‘Got Talent’ blocks Shaq’s ‘Challenge’

The premiere of ABC’s Shaquille O’Neal-hosted youth weight-loss series, “Shaq’s Big Challenge,” was slam-dunked by NBC’s “America’s Got Talent,” the most-watched prime-time program for the fourth consecutive week, according to figures released Tuesday by Nielsen Media Research.

“Shaq’s Big Challenge” drew 4.47 million viewers for its premiere, just a bit more than one-third of the 12.46 million that watched the second hour of “America’s Got Talent” last Tuesday, finishing fourth in the 9-10 p.m. time slot and 61st for the week.

“Shaq’s Big Challenge” did draw 19% more viewers than the rerun of “According to Jim,” which preceded it, and its viewership increased 11% from its first half hour to its second.

“America’s Got Talent’s” two-hour New York City audition show was seen by an average of 11.51 million viewers, with the audience growing each half hour. The talent show has been the most-watched prime-time program for each week it has aired this summer.

Despite only one program among the top five and three of the top 10 from June 25 to Sunday, CBS was the most-watched for the fifth time this summer, averaging 6.83 million viewers.

At Spanish-language networks, Univision led with 3.72 million, followed by Telemundo with 1.04 million, Telefutura with 980,000 and Azteca America with 100,000.

As is customary during the summer, Univision’s Spanish-language programming on KMEX-TV Channel 34 dominated the viewing choices in the Los Angeles market, with each of the top seven programs, led by the two-hour finale of the telenovela “La Fea Mas Bella” last Monday, which drew 1.26 million local viewers. It drew 7.44 million viewers nationwide, finishing 15th for the week.

Thanks to the three-hour tribute to late professional wrestler Chris Benoit, USA was the week’s most-watched cable network, averaging 2.84 million viewers at prime time. The tribute aired June 25, before police said Benoit killed his wife and son before committing suicide.

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Here are the rankings for national prime-time network television last week (June 25-July 1) 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.

*--* 1 America’s Got Talent (Tue.) NBC 11.51 2 CSI CBS 9.91 3 So You Think You Can Dance (Wed., 9 p.m.) FOX 9.83 4 So You Think You Can Dance (Thu.) FOX 9.39 5 Are You Smarter Than a 5th Grader? FOX 9.32

6 Two and a Half Men CBS 9.12 7 CSI: Miami CBS 8.95 8 “Princess Diana Tribute” NBC 8.82 9 So You Think You Can Dance (Wed., 8 p.m.) FOX 8.65 Law & Order: SVU (Tue.) NBC 8.65

11 NCIS CBS 8.44 12 Cold Case CBS 8.33 13 CSI: NY CBS 8.17 14 Shark (Thu.) CBS 7.73 15 La Fea Mas Bella (8 p.m.) UNI 7.44

16 Hell’s Kitchen FOX 7.43 17 60 Minutes CBS 7.32 18 Without a Trace CBS 7.28 19 The Next Best Thing ABC 7.23 20 How I Met Your Mother CBS 7.08

21 Numb3rs CBS 6.76 22 Criminal Minds CBS 6.52 23 Old Christine (8:30 p.m.) CBS 6.50 American Inventor ABC 6.50 25 “Jesse Stone: Night Passage” CBS 6.41

26 America’s Funniest Home Videos (Sun.) ABC 6.32 27 House FOX 6.29 28 48 Hours Mystery (Tue.) CBS 6.20 29 48 Hours Mystery (Sat.) CBS 6.16 30 Cristina UNI 6.05

31 Extreme Makeover: Home Edition ABC 6.02 32 Dateline: NBC (Wed.) NBC 5.82 Primetime: Family Secrets ABC 5.82 34 Close to Home CBS 5.81 35 Law & Order (Sun.) NBC 5.74

36 Age of Love (9 p.m.) NBC 5.63 37 Last Comic Standing 5 (9 p.m.) NBC 5.62 38 20/20 ABC 5.60 39 Dateline: NBC (Sun.) NBC 5.57 40 Law & Order: SVU (Sun.) NBC 5.55

