‘Sopranos’ Season Finale a Big Hit

“The Sopranos” season finale attracted an impressive mob by pay channel HBO’s standards to overshadow the network competition during the last Sunday shootout of the May rating sweeps, based on viewing estimates issued Tuesday by Nielsen Media Research.

The Mafia drama starring James Gandolfini drew an estimated 9.5 million viewers Sunday, despite the fact HBO is available in only about a third of U.S. homes with television. Tune-in ranks behind only this season’s two-hour “Sopranos” opener, which averaged 11.3 million viewers, and represents a 5% jump over the second-season finale.

NBC’s movie troubles continued, meanwhile, as the submarine drama “Submerged” sank opposite the first part of ABC’s “Anne Frank” miniseries; CBS’ “Like Mother, Like Son,” with Mary Tyler Moore; and “The X-Files” season finale, which gave birth to both Scully’s baby and the show’s highest rating since February.

The week was otherwise highlighted by NBC’s finales, as “Friends”--without “Survivor” to kick it around--climbed to its highest rating in a year and “ER” delivered its second-biggest audience this season. CBS’ “CSI” made things interesting, however, in the bridge hour between them opposite NBC’s “Will & Grace.”

A cliffhanging “The West Wing” also soared to its second-highest rating ever, helping the seemingly ageless “Law & Order” post its biggest audience in the drama’s 11-year run.

National Nielsen Viewership

Here are the rankings for national prime-time network television last week (May 14-20) 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 that there are 260 million potential U.S. viewers age 2 and older. Viewership is listed here in millions.

*--*

Net- View- Program work ers 1. ER NBC 30.72 2. Friends NBC 30.05 3. Law & Order NBC 21.55 4. The West Wing NBC 20.72 5. Will & Grace NBC 20.50 6. CSI CBS 18.98 7. Every. Loves Ray. CBS 17.22 8. Millionaire (Tue.) ABC 16.35 9. “Like Mother/Son” CBS 16.14 10. Frasier NBC 15.63 11. Becker CBS 15.24 12. Millionaire (Sun.) ABC 14.97 13. Judging Amy CBS 14.42 14. The X-Files FOX 14.01 15. “Anne Frank” Part 1 ABC 13.99 16. Millionaire (Fri.) ABC 13.94 17. Malcolm in the Middle FOX 13.77 18. 60 Minutes CBS 13.65 19. Millionaire (Wed.) ABC 13.44 20. The Simpsons FOX 13.43 21. Touched by an Angel CBS 13.14 22. The District CBS 12.95 23. NYPD Blue ABC 12.93 24. Millionaire (Thur.) ABC 12.67 25. Ally McBeal FOx 12.65 26. Providence NBC 12.57 27. 20/20 (Fri.) ABC 12.15 28. Dharma & Greg ABC 12.12 29. Third Watch NBC 12.04 30. The Weakest Link NBC 11.60 31. JAG CBS 11.31 32. CSI (8 p.m.) CBS 11.10 33. Dateline NBC (Mon.) NBC 11.02 34. King of Queens CBS 11.01 35. Walker, Texas Ranger CBS 10.82 Family Law CBS 10.82 37. Boston Public FOX 10.76 38. “Submerged” NBC 10.55 39. Yes, Dear CBS 10.53 40. The Simpsons (7:30 p.m.) FOX 10.41 41. Boot Camp FOX 10.39 42. “Con Air” ABC 10.36 43. “Daytime Emmy Awards” NBC 10.28 44. Ed NBC 10.24 45. That ‘70s Show FOX 10.22 46. Titus FOX 10.13 47. Primetime Thursday ABC 10.06 48. 60 Minutes II CBS 9.52 49. Dateline NBC (Tue.) NBC 9.30 50. 48 Hours (Wed.) CBS 9.29 51. Dark Angel FOX 9.15 52. The Drew Carey Show ABC 8.81 53. “Blonde” Part 2 CBS 8.79 54. Spin City ABC 8.74 55. Grounded for Life FOX 8.73 56. That ‘70s Show (Wed.) FOX 8.60 57. 48 Hours CBS 8.27 58. The Simpsons (7 p.m.) FOX 8.11 59. What About Joan ABC 7.97 60. Two Guys and a Girl ABC 7.65 61. “Something About Mary” FOX 7.43 62. “Classic TV Bloopers” ABC 7.41 63. Whose Line? (Fri., 8:30) ABC 7.34 64. 7th Heaven WB 7.27 65. Cops (8:30) FOX 7.23 66. Dateline NBC (Sun.) NBC 7.21 67. America’s Most Wanted FOX 7.09 68. Whose Line? (Fri., 8 p.m.) ABC 6.66 69. Two Guys/a Girl (8 p.m.) ABC 6.43 WWF Smackdown! UPN 6.43 “Under Siege 2” NBC 6.43 72. The Fighting Fitzgeralds NBC 6.23 73. 3rd Rock From the Sun NBC 6.18 74. “The Bodyguard” ABC 6.00 75. “Batman and Robin” CBS 5.70 76. Cops FOX 5.68 77. America’s Most Wanted FOX 5.61 78. Star Trek: Voyager UPN 5.55 79. Whose Line? (Thur., 8:30) ABC 5.48 80. Dawson’s Creek WB 5.45 81. Whose Line? (Thur., 8 p.m.) ABC 5.41 82. Charmed WB 5.26 83. Angel WB 5.18 84. Buffy the Vampire Slayer WB 4.76 85. Felicity WB 3.89 86. Roswell WB 3.58 87. The Parkers UPN 3.57 88. Sabrina/Witch (8:30 p.m.) WB 3.33 89. Charmed (8 p.m.) WB 3.31 90. Special Unit 2 UPN 3.30 91. The Steve Harvey Show WB 3.27 Girlfriends UPN 3.27 93. Sabrina, the Teenage Witch WB 3.10 94. For Your Love WB 3.06 95. The Hughleys UPN 3.00 96. Moesha UPN 2.91 97. The PJs WB 2.78 98. Nikki WB 2.64 99. Popular WB 2.62 100. The Oblongs WB 2.40 101. The Jamie Foxx Show WB 2.09 102. “Dark City” UPN 2.01 103. 7 Days UPN 1.90 104. Chains of Love UPN 1.82

*--*

Network Averages

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

*--*

Last Season week to date NBC 13.57 million 11.58 CBS 11.32 12.53 ABC 10.42 12.50 FOX 9.16 9.59 WB 4.05 3.73 UPN 3.58 3.73

*--*