Sports Scores for ABC

“Monday Night Football” and the Little League World Series helped bring some viewers back into ABC’s tent last week, while tune-in for Fox’s “American Idol” surged as the show builds toward its finale, based on viewing estimates issued Tuesday by Nielsen Media Research.

Buffeted much of the summer, ABC posted its biggest average audience since May, as the Little League World Series championship--benefiting from its move to a major network in prime time--drew its biggest audience since at least 1993.

That said, ABC was still down 25% compared to the same week last year, while the other major networks each recorded gains of 12% or more--thanks largely to replacement series such as “Big Brother,” “Dog Eat Dog” and “American Idol.”

According to Fox, “Idol” became its first regularly scheduled series to finish No. 1 in prime time since “The Simpsons” during the summer a dozen years ago. Fox still ranked fourth overall last week but led the pack among adults age 18 to 49--the key measure among advertisers, and a demographic by which “Idol” has topped the charts for six consecutive weeks.

One recent boon for ABC has been the USA network series “Monk,” which held its own despite facing “Idol” and improved on its ABC premiere the week before by 1.5 million viewers, roughly doubling what the series had been averaging on cable.

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Brian Lowry