‘American Juniors’ looks like a winner

The battle of the unscripted network talent competition shows ended with a decisive victory for Fox’s “American Idol” spinoff “American Juniors,” which came in far ahead of NBC’s “Fame” last week, according to local Nielsen ratings released Tuesday.

“American Juniors,” which pits young performers -- and their parents -- against each other, was the highest-rated new show of the summer, and finished in the top-10 most popular shows among total viewers. “Fame” meanwhile, dropped five places to No. 18 last week.

NBC had reason to celebrate with the hit performance of the Miss Universe pageant, and with its unscripted series “For Love or Money” and “Fear Factor.”

Other specials, including CBS’ broadcast of “The 57th Annual Tony Awards” and the American Film Institute’s tribute to movie heroes and villains, were not viewer favorites. The Tonys broadcast, in particular, dropped in total viewership from last year.

ABC, in the meantime, is having its own problems with the dismal showings of the NBA Finals featuring the San Antonio Spurs and New Jersey Nets. The average ratings for the first three games tied the 1981 finals as the lowest three-game viewer average. ABC’s broadcast of hockey’s Stanley Cup Finals featuring the Mighty Ducks were also far less than mighty in terms of viewership.

The network did, however, score with Barbara Walters’ interview with former first lady and current New York Sen. Hillary Clinton on Sunday night. The news special was the week’s fourth-most-watched program.

*

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 9.05 12.30

NBC 9.05 11.44

FOX 6.77 9.74

ABC 6.77 9.72

UPN 2.97 3.49

UPN 2.70 4.00

*--*

*

Here are the rankings for national prime-time network television last week (June 2-8) 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 Everybody Loves Raymond CBS 15.27 2 CSI CBS 14.75 3 CSI: Miami CBS 13.73 4 “Hillary Clinton’s Journey” ABC 13.53 5 Law & Order: Criminal Intent NBC 12.95

6 Still Standing CBS 12.89 7 Law & Order NBC 12.79 8 Without a Trace CBS 12.68 9 Miss Universe Pageant NBC 12.07 10 American Juniors FOX 11.94

11 Law & Order: SVU NBC 11.81 12 Law & Order (9 p.m.) NBC 11.73 13 Yes, Dear CBS 10.84 14 NBA Finals: Game 3 ABC 10.76 15 48 Hours Investigates CBS 10.66

16 For Love or Money NBC 10.23 17 60 Minutes II CBS 10.00 18 Fame NBC 9.95 19 Dateline NBC (Fri.) NBC 9.92 20 60 Minutes CBS 9.76

21 Crime & Punishment NBC 9.67 22 Friends NBC 9.63 23 NBA Finals: Game 1 ABC 9.60 24 King of Queens CBS 9.52 The Simpsons FOX 9.52

26 Frasier (9:30 p.m.) NBC 9.42 27 Will & Grace NBC 9.07 28 Fear Factor NBC 8.95 29 Law & Order: Criminal Intent (8 p.m.) NBC 8.94 30 ER NBC 8.85

31 According to Jim ABC 8.78 32 “Price Is Right: Million 3” CBS 8.75 33 Dog Eat Dog NBC 8.52 34 Scrubs NBC 8.50 35 That ‘70s Show FOX 8.39

36 Amazing Race: 4 CBS 8.27 37 NBA Finals: Game 2 ABC 8.06 38 Tony Awards CBS 7.86 39 Bernie Mac FOX 7.80 “AFI 100 Years, 100 Heroes” CBS 7.80

41 8 Simples Rules ... (8:30 p.m.) ABC 7.78 42 King of Hill (8:30 p.m.) FOX 7.71 43 Keen Eddie FOX 7.60 44 NYPD Blue ABC 7.55 45 48 Hours Investigates (Fri.) CBS 7.45

46 “Austin Powers 2” FOX 7.40 47 The District CBS 7.36 48 America’s Most Wanted FOX 7.27 49 Malcolm in the Middle FOX 7.26 50 8 Simple Rules ABC 7.21

51 “Stupid Behavior” FOX 7.15 52 That ‘70s Show FOX 7.11 53 The Agency CBS 7.07 54 Tom Brokaw Reports NBC 6.88 55 Less Than Perfect ABC 6.78

56 “Celine in Las Vegas” CBS 6.66 57 Cedric the Entertainer FOX 6.48 30 Seconds to Fame FOX 6.48 59 Baby Bob CBS 6.00 60 Yes, Dear (Fri.) CBS 5.92

61 Oliver Beene FOX 5.79 62 King of the Hill FOX 5.75 63 NBA Shoot-Around Game 3 ABC 5.72 64 Cops (8:30 p.m.) FOX 5.65 65 Cops FOX 4.87

66 Futurama FOX 4.79 Pulse FOX 4.79 68 Hack CBS 4.69 69 NBA Shoot-Around Game 1 ABC 4.68 70 “Carrie” NBC 4.55

71 WWE Smackdown! UPN 4.52 72 NBA Shoot-Around Game 2 ABC 4.44 73 America’s Next Model UPN 4.13 74 Fastlane (9 p.m.) FOX 4.09 75 Stanley Cup Finals: Game 4 ABC 4.04

76 Stanley Cup Finals: Game 5 ABC 3.95 77 7th Heaven WB 3.80 78 Stanley Cup Finals: Game 6 ABC 3.77 79 Fastlane FOX 3.69 80 Reba WB 3.35

81 One on One UPN 3.29 82 Half and Half UPN 3.15 83 Girlfriends UPN 3.09 84 The Parkers UPN 3.07 85 Reba (8:30 p.m.) WB 2.94

86 Charmed WB 2.87 87 Grounded for Life WB 2.86 88 What I Like About You WB 2.69 89 “Ready to Rumble” WB 2.63 90 Stanley Cup Postgame: Game 5 ABC 2.62

91 Everwood WB 2.60 92 Smallville WB 2.57 93 Jamie Kennedy WB 2.56 94 Gilmore Girls WB 2.43 95 Sabrina WB 2.22

96 Enterprise UPN 2.14 97 Everwood (Sun.) WB 2.12 98 “Fled” UPN 2.04 99 The Twilight Zone UPN 2.02 100 America’s Next Top Model UPN 2.00

101 O’Keefes WB 1.84

*--*