Don’t Forget the Lyrics FOX 3.63 *--*

*--* 71 American Dad FOX 3.61 Law & Order (Sat.) NBC 3.61 73 Tontas No Van al Cielo (Wed.) UNI 3.48 74 Tontas No Van al Cielo (Thu.) UNI 3.37 75 America’s Funniest Home Videos ABC 3.34 *--*

*--* 76 Tontas No Van al Cielo (Mon.) UNI 3.32 77 King of the Hill FOX 3.29 The Office NBC 3.29 79 Cristina (Mon.) UNI 3.28 80 Cops FOX 3.27 *--*

*--* 81 Wipeout (Sat., 8 p.m.) ABC 3.22 82 Mujeres Asesinas (Thu.) UNI 3.20 83 Rosa de Guadalupe (Fri.) UNI 3.16 84 Don Francisco Presenta (Wed.) UNI 3.03 Tontas No Van al Cielo (Tue.) UNI 3.03 *--*

*--* 86 According to Jim (Tue., 8 p.m.) ABC 3.02 Aqui y Ahora (Tue.) UNI 3.02 88 According to Jim (Tue., 8:30 p.m.) ABC 2.82 *--*

*--* 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 6.96 10.67 Fox 4.74 8.75 NBC 4.57 7.09 ABC 3.68 8.1 UNI 3.28 3.84 *--*