NFL fans are good friends to NBC

NBC’s first National Football League playoff programming since 1998 helped give the network its first non-Olympics weekly prime-time ratings victory during the official television season since the “Friends” finale more than two years ago, according to Nielsen Media Research figures released Tuesday.

With the Seattle Seahawks’ 21-20 wild card playoff victory over the Dallas Cowboys being the most-watched prime-time program between Jan. 1 and Jan. 8 with 26.77 million viewers and its pregame show finishing third with 20.29 million viewers, NBC averaged 11.53 million viewers to edge CBS by 68,000.

CBS was second with 11.46 million after finishing first each of the first 15 weeks of the television season. Fox was third with 10.7 million, followed by ABC with 8 million and the CW with 3.01 million.

NBC also finished first among viewers ages 18 to 49, the group it, ABC and Fox target and advertisers covet, as well as viewers ages 25 to 54, CBS’ core audience, and 35 to 49. With the help of three college football bowl games, Fox was first among viewers ages 12 to 17, 18 to 34 and 12 to 34 and tied NBC for first among viewers ages 12 to 49.

ABC, CBS and NBC each broadcast 22 hours of prime-time programming weekly, Fox 15 and the CW 13.

Both ABC and NBC claimed successes for their season premieres last week because they drew larger audiences than the previous programming in their time periods, but ratings in the coming weeks will determine the series’ futures.

The premiere of the ABC comedy “Knights of Prosperity” was fourth in its 9-9:30 Wednesday time slot and 62nd for the week with 7.2 million viewers opposite Fox’s Sugar Bowl broadcast, but that figure was 13% higher than ABC’s average in the time slot since “Lost’s” fall finale Nov. 8.

The premiere of “In Case of Emergency,” which followed, was also fourth in its time slot with 6.23 million viewers and 71st for the week, but 15% more than ABC’s average in the time slot since the “Lost” fall finale.

Both series will face even tougher competition for viewers next week when they air opposite Fox’s “American Idol,” television’s most-watched series last season.

The 90-minute premiere of the NBC talent-competition series “Grease: You’re the One That I Want” drew 11.5 million viewers, putting it third in its 8-9:30 p.m. time slot and 26th for the week.

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Here are the rankings for national prime-time network television last week (Jan. 1-7) 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 “NFL Playoff Game” (Sat.) NBC 26.77 2 CSI (9 p.m.) CBS 26.12 3 “NFL Playoff Pregame” (Sat.) NBC 20.29 4 Desperate Housewives (Sun.) ABC 18.71 5 “NFL Playoff Postgame” (Sun.) FOX 16.80

6 Law & Order: SVU NBC 15.17 7 “Allstate Sugar Bowl” FOX 14.42 Shark CBS 14.42 9 Without a Trace CBS 14.19 10 Cold Case CBS 14.12

11 “Tostitos Fiesta Bowl” FOX 13.78 12 Extreme Makeover: Home Edition ABC 13.42 13 Law & Order: Criminal Intent NBC 13.37 14 NCIS CBS 13.05 15 CSI (8 p.m.) CBS 13.01

16 Numb3rs (Fri.) CBS 12.35 17 CSI: Miami CBS 12.15 18 Two and a Half Men (Mon.) CBS 12.10 19 Criminal Minds CBS 11.96 20 Brothers & Sisters ABC 11.87

21 Cold Case CBS 11.75 22 Ugly Betty ABC 11.65 23 The Simpsons FOX 11.62 24 Close to Home CBS 11.56 25 “Grease: You’re the One That I Want” NBC 11.54

26 Deal or No Deal (Wed.) NBC 11.33 27 “Allstate Sugar Bowl Pregame” FOX 11.26 28 Ghost Whisperer CBS 11.18 29 “Tostitos Fiesta Bowl Pregame” FOX 11.01 30 ER NBC 10.93

31 “FedEx Orange Bowl” FOX 10.65 32 CSI: NY CBS 10.41 33 “Rose Bowl Postgame” ABC 10.34 34 Grey’s Anatomy (9 p.m.) ABC 10.31 35 My Name Is Earl NBC 10.03

36 Deal or No Deal (Sun.) NBC 9.99 37 60 Minutes CBS 9.86 38 Law & Order NBC 9.77 39 Grey’s Anatomy (10 p.m.) ABC 9.75 40 The New Adventures of Old Christine CBS 9.62

41 Las Vegas NBC 9.56 42 Dateline: NBC (Tue.) NBC 9.50 43 Medium NBC 9.33 44 1 vs. 100 NBC 9.20 45 American Dad FOX 9.12

46 Apprentice 6 NBC 9.10 47 The Unit CBS 9.07 48 Family Guy (9 p.m.) FOX 9.02 49 Family Guy (9:30 p.m.) FOX 8.83 50 The Office NBC 8.79

51 48 Hours Mystery CBS 8.78 52 King of Queens CBS 8.47 53 Two and a Half Men (Wed.) CBS 8.36 54 “FedEx Orange Bowl Pregame” FOX 8.32 55 Crimetime Saturday (9 p.m.) CBS 8.20

56 America’s Funniest Home Videos (Tue.) ABC 8.14 57 America’s Funniest Home Videos (Sun.) ABC 7.75 58 How I Met Your Mother CBS 7.61 59 According to Jim (Wed., 8 p.m.) ABC 7.30 60 Scrubs NBC 7.29

