NBC runs out of gas; ‘Drive’ stalls

It was a lost week in the television ratings for NBC.

The network, which dominated television in the late 1990s and earlier this decade, averaged only 6.8 million viewers in prime time last week, according to Nielsen Media Research. That’s believed to be lowest weekly average that NBC has recorded during a TV season since the advent of Nielsen’s “people meters” 20 years ago and likely ever.

NBC’s most-watched program of the week, Monday’s edition of “Deal or No Deal,” was seen by 11 million people and ranked No. 23 for the week. Only one other NBC show, “ER,” was in Nielsen’s top 30.

While “American Idol” keeps humming along for Fox, the network’s most recent attempt to establish a new action drama hit a major pothole.

The two-hour premiere of “Drive,” about a mysterious cross-country race, was seen by only 6 million viewers on Sunday. That put Fox behind such fare as an “Extreme Makeover: Home Edition” rerun and “The Apprentice” on NBC.

Fortunately for Fox, there’s “American Idol.” It has cooled off since the beginning of this season, and the overall average audience is now 2% greater than last year’s average turnout at this time. Its two editions last week were, as is often the case, the two most-watched programs in prime time.

CBS’ consistency, however, enabled it to remain the nation’s most popular network.

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Here are the rankings for national prime-time network television last week (April 9-15) 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 283.5 million potential viewers in the U.S. ages 2 and older. Viewership is listed in millions.

*--* Program Net- work View- ers Program Net- work View- ers

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*--* 1 American Idol (Wed.) FOX 28.56 2 American Idol (Tue.) FOX 26.77 3 CSI CBS 22.18 4 House (Tue.) FOX 21.57 5 Dancing With the Stars (Mon.) ABC 18.84

6 Dancing With the Stars Results (Tue.) ABC 17.32 7 Desperate Housewives ABC 16.35 8 CSI: Miami CBS 16.11 9 Shark (Thu.) CBS 14.49 10 NCIS CBS 14.38

11 Without a Trace CBS 14.31 12 Survivor: Fiji CBS 14.25 13 Two and a Half Men CBS 13.46 14 King of Queens CBS 13.41 15 Criminal Minds CBS 12.80

16 CSI: NY CBS 12.64 17 Grey’s Anatomy (Thu.) ABC 12.57 18 60 Minutes CBS 12.28 19 Cold Case CBS 12.19 20 Lost ABC 12.09

21 24 FOX 11.44 22 Brothers & Sisters ABC 11.26 23 Deal or No Deal (Mon.) NBC 11.04 24 The Unit CBS 10.37 25 Extreme Makeover: Home Edition ABC 10.33

26 Boston Legal ABC 10.27 27 Are You Smarter Than a 5th Grader? FOX 10.18 28 Criminal Minds (Tue.) CBS 9.98 29 ER NBC 9.24 30 The Bachelor: Officer and a Gentleman ABC 9.06

31 Amazing Race 11 CBS 9.03 32 America’s Funniest Home Videos ABC 8.69 33 ‘Til Death (8:30 p.m.) FOX 8.63 34 Law & Order: SVU NBC 8.48 35 Numb3rs CBS 8.36

36 Notes From the Underbelly ABC 8.34 37 Deal or No Deal (Sun.) NBC 8.23 38 Jericho CBS 8.19 39 Thank God You’re Here NBC 8.18 40 Ugly Betty (Thu.) ABC 8.16

41 Shark (Fri.) CBS 7.73 42 Medium NBC 7.71 43 The Office NBC 7.70 44 The New Adventures of Old Christine CBS 7.69 45 Ghost Whisperer CBS 7.67

46 How I Met Your Mother CBS 7.64 47 House (Mon.) FOX 7.44 48 Dancing With the Stars Recap (Tue.) ABC 7.43 49 48 Hours Mystery CBS 7.29 50 ‘Til Death (8 p.m.) FOX 7.05

51 Crimetime Saturday (8 p.m.) CBS 7.02 52 Law & Order: Criminal Intent (Sat.) NBC 6.78 53 Law & Order (Fri.) NBC 6.77 54 My Name Is Earl NBC 6.67 55 Dateline: NBC (Sun.) NBC 6.64

56 20/20 ABC 6.62 57 Identity NBC 6.60 58 America’s Most Wanted FOX 6.57 59 Raines NBC 6.45 60 George Lopez (8 p.m.) ABC 6.36

George Lopez (8:30 p.m.) ABC 6.36 62 Friday Night Lights NBC 6.26 63 Crossing Jordan NBC 6.22 Apprentice 6 NBC 6.22 65 Drive FOX 6.04

66 Cops (8:30 p.m.) FOX 5.97 67 Crimetime Saturday CBS 5.78 68 America’s Next Top Model 2 (Wed.) CW 5.65 69 Law & Order: Criminal Intent (Tue.) NBC 5.53 70 La Fea Mas Bella (Fri.) UNI 5.46

71 Law & Order (Sat.) NBC 5.37 72 The Simpsons (7:30 p.m.) FOX 5.25 73 “Shark Tale” ABC 5.21 74 30 Rock NBC 5.07 La Fea Mas Bella (Thu.) UNI 5.07

76 According to Jim ABC 5.05 Cops (8 p.m.) FOX 5.05 78 Scrubs NBC 5.04 79 Dateline: NBC (Tue.) NBC 5.03 80 La Fea Mas Bella (Tue.) UNI 4.96

81 Wife Swap ABC 4.95 82 La Fea Mas Bella (Mon.) UNI 4.87 83 La Fea Mas Bella (Wed.) UNI 4.69 84 Destilando Amor (Mon.) UNI 4.65 85 Destilando Amor (Tue.) UNI 4.57

86 Destilando Amor (Wed.) UNI 4.46 87 Destilando Amor (Thu.) UNI 4.39 88 The Simpsons (7 p.m.) FOX 4.38 89 Destilando Amor (Fri.) UNI 4.37 90 Grey’s Anatomy (Fri.) ABC 4.30

91 Friday Night Smackdown CW 4.18 92 “White Chicks” FOX 4.09 93 Trading Spouses FOX 3.84 94 In Case of Emergency ABC 3.77

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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 11.29 12.70

FOX 10.33 10.23

ABC 9.31 9.80

NBC 6.81 9.19

UNI 3.75 3.61

CW 2.70 3.22

TEL 0.87 0.85

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