NBA is no slam dunk

More television viewers were interested in B-list stars learning how to dance and Diane Sawyer interviewing Brad Pitt than either of the first two games of the NBA Finals.

Fortunately for ABC, the network televised all of those events.

The summer series “Dancing With the Stars” topped the Nielsen Media Research ratings in its second week on the air, with 15.1 million people tuning in.

Pro basketball’s premier event is a flop so far, with 10.6 million people watching the San Antonio Spurs beat the Detroit Pistons in the first game, and 10.7 million seeing the same result in Sunday’s Game 2.

Five years ago, more than 15 million people watched each of the first two games of the Lakers against the Indiana Pacers. In last year’s deciding fifth game between the Pistons and Lakers, there were 21.8 million viewers, Nielsen said.

Some critics say that relegating the playoffs up until the finals to cable TV hurt the NBA’s ability to bring in casual fans, as did the lack of competitive teams in big-market areas like New York and Los Angeles.

A “Primetime Live” special with Sawyer pressing Pitt on his love life -- and his acting -- drew 11.2 million viewers.

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Here are the rankings for national prime-time network television last week (June 6-12) 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 277.93 million potential viewers in the U.S. age 2 and older. Viewership is listed in millions.

*--* 1 Dancing With the Stars ABC 15.09 2 CSI CBS 12.65 3 Two and a Half Men (9:30 p.m.) CBS 11.45 4 Two and a Half Men (10 p.m.) CBS 11.37 5 Primetime Live ABC 11.19

6 Two and a Half Men (9 p.m.) CBS 11.13 7 Two and a Half Men (10:30 p.m.) CBS 10.93 8 “NBA Finals: Game 2” ABC 10.66 9 “NBA Finals: Game 1” ABC 10.57 10 60 Minutes CBS 10.28

11 NCIS CBS 10.25 12 Two and a Half Men (8:30 p.m.) CBS 9.99 13 Law & Order NBC 9.64 14 Cold Case CBS 9.48 15 Law & Order: Criminal Intent NBC 9.41

16 House FOX 9.33 17 Law & Order: SVU NBC 9.26 18 Everybody Loves Raymond CBS 9.12 19 CSI: NY CBS 9.05 20 Crossing Jordan NBC 8.72

21 Fire Me Please CBS 8.28 22 Family Guy FOX 8.21 23 Dateline: NBC (Fri.) NBC 8.09 24 Law & Order (9 p.m.) NBC 7.83 25 The Simpsons (8:30 p.m.) FOX 7.81

26 “Raising Waylon” CBS 7.39 27 Medium NBC 7.35 Supernanny ABC 7.35 29 Hit Me Baby One More Time NBC 7.32 30 60 Minutes Wednesday CBS 7.29

31 According to Jim (9:30 p.m.) ABC 7.22 32 Crimetime Saturday CBS 7.15 33 Hell’s Kitchen (9 p.m.) FOX 6.98 34 48 Hours Mystery CBS 6.96 35 Law & Order: Trial By Jury NBC 6.90

36 American Dad FOX 6.85 37 20/20 (Fri.) ABC 6.81 38 The Cut CBS 6.59 39 Las Vegas NBC 6.54 40 Lost ABC 6.50

41 48 Hours Mystery (Tue.) CBS 6.47 42 The Simpsons FOX 6.40 43 Psychic Detectives NBC 6.34 44 King of Queens CBS 6.33 45 Joey (8:30 p.m.) NBC 6.32

46 According to Jim ABC 6.30 47 Dateline: NBC (Sun.) NBC 6.23 48 America’s Most Wanted FOX 6.07 49 Numb3rs CBS 5.81 50 Yes, Dear CBS 5.75

51 Cops (8:30 p.m.) FOX 5.59 52 Trading Spouses FOX 5.57 53 Fear Factor NBC 5.49 54 WWE Smackdown! UPN 5.40 55 Extreme Makeover: Home Edition ABC 5.29

56 America’s Funniest Home Videos (Sat.) ABC 5.26 57 Joey NBC 5.07 58 Crossing Jordan (Sat.) NBC 4.94 59 King of the Hill FOX 4.92 60 Without a Trace CBS 4.89

61 “The Ring” ABC 4.81 62 The Inside FOX 4.79 The Scholar ABC 4.79 64 George Lopez ABC 4.77 That ‘70s Show FOX 4.77

66 My Wife and Kids (Thu.) ABC 4.76 67 Cops FOX 4.73 America’s Funniest Home Videos ABC 4.73 69 ER NBC 4.69 70 “NBA Gametime: Game 1” ABC 4.68

71 “NBA Gametime: Game 2” ABC 4.61 72 Hell’s Kitchen (8 p.m.) FOX 4.45 73 My Wife and Kids (Tue.) ABC 4.41 74 Wonderful World of Disney ABC 4.40 75 “Exit Wounds” FOX 4.24

76 “Thomas Crown Affair” NBC 4.04 77 JAG CBS 3.98 78 Stacked FOX 3.77 79 8 Simple Rules ABC 3.76 80 Beauty and the Geek WB 3.75

81 Malcolm in the Middle FOX 3.61 82 Less Than Perfect ABC 3.46 83 “Behind the Camera: Mork & Mindy” NBC 3.45 84 Hope & Faith ABC 3.34 85 Joan of Arcadia CBS 3.13

86 Complete Savages ABC 3.08 87 The O.C. (9 p.m.) FOX 3.00 88 Blue Collar TV (8:30 p.m.) WB 2.94 89 Blue Collar TV WB 2.85 90 The O.C. FOX 2.78

91 Britney & Kevin: Chaotic UPN 2.49 92 Gilmore Girls WB 2.46 93 Beauty and the Geek (Thu.) WB 2.45 94 Girlfriends UPN 2.42 95 7th Heaven WB 2.33

96 Smallville WB 2.32 Eve (Tue.) UPN 2.32 98 Steve Harvey’s Big Time WB 2.26 99 Reba (Tue.) WB 2.20 100 Half and Half UPN 2.19

101 “Angel Eyes” UPN 2.18 One on One UPN 2.18 103 Living With Fran WB 2.15 104 Cuts UPN 2.14 105 All of Us (Tue.) UPN 2.07

Eve (Wed.) UPN 2.07 107 Charmed (8 p.m.) WB 2.06 108 7th Heaven (9 p.m.) WB 2.05 109 All of Us (Wed.) UPN 1.83 110 What I Like About You (8:30 p.m.) WB 1.77

What I Like About You WB 1.77 112 Kevin Hill UPN 1.69 One Tree Hill WB 1.69 114 Charmed (7 p.m.) WB 1.49 115 Bad Girls Guide UPN 1.47

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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 7.94 12.59

ABC 6.81 9.79

NBC 6.53 9.57

FOX 5.32 9.74

UPN 2.75 3.31

WB 2.28 3.27

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Los Angeles Times