61 According to Jim (Wed., 8:30 p.m.) ABC 7.21 62 The Knights of Prosperity ABC 7.20 63 Supernanny (10 p.m.) ABC 6.97 64 The Class CBS 6.90 65 Cops (8:30 p.m.) FOX 6.84

66 America’s Most Wanted FOX 6.81 67 Supernanny (9 p.m.) ABC 6.74 68 Numb3rs (Tue.) CBS 6.72 69 20/20 ABC 6.54 70 Crimetime Saturday (8 p.m.) CBS 6.49

71 In Case of Emergency (Wed.) ABC 6.32 72 Friday Night Lights NBC 6.28 73 America’s Funniest Home Videos (Mon.) ABC 6.26 74 La Fea Mas Bella (Thu.) UNI 6.18 75 La Fea Mas Bella (Wed.) UNI 5.92

76 30 Rock NBC 5.89 77 La Fea Mas Bella (Tue.) UNI 5.52 78 Cops (8 p.m.) FOX 5.49 79 Heroes (8 p.m.) NBC 5.43 80 La Fea Mas Bella (Fri.) UNI 5.40

81 Heroes (9 p.m.) NBC 5.15 82 Trading Spouses FOX 5.13 83 Til Death FOX 5.12 84 Big Day (9 p.m.) ABC 5.10 85 La Fea Mas Bella (Mon.) UNI 5.09

86 Boston Legal ABC 4.97 87 Primetime ABC 4.91 88 Beauty and the Geek (Wed.) CW 4.90 89 According to Jim (Fri., 8 p.m.) ABC 4.73 90 Friday Night Smackdown CW 4.72

91 Heroes (10 p.m.) NBC 4.71 92 Big Day (9:30 p.m. ABC 4.69 93 War at Home FOX 4.55 94 According to Jim (Fri., 8:30 p.m.) ABC 4.51 95 Nanny 911 FOX 4.37

96 Mundo de Fieras (Thu.) UNI 4.34 97 Mundo de Fieras (Wed.) UNI 4.24 98 Tostitos Fiesta Bowl Pregame FOX 4.19 99 Mundo de Fieras (Tue.) UNI 3.94 100 The O.C. FOX 3.93

101 Mundo de Fieras (Fri.) UNI 3.82 102 “The Knights of Prosperity” ABC 3.73 103 Desperate Housewives (10 p.m.) ABC 3.70 104 Heridas de Amor (Wed.) UNI 3.57 105 Heridas de Amor (Thu.) UNI 3.56

106 Desperate Housewives (Sat., 9 p.m.) ABC 3.40 107 Mundo de Fieras Mon UNI 3.33 Heridas de Amor (Fri.) UNI 3.33 109 Heridas de Amor (Tue.) UNI 3.31 In Case of Emergency (Fri.) ABC 3.31

111 Desperate Housewives (Sat., 8 p.m.) ABC 3.29 112 Aqui y Ahora (Thu.) UNI 3.20 113 Heridas de Amor (Mon.) UNI 3.09 Casos Vida UNI 3.09 115 Reba (7:30 p.m.) CW 3.06

116 “Premios Furia Musical 07” UNI 2.99 117 Ver Para Creer UNI 2.93 118 Don Francisco Presenta UNI 2.92 119 Smallville (8 p.m.) CW 2.58 120 Everybody Hates Chris CW 2.55

121 Smallville (9 p.m.) CW 2.52 122 All of Us CW 2.51 123 Sabado Gigante UNI 2.38 124 Reba (7 p.m.) CW 2.29 125 Cristina UNI 2.28

126 “Noche de Estrellas” UNI 2.09 127 Girlfriends CW 2.08 128 Beauty and the Geek (Sun.) CW 2.07 129 Gilmore Girls CW 2.05 130 The Game CW 1.75

131 Casos Familia UNI 1.59 132 Veronica Mars CW 1.41 133 “New Year’s Day Film” (7 p.m.) TEL 1.40 134 “New Year’s Day Film” (9 p.m.) TEL 1.24 135 Viuda de Blanco (Thu.) TEL 1.18

136 Viuda de Blanco (Fri.) TEL 1.12 137 Cinemundo del Sabado TEL 1.05 Marina (Thu.) TEL 1.05 139 Viuda de Blanco (Tue.) TEL 0.98 140 Marina (Fri.) TEL 0.97 Marina (Tue.) TEL 0.97

142 Marina (Wed.) TEL 0.96 143 Viuda de Blanco (Wed.) TEL 0.95 144 Amor Mio (Fri.) TEL 0.93 145 Amor Mio (Tue.) TEL 0.90

146 Amor Mio (Thu.) TEL 0.87 147 “Mundo Disney” TEL 0.86 148 Decisiones (Wed.) TEL 0.82 149 Amor Mio (Wed.) TEL 0.81 150 Decisiones (Tue.) TEL 0.78

151 Cinemundo Premier TEL 0.74 Decisiones (Thu.) TEL 0.74 153 Decisiones (Fri.) TEL 0.56 154 Vas o No Vas TEL 0.45 155 Seguro y Urgente TEL 0.40

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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 NBC 11.53 10.03

CBS 11.46 12.27

FOX 10.70 8.07

ABC 8.00 10.37

UNI 3.67 3.41

CW 3.01 3.29

TEL 0.92 0.83

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