A triumph for Trump on NBC

If Regis Philbin once “saved” ABC, Donald Trump has certain bragging rights at NBC.

In two months, “The Apprentice” has made a huge difference on Thursday nights for NBC, an evening the network was worried about because of the impending conclusion of “Friends.”

Last week was typical: “The Apprentice” was No. 6 in weekly prime-time ratings, with 19.2 million viewers, despite competing against television’s most popular program, “CSI: Crime Scene Investigation,” according to data released Tuesday by Nielsen Media Research.

By running “The Apprentice” from 9 to 10 p.m. and moving “Will & Grace” to 8:30, NBC is able to avoid its oft-repeated problem of putting two struggling comedies on the Thursday schedule. Partly as a result, NBC has been able to win or stay competitive among viewers ages 18 to 49. For the full week, “American Idol” pushed Fox to first over NBC in that demographic.

NBC will still have to deal with a Thursday night without “Friends” next season, but Trump has made that prospect less scary. NBC has already locked up Trump to appear in two more seasons.

CBS had its own Thursday triumph; “Without a Trace” won the 10 p.m. hour with just under 20 million viewers.

Ratings juggernaut “American Idol” helped only one of two Fox shows that debuted last week. Tuesday’s preview airing of “Cracking Up” after “Idol” finished in 20th place. But the heavily promoted “Wonderfalls” only managed 93rd place in overall viewers.

For the week, the networks stacked up in their common order: CBS in first, averaging 12 million viewers. NBC was next with 10.2 million, Fox had 9.5 million, ABC 7.7 million, UPN 3.3 million and the WB 3.2 million.

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Here are the rankings for national prime-time network television last week (March 8-14) 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 27.40 2 American Idol (Tue.) FOX 24.57 3 Survivor: All-Stars CBS 22.63 4 American Idol (Wed.) FOX 22.02 5 Without a Trace CBS 19.68

6 Apprentice NBC 19.21 7 Everybody Loves Raymond CBS 16.69 8 Friends NBC 16.57 9 Cold Case CBS 15.92 10 Will & Grace NBC 15.61

11 CSI: Miami CBS 15.38 12 Fear Factor NBC 15.15 13 Two and a Half Men CBS 14.70 14 Law & Order: Criminal Intent NBC 14.62 15 “Princess Diana: Secret Tapes 2” NBC 14.20

16 Law & Order NBC 13.04 17 Crossing Jordan NBC 12.79 18 60 Minutes CBS 12.54 19 “Family Sins” CBS 12.30 20 “Cracking Up Preview” (Tue.) FOX 11.25

21 That ‘70s Show FOX 10.88 22 Still Standing CBS 10.74 23 The Simpsons FOX 10.67 24 JAG CBS 10.45 25 NYPD Blue ABC 10.38

26 Law & Order (9 p.m.) NBC 10.23 27 Extreme Makeover (Wed.) ABC 9.83 28 Yes, Dear CBS 9.81 29 Extreme Makeover (Sun.) ABC 9.70 30 Crossing Jordan (Fri.) NBC 9.69

20/20 (Mon.) ABC 9.69 32 Joan of Arcadia CBS 9.64 33 The Guardian CBS 9.55 34 “Cracking Up Preview” (Wed.) FOX 9.50 35 Dateline: NBC (Sun.) NBC 9.49

36 Navy NCIS CBS 9.37 37 20/20 (Fri.) ABC 9.28 38 “Judas” ABC 9.14 39 The Practice ABC 9.08 40 Law & Order: SVU NBC 9.01

41 American Dreams NBC 8.97 42 Dateline: NBC (Fri.) NBC 8.87 43 My Wife and Kids ABC 8.75 44 According to Jim ABC 8.61 45 Stephen King’s Kingdom Hospital ABC 8.52

46 Judging Amy CBS 8.49 47 60 Minutes II CBS 8.48 48 Less Than Perfect ABC 8.36 49 America’s Funniest Home Videos ABC 8.34 50 Cops (8:30 p.m.) FOX 8.11

51 Law & Order: SVU (Sat.) NBC 8.06 52 King of Queens CBS 7.91 53 The District CBS 7.84 54 “Behind Camera: Charlie’s Angels” NBC 7.83 Friends (Tue.) NBC 7.83

48 Hours Investigates CBS 7.83 57 America’s Most Wanted FOX 7.71 58 My Wife and Kids (8:30 p.m.) ABC 7.65 59 Malcolm in the Middle FOX 7.61 60 Cops FOX 7.60

61 Hack CBS 7.55 62 Alias ABC 7.43 63 Bernie Mac FOX 7.26 64 8 Simple Rules ABC 7.24 65 Yes, Dear (Wed.) CBS 7.06

66 Star Search CBS 6.84 67 America’s Funniest Home Videos (Sat.) ABC 6.83 68 48 Hours Investigates (Fri.) CBS 6.76 69 George Lopez ABC 6.74 70 Hope & Faith ABC 6.59

71 That ‘70s Show (Mon., 8:30 p.m.) FOX 6.43 72 Scrubs NBC 6.27 73 Apprentice (Wed.) NBC 6.16 74 That ‘70s Show (Mon., 8 p.m.) FOX 6.15 75 Life With Bonnie ABC 5.95

76 Wonderful World of Disney ABC 5.93 77 King of the Hill FOX 5.92 78 I’m With Her ABC 5.81 79 Forever Eden FOX 5.74 80 “Princess Diana: Secret Tapes 1 & 2” NBC 5.70

81 America’s Next Top Model 2 UPN 5.66 82 Scrubs (8:45 p.m.) NBC 5.64 Primetime Thursday ABC 5.64 84 Arrested Development FOX 5.37 85 Married to the Kellys ABC 5.36

86 Oliver Beene FOX 5.24 87 Playing It Straight FOX 5.03 88 “35th NAACP Image Awards” FOX 4.96 89 Charmed WB 4.82 90 Extreme Makeover (Thu., 9 p.m.) ABC 4.71

91 WWE Smackdown! UPN 4.65 92 Extreme Makeover (Thu., 8 p.m.) ABC 4.35 93 Wonderfalls FOX 4.31 94 7th Heaven WB 4.03 95 Eve UPN 3.63

96 Smallville WB 3.62 97 Everwood WB 3.60 98 Reba (8:30 p.m.) WB 3.50 99 Reba WB 3.43 100 High School Reunion WB 3.40

101 The Parkers UPN 3.34 102 Girlfriends UPN 3.32 103 Smallville (Wed.) WB 3.20 104 Half and Half UPN 3.05 105 One on One UPN 2.86

106 All of Us UPN 2.81 107 Gilmore Girls WB 2.80 108 Jamie Kennedy (Thu., 8:30 p.m.) WB 2.72 109 “The Mania of Wrestlemania” UPN 2.68 110 Jamie Kennedy (Thu., 8 p.m.) WB 2.66

111 Grounded for Life WB 2.52 112 Jamie Kennedy (9 p.m.) WB 2.44 113 Enterprise UPN 2.42 114 Help (Fri.) WB 2.30 115 Smallville: Beginnings WB 2.24

116 Help (Thu.) WB 2.13 117 Game Over (Wed.) UPN 1.98 118 Game Over (Fri.) UPN 1.84 119 The Mullets (Wed.) UPN 1.67 120 The Mullets (Fri.) UPN 1.37

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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 11.98 13.60

NBC 10.22 10.94

FOX 9.50 9.84

ABC 7.70 9.47

UPN 3.30 3.54

WB 3.19 3.79

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