‘Fame’ debut hits the spot

With Fox’s phenomenal “American Idol” on summer vacation, NBC is taking advantage with its own talent competition series, “Fame,” which scored with viewers in its premiere last week, according to local Nielsen Media ratings released Tuesday.

The unscripted “Fame,” hosted by Debbie Allen and based on the movie and TV series of the same name, performed well with all age groups, particularly the 18-to-49 demographic. Viewers apparently wanted to watch another talent show on Tuesdays, when “American Idol” usually aired. As on “American Idol,” the home audience gets to vote for favorite performers.

The network’s other talent show special, “Second Chance: The Search for America’s Most Talented Senior,” did not fare as well. But the return of NBC’s “Dog Eat Dog” clobbered its Tuesday night competition.

CBS’ “CSI: Crime Scene Investigation” was again the top-rated show, followed by a “48 Hours Investigates” episode about the mysterious disappearance of a Nashville woman.

On the cable front, FX’s original fact-based movie, “44 Minutes,” about the 1997 North Hollywood shootout between police and bank robbers, was the top-rated program.

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Here are the rankings for national prime-time network television last week (May 26-June 1) 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 CSI CBS 13.35 2 48 Hours Investigates CBS 12.18 3 Law & Order NBC 12.02 4 Everybody Loves Raymond CBS 11.91 5 CSI: Miami CBS 11.62

6 Will & Grace NBC 11.35 7 A Time to Kill CBS 11.00 8 Law & Order: Criminal Intent NBC 10.92 9 60 Minutes CBS 10.90 10 Friends (8:30 p.m.) NBC 10.84

11 Frasier NBC 10.82 12 Law & Order: SVU NBC 10.60 13 Fame NBC 10.55 14 60 Minutes II CBS 10.51 15 America’s Funniest Home Videos ABC 10.26

16 Amazing Race: 4 CBS 9.94 17 “Funny Flubs and Screw-Ups” CBS 9.79 18 King of Queens CBS 9.73 19 Crime and Punishment NBC 9.62 20 Yes, Dear CBS 9.52

21 Still Standing CBS 9.51 22 “The Horse Whisperer” ABC 9.50 23 Friends NBC 9.32 24 20/20 (Fri.) ABC 9.13 25 The Simpsons FOX 8.98

26 Dog Eats Dog (9 p.m.) NBC 8.77 27 ER NBC 8.76 28 Dateline: NBC (Fri.) NBC 8.47 29 America’s Most Wanted FOX 8.46 30 According to Jim ABC 8.44

31 “America’s Most Talented Seniors” NBC 8.26 32 My Wife and Kids (9 p.m.) ABC 8.18 33 Dog Eats Dog NBC 8.14 34 George Lopez (9:30 p.m.) ABC 8.13 35 JAG CBS 8.05

36 Malcolm in the Middle FOX 8.01 37 8 Simple Rules (8:30 p.m.) ABC 8.00 38 Dateline: NBC (Tue.) NBC 7.92 39 “Price Is Right: Million 2” CBS 7.89 40 King of the Hill (Sun., 8:30 p.m.) FOX 7.84

41 The Guardian CBS 7.68 42 My Wife and Kids ABC 7.58 43 8 Simple Rules ABC 7.57 44 Extreme Makeover ABC 7.44 45 George Lopez ABC 7.41

46 Judging Amy CBS 7.26 47 That ‘70s Show (Wed., 8:30 p.m.) FOX 7.23 48 “Psychic Secrets Revealed” NBC 7.18 49 Less Than Perfect ABC 7.08 50 Bernie Mac FOX 7.08

51 NYPD Blue ABC 6.86 52 “Deuce Bigalow: Male Gigolo” FOX 6.79 53 Fear Factor NBC 6.77 54 Dateline: NBC (Sun.) NBC 6.73 55 The Agency CBS 6.70

56 Oliver Beene FOX 6.68 The District CBS 6.68 Malcolm in the Middle (Mon.) FOX 6.68 59 The Simpsons (Mon.) FOX 6.64 60 That ‘70’s Show (Mon., 9 p.m.) FOX 6.59

61 “Ever After” ABC 6.58 62 Primetime Thursday ABC 6.57 63 Cops (8:30 p.m.) FOX 6.48 64 King of the Hill (Mon., 8:30 p.m.) FOX 6.26 65 That ‘70’s Show (Wed., 8 p.m.) FOX 6.23

66 Cedric the Entertainer: Presents FOX 6.14 67 “Stupid Behavior: Caught on Tape” FOX 5.87 68 48 Hours Investigates (Fri.) CBS 5.73 69 Cops FOX 5.70 70 30 Seconds to Fame FOX 5.69

71 WWE Smackdown! UPN 5.29 72 “Making of Fear Factor” NBC 5.11 73 Pulse FOX 5.07 74 King of the Hill (Sun., 7:30 p.m.) FOX 4.88 75 The Practice ABC 4.79

76 “Martha Inc.: Martha Stewart Story” NBC 4.78 77 Hack CBS 4.55 78 JAG (Fri.) CBS 4.40 79 “Alien Resurrection” ABC 4.18 80 Futurama FOX 3.86

81 Alias ABC 3.66 82 “Night of Too Many Stars” NBC 3.54 83 Reba WB 3.45 84 Grounded for Life WB 3.44 85 “Lost and Found” FOX 3.41

86 America’s Next Top Model UPN 3.20 87 Smallville WB 3.11 88 Stanley Cup Final ABC 3.10 89 Dawson’s Creek WB 3.02 90 Charmed WB 2.96

91 Gilmore Girls WB 2.81 92 One On One UPN 2.71 93 Girlfriends UPN 2.66 94 7th Heaven WB 2.57 95 America’s Next Top Model (Repeat) UPN 2.54

96 Half and Half UPN 2.48 97 The Parkers UPN 2.47 98 Jamie Kennedy (9:30 p.m.) WB 2.24 99 What I Like About You WB 2.20 100 Greetings From Tucson WB 2.18

101 Enterprise UPN 2.04 102 Black Sash WB 2.01 103 The Twilight Zone UPN 1.98 104 “On Deadly Ground” UPN 1.96 105 Sabrina, Teenage Witch WB 1.95

106 Gilmore Girls: Beginnings WB 1.74 107 O’Keefes WB 1.70 108 Jamie Kennedy WB 1.68 109 Everwood WB 1.46

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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 9.19 12.39

NBC 8.36 11.51

ABC 6.79 9.80

FOX 6.16 9.82

UPN 2.94 3.50

WB 2.47 4.03

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