NBC hits home runs in Nielsens

Fox’s airing of baseball’s All-Star game was the top-rated show of last week, but NBC was the network doing the major celebrating with several of its shows scoring with viewers, according to national Nielsen ratings released Tuesday.

NBC came out on top in the coveted 18-to-49 demographic for the eighth consecutive week and also won the ratings crown for total viewers.

One key to the victory was the highly rated “Dateline NBC” special featuring an interview with Jennifer Lopez and Ben Affleck. More than 9 million viewers tuned into “Dateline,” which drew criticism from television writers who said it had little news value other than serving as a promotion for the couple’s upcoming film, “Gigli.”

As has been the case regularly through the summer, the “Law & Order” franchise provided the bulk of NBC’s strength, with the original series, plus spinoffs “Law & Order: Criminal Intent” and “Law & Order: SVU” all finishing in the top 10.

Less encouraging for the network was the mediocre premiere for its much-promoted series “The Restaurant,” a new unscripted series about a New York restaurant. It finished in 33rd place.

Friday’s opening of “Bad Boys II” couldn’t help the WB’s repeat showing of the original “Bad Boys” film. It finished in 81st place.

On the cable networks, the Disney Channel scored with the premiere of a movie and the return of a hit series. Its original film, “Eddie’s Million Dollar Cook-Off” and the second season launch of “Kim Possible” led the basic cable network to its best-ever weekly ratings in its key demographic since 1995.

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Here are the rankings for national prime-time network television last week (July 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 there are 272.04 million potential viewers in the U.S. age 2 and older. Viewership is listed in millions.

*--* 1 “Major League All-Star Game” FOX 13.81 2 Law & Order NBC 12.45 3 CSI CBS 12.02 4 Everybody Loves Raymond CBS 11.06 5 CSI: Miami CBS 10.81

6 Law & Order: Criminal Intent NBC 10.59 7 Dateline: NBC (Thu.) NBC 10.57 8 Without a Trace CBS 10.53 9 King of Queens CBS 10.50 10 Law & Order: SVU NBC 10.44

11 60 Minutes CBS 9.53 12 Law & Order (9 p.m.) NBC 9.49 13 Dateline: NBC (Tue.) NBC 9.24 14 60 Minutes II CBS 9.17 15 CSI (Sun.) CBS 9.10

16 “All-Star Pre-Game” FOX 8.81 17 Will & Grace NBC 8.64 18 Big Brother 4 (Wed.) CBS 8.62 19 Fear Factor NBC 8.52 20 Who Wants to Marry My Dad? NBC 8.50

21 Friends NBC 8.49 22 For Love or Money 2 NBC 8.20 23 America’s Funniest Home Videos ABC 8.02 24 Will & Grace (9:30 p.m.) NBC 8.00 25 Still Standing CBS 7.96

26 Dateline: NBC (Fri.) NBC 7.90 27 “Analyze This” CBS 7.82 28 Dateline: NBC (Sun.) NBC 7.81 29 Amazing Race: 4 CBS 7.78 Big Brother 4 CBS 7.78

31 Cupid (Wed.) CBS 7.71 32 George Lopez ABC 7.60 33 Restaurant NBC 7.49 Yes, Dear CBS 7.49 35 According to Jim ABC 7.44

36 Dog Eat Dog NBC 7.11 The Simpsons FOX 7.11 38 8 Simple Rules ABC 7.07 39 Last Comic Standing NBC 7.02 40 My Wife and Kids ABC 6.86

41 Less Than Perfect ABC 6.83 42 America’s Most Wanted FOX 6.82 43 NYPD Blue ABC 6.67 44 Big Brother 4 (Fri.) CBS 6.64 Malcolm in the Middle (9:30 p.m.) FOX 6.64

46 Primetime Thursday ABC 6.59 47 Paradise Hotel (Wed.) FOX 6.39 48 That ‘70s Show FOX 6.29 49 Paradise Hotel (Mon.) FOX 6.20 50 20/20 (Fri.) ABC 6.15

51 Malcolm in the Middle FOX 6.09 52 American Juniors (Wed.) FOX 5.87 53 48 Hours Investigates (Fri.) CBS 5.76 54 Cupid (Tue.) CBS 5.70 The District CBS 5.70

56 The Drew Carey Show (9:30 p.m.) ABC 5.66 57 Cops (8:30 p.m.) ‘FOX 5.64 58 “Small Soldiers” ABC 5.62 Banzai FOX 5.62 60 JAG CBS 5.60

Whose Line Is It Anyway? (9:30 p.m.) ABC 5.60 62 “Primetime Special Edition” ABC 5.58 63 Whose Line Is It Anyway? ABC 5.47 64 Life With Bonnie ABC 5.46 65 Fame NBC 5.44

66 Stupid Behavior: Caught on Tape FOX 5.43 67 The Drew Carey Show ABC 5.40 68 WWE Smackdown! UPN 5.37 69 Cops FOX 5.36 70 King of the Hill FOX 5.23

71 Judging Amy CBS 5.18 72 30 Seconds to Fame FOX 5.13 73 48 Hours Investigates (Sat.) CBS 5.11 74 “Stupid Behavior Special” (Mon.) FOX 5.07 75 The Practice ABC 4.82

76 Hack CBS 4.78 77 Dragnet ABC 4.58 78 Futurama FOX 4.32 79 “The Disco Ball” ABC 4.31 80 Anything For Love FOX 4.28

81 “Bad Boys” WB 4.27 82 Pulse FOX 4.20 83 “Bowfinger” NBC 4.18 84 Life With Bonnie (8 p.m.) ABC 3.98 85 Alias ABC 3.96

86 One on One UPN 3.91 87 Bernie Mac (8:30 p.m.) FOX 3.90 88 Bernie Mac FOX 3.66 89 Life With Bonnie (9:30 p.m.) ABC 3.47 90 Girlfriends UPN 3.45

91 The Parkers UPN 3.41 92 Life With Bonnie (8:30 p.m.) ABC 3.23 93 Reba WB 3.21 94 Smallville WB 3.19 95 The Dating Experiment ABC 3.18

Half and Half UPN 3.18 97 Life With Bonnie (9 p.m.) ABC 3.03 98 “Krippendorf’s Tribe” ABC 2.92 99 Gilmore Girls WB 2.86 100 Boston Public FOX 2.67

101 Reba (8 p.m.) WB 2.64 102 7th Heaven WB 2.63 103 Just Shoot Me (8:30 p.m.) NBC 2.62 104 Enterprise UPN 2.59 Grounded for Life WB 2.59

106 The Twilight Zone UPN 2.54 107 7th Heaven (9 p.m.) WB 2.51 108 Just Shoot Me (8 p.m.) NBC 2.39 109 What I Like About You WB 2.37 110 Charmed WB 2.08

111 Abby UPN 2.03 112 Buffy the Vampire Slayer UPN 1.90 113 One on One (Tue.) UPN 1.84 114 Boarding House (Sun.) WB 1.78 115 Boarding House (Wed.) WB 1.77

116 “Pepsi Smash” WB 1.72 117 Gilmore Girls: Beginnings WB 1.67 118 “Super Cop 2” UPN 1.63

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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 NBC 7.92 10.93

CBS 7.81 11.68

FOX 6.74 9.20

ABC 5.17 9.17

UPN 2.99 3.42

WB 2.63 3.79

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