Prime-Time TV Rankings

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

Network averages

*--* Program Network Viewers 1 American Idol (Tue.) FOX 28.43 2 American Idol (Wed.) FOX 24.68 3 Survivor: Palau CBS 18.41 4 House FOX 17.32 5 Cold Case CBS 17.29

6 60 Minutes CBS 15.95 7 Medium NBC 15.35 8 Everybody Loves Raymond CBS 15.16 9 Two and a Half Men CBS 14.98 10 CSI: Miami CBS 14.64

11 Desperate Housewives ABC 13.30 12 Amazing Race: 7 CBS 12.71 13 Simple Life 3 FOX 12.61 14 “NCAA Basketball Tournament” (Sun.) CBS 12.53 15 Law & Order: Criminal Intent NBC 12.35

16 Las Vegas NBC 12.10 17 24 FOX 12.05 18 Law & Order NBC 12.02 19 Extreme Makeover: Home Edition ABC 11.85 20 Apprentice 3 NBC 11.62

21 NCIS CBS 11.60 22 “Spring Break Shark Attack” CBS 11.59 23 Law & Order: Trial By Jury NBC 11.54 24 “NCAA Basketball Tournament” (Sat., 8 p.m.) CBS 11.52 25 Crossing Jordan NBC 11.21

26 Boston Legal ABC 11.18 27 King of Queens CBS 11.10 28 Law & Order: SVU NBC 11.05 29 “NCAA Basketball Tournament” (Sat., 5:45 CBS 10.69 p.m.) 30 Blind Justice ABC 10.51

31 Nanny 911 FOX 10.45 32 Yes, Dear CBS 10.41 33 Judging Amy CBS 10.31 34 CSI: NY CBS 10.19 35 Fear Factor NBC 10.11

36 Dateline: NBC (Fri.) NBC 9.95 37 The West Wing NBC 9.75 38 According to Jim ABC 9.64 39 Law & Order: Criminal Intent (Sat.) NBC 9.50 40 According to Jim (9:30 p.m.) ABC 9.48

41 ER NBC 9.39 42 “NCAA Basketball Tournament” (Thu., 9:30 CBS 9.38 p.m.) 43 “NCAA Basketball Tournament” (Fri., 7 p.m.) CBS 9.25 44 Still Standing CBS 9.24 45 “NCAA Basketball Tournament” (Fri., 9:30 CBS 9.23 p.m.)

46 That ‘70s Show (8:30 p.m.) FOX 9.18 47 America’s Funniest Home Videos ABC 9.05 48 Lost ABC 8.92 49 Extreme Makeover: Home Edition: How’d They ABC 8.73 Do That? 50 Primetime Live ABC 8.68

51 Medical Investigation NBC 8.54 52 Alias ABC 8.50 53 The Simpsons FOX 8.49 54 Will & Grace NBC 8.45 55 Listen Up CBS 8.35

56 Will & Grace (8:30 p.m.) NBC 8.33 57 Dateline: NBC (Sun.) NBC 8.30 58 “NCAA Basketball Tournament” (Thu., 7 p.m.) CBS 8.26 59 Law and Order: SVU (Sat.) NBC 8.10 60 Contender NBC 7.79

61 Wife Swap ABC 7.61 62 Cops (8:30 p.m.) FOX 7.60 63 The O.C. FOX 7.55 64 That ‘70s Show (Wed.) FOX 7.47 65 Supernanny ABC 7.20

66 20/20 (Fri.) ABC 7.19 67 Extreme Makeover ABC 7.10 68 Jake in Progress (8 p.m.) ABC 7.03 69 America’s Most Wanted FOX 6.99 70 “The Ten Commandments” ABC 6.89

71 Jake in Progress (9 p.m.) ABC 6.66 72 Jake in Progress (8:30 p.m.) ABC 6.64 73 Jake in Progress (9:30 p.m.) ABC 6.59 74 George Lopez ABC 6.38 75 My Wife and Kids ABC 6.33

76 Cops FOX 6.15 77 The Simpsons (9 p.m.) FOX 5.90 78 American Dreams NBC 5.81 79 Arrested Development FOX 5.72 80 Scrubs NBC 5.68

81 8 Simple Rules (8:30 p.m.) ABC 5.43 82 Hope & Faith ABC 5.42 83 8 Simple Rules ABC 5.31 84 America’s Next Top Model 4 UPN 5.24 85 Malcolm in the Middle FOX 5.23

86 Less Than Perfect ABC 5.12 87 WWE Smackdown! UPN 5.07 88 Committed NBC 4.98 89 “Jeff Foxworthy Special” WB 4.65 90 Sketch Show FOX 4.54

91 That ‘70s Show (Fri., 9:30 p.m.) FOX 4.42 92 Bernie Mac (8:30 p.m.) FOX 4.31 LAX NBC 4.31 94 King of the Hill FoX 4.30 95 Point Pleasant FOX 4.05

96 7th Heaven WB 3.92 Will & Grace (Tue., 8:30 p.m.) NBC 3.92 98 Bernie Mac FOX 3.91 99 Will & Grace (Tue., 8 p.m.) NBC 3.89 100 That ‘70s Show (Fri., 9 p.m.) FOX 3.74

101 Reba WB 3.42 102 Gilmore Girls WB 3.41 103 Girlfriends UPN 3.25 104 Half and Half UPN 3.15 105 Cuts UPN 3.06

106 Summerland WB 2.99 107 Smallville WB 2.74 108 One on One UPN 2.70 109 Blue Collar TV WB 2.69 110 Charmed (8 p.m.) WB 2.53

111 Steve Harvey’s Big Time WB 2.43 112 Eve UPN 2.39 113 Starlet (Tue.) WB 2.28 114 All of Us UPN 2.27 115 Veronica Mars UPN 2.21

116 America’s Next Top Model 4 (Fri.) UPN 2.18 117 What I Like About You (8:30 p.m.) WB 2.12 118 Kevin Hill UPN 2.07 119 Charmed WB 2.01 120 Starlet (Thu.) WB 1.91

121 Enterprise UPN 1.87 122 What I Like About You WB 1.75 123 Jack & Bobby WB 1.42

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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 11.97 12.81

FOX 9.74 10.01

NBC 9.38 10.09

ABC 8.23 10.37

UPN 3.21 3.37

WB 2.71 3.40

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