The ‘Dog’ Days of Summer

Unscripted summer replacement shows continue to make inroads as an alternative to network reruns, boosting results for NBC, Fox and CBS last week, based on viewing estimates issued Tuesday by Nielsen Media Research.

NBC’s “Dog Eat Dog” and Fox’s “American Idol” remain success stories. Both shows are performing disproportionately well among young adult viewers, with the latter’s two editions topping the weekly standings among adults ages 18 to 49. Bolstered by “Idol” (and baseball’s All-Star Game a few weeks ago), Fox has now at least shared first place by that measure three straight weeks--a record for the network.

Results have been somewhat more uneven for CBS’ third edition of “Big Brother,” with the show faring best on Wednesdays.

CBS’ “CSI: Crime Scene Investigation” and NBC’s “Law & Order” franchise also continue to exhibit impressive repeatability, in contrast to many other dramatic series; in fact, four programs under the “Law” umbrella placed in the top 20, including the reality-based “Crime & Punishment.”

ABC, meanwhile, is still struggling. Other than newsmagazines “PrimeTime Thursday” and “20/20,” its next most-watched program was “America’s Funniest Home Videos” at No. 48 last week.

Brian Lowry

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National Nielsen Viewership

Here are the rankings for national prime-time network television last week (July 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 269 million potential viewers in the U.S. age 2 and older. Viewership is listed in millions.

*--* Program Network Viewers 1 CSI CBS 14.14 2 Everybody Loves Raymond CBS 11.46 3 Dateline NBC (Tue.) NBC 10.97 Law & Order NBC 10.97 5 Dog Eat Dog NBC 10.72 6 American Idol (Tue.) FOX 10.28 7 Law & Order: Criminal Intent NBC 10.15 8 60 Minutes CBS 10.06 9 Becker CBS 10.05 10 48 Hours (Mon.) CBS 9.81 11 Primetime Thursday ABC 9.74 12 American Idol (Wed.) FOX 9.39 13 Big Brother 3 (Wed.) CBS 8.93 Crime & Punishment NBC 8.93 15 20/20 (Fri.) ABC 8.89 16 “Emma’s Wish” CBS 8.87 17 Friends NBC 8.85 18 The Simpsons (8:30 p.m.) FOX 8.82 19 Fear Factor NBC 8.49 20 Law & Order: SVU NBC 8.42 21 Crossing Jordan NBC 8.35 22 60 Minutes II CBS 8.21 23 Yes, Dear CBS 8.18 24 “Most Outrageous Game Show Moments” NBC 8.12 25 30 Seconds to Fame FOX 8.07 26 Dateline NBC (Sun.) NBC 7.93 27 Big Brother 3 (Thu.) CBS 7.85 28 The Simpsons FOX 7.80 29 Dateline NBC (Fri.) NBC 7.79 30 The Agency CBS 7.78 31 Will & Grace NBC 7.75 Cops (9 p.m.) FOX 7.75 33 Malcolm in the Middle FOX 7.72 34 Cops (9:30 p.m.) FOX 7.55 35 King of Queens CBS 7.52 36 The West Wing NBC 7.38 37 “Happy Gilmore” FOX 7.32 38 Scrubs (Thu., 8:30 p.m.) NBC 7.25 39 Cops (8:30 p.m.) FOX 7.10 40 The Guardian CBS 7.06 41 30 Seconds to Fame (Sun.) FOX 7.05 42 Judging Amy CBS 6.97 43 Touched by an Angel CBS 6.96 44 48 Hours (Wed.) CBS 6.95 45 Just Shoot Me NBC 6.92 46 JAG CBS 6.91 47 48 Hours CBS 6.87 48 Fun. Home Videos (8 p.m.) ABC 6.86 49 State v ABC 6.83 50 Spy TV (8 p.m.) NBC 6.82 51 Frasier NBC 6.80 52 ER NBC 6.74 Spy TV (8:30 p.m.) NBC 6.74 54 The Bernie Mac Show FOX 6.72 55 My Wife & Kids (8:30 p.m.) ABC 6.61 56 Dateline NBC (Fri.) NBC 6.59 57 Mole II: The Next Betrayal ABC 6.55 58 Meet the Marks FOX 6.47 59 Scrubs NBC 6.43 60 Whose Line Is It Anyway? (Fri., 9:30 p.m.) ABC 6.38 61 That ‘70s Show FOX 6.26 62 “The Phantom” ABC 6.13 63 Beyond Belief: Fact/Fiction FOX 6.05 My Wife & Kids ABC 6.05 65 The Simpsons (7:30 p.m.) FOX 5.98 66 “The President’s Man” CBS 5.97 67 “Pleasantville” ABC 5.90 “Babe: Pig in the City” ABC 5.90 69 Houston Medical ABC 5.86 70 The Drew Carey Show ABC 5.85 71 Cops FOX 5.76 72 Big Brother 3 (Sat.) CBS 5.66 73 Drew Carey (9:30 p.m.) ABC 5.56 74 Whose Line? (Fri., 9 p.m.) ABC 5.51 WWE Smackdown! UPN 5.51 76 According to Jim (8 p.m.) ABC 5.37 77 According to Jim ABC 5.20 78 “The Shining” Pt. 1 ABC 5.04 79 She Spies NBC 4.89 80 The Agency (Sat.) CBS 4.80 “Diamonds Are Forever” ABC 4.80 82 The District CBS 4.73 83 Pulse FOX 4.63 84 The Simpsons (7 p.m.) FOX 4.52 85 Invasion: Hidden Cameras (8 p.m.) FOX 4.31 86 “Species” NBC 4.22 87 Invasion: Hidden Cameras (8:30 p.m.) FOX 4.18 88 Smallville WB 3.23 89 Reba WB 3.22 90 The Parkers UPN 3.17 91 Girlfriends UPN 3.10 92 One on One UPN 2.95 93 7th Heaven WB 2.89 94 “Dumb and Dumber” WB 2.85 95 “Outbreak” UPN 2.78 96 Gilmore Girls WB 2.57 97 Raising Dad WB 2.56 98 The Hughleys UPN 2.51 99 Reba (Thu.) WB 2.51 100 Sabrina, the Teenage Witch WB 2.39 101 The X-Files FOX 2.34 102 Smallville (Mon.) WB 2.29 103 Enterprise UPN 2.24 104 Charmed WB 1.83 105 Maybe It’s Me WB 1.77 Angel WB 1.77 107 Jamie Kennedy (8:30 p.m.) WB 1.66 108 For Your Love (7:30 p.m.) WB 1.63 109 Jamie Kennedy (9 p.m.) WB 1.57 110 Buffy the Vampire Slayer UPN 1.45 Off Centre WB 1.45 112 For Your Love (7 p.m.) WB 1.37 113 Buffy, Vampire Slayer (Wed.) UPN 1.30 114 Under One Roof UPN 0.98

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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 week Season to date CBS 7.83 11.49 NBC 7.80 12.47 FOX 6.72 8.56 ABC 6.10 8.94 UPN 2.84 4.00 WB 2.34 3.50

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