41 Old Christine (8 p.m.) CBS 5.54 42 “Copa America 2007” (Wed.) UNI 5.47 43 King of Queens (8:30 p.m.) CBS 5.35 44 The Unit CBS 5.34 45 Shark (Sun.) CBS 5.30

46 Pirate Master CBS 5.23 47 My Name Is Earl NBC 5.20 48 “Science of Love” NBC 5.18 49 King of Queens (8 p.m.) CBS 5.15 50 Family Guy (Sun.) FOX 5.11

51 1 vs. 100 NBC 5.06 52 Wife Swap ABC 5.01 53 Copa America 2007 (Sun.) UNI 4.90 The Simpsons FOX 4.90 55 La Fea Mas Bella (7 p.m.) UNI 4.86

56 America’s Funniest Home Videos (Sat.) ABC 4.75 57 America’s Most Wanted FOX 4.65 58 Cops (8:30 p.m.) FOX 4.57 59 Supernanny ABC 4.53 Ghost Whisperer CBS 4.53

61 Law & Order: Criminal Intent NBC 4.52 62 “Shaq’s Big Challenge” ABC 4.47 63 The Office (9:30 p.m.) NBC 4.46 64 The Office (9 p.m.) NBC 4.45 65 The Office (8:30) NBC 4.39

66 Age of Love (8 p.m.) NBC 4.26 67 Studio 60 NBC 4.24 68 Wonderful World of Disney ABC 4.17 69 Family Guy (Mon., 8:30 p.m.) FOX 4.10 70 Friday Night Smackdown CW 4.02

Last Comic Standing 5 (8 p.m.) NBC 4.02 72 Destilando Amor (Tue.) UNI 4.00 73 Destilando Amor (Fri.) UNI 3.97 Destilando Amor (Thu.) UNI 3.97 75 Traveler ABC 3.93

76 Grey’s Anatomy ABC 3.89 77 Cops (8 p.m.) FOX 3.81 78 Desperate Housewives ABC 3.76 79 Bones FOX 3.75 80 According to Jim (8:30 p.m.) ABC 3.74

81 Men in Trees ABC 3.67 82 Las Vegas NBC 3.66 83 Family Guy (Mon., 8 p.m.) FOX 3.65 84 According to Jim (8 p.m.) ABC 3.60 85 America’s Got Talent (Sat.) NBC 3.54

86 Ugly Betty ABC 3.47 87 The Ex-Wives Club ABC 3.46 88 The Loop (8:30 p.m.) FOX 3.38 89 Ver Para Creer UNI 3.25 90 Standoff FOX 3.22

91 Duelo de Pasiones (Tue.) UNI 3.04 92 The Loop (9:30 p.m.) FOX 2.99 93 Casos Vida UNI 2.98 94 Medium NBC 2.96 95 Aqui y Ahora UNI 2.95

96 George Lopez (8:30 p.m.) ABC 2.93 97 George Lopez (8 p.m.) ABC 2.83 98 Duelo de Pasiones (Fri.) UNI 2.78 99 Yo Amo Juan Querendon (Wed.) UNI 2.76 Brothers & Sisters ABC 2.76

101 Duelo de Pasiones (Thu.) UNI 2.75 102 Yo Amo Juan Querendon (Tue.) UNI 2.73 103 Yo Amo Juan Querendon (Fri.) UNI 2.67 104 King of the Hill FOX 2.55 105 Yo Amo Juan Querendon (Thu.) UNI 2.54

106 Kyle XY ABC 2.50 107 On the Lot FOX 2.27 108 Buscando Timbiriche UNI 2.02 109 Everybody Hates Chris CW 1.93 110 Smallville CW 1.92

111 Sabado Gigante UNI 1.85 112 Primer Impacto UNI 1.84 113 Supernatural CW 1.82 114 The Loop (7 p.m.) FOX 1.63 115 Marina (Thu.) TEL 1.61

116 Reba (7:30 p.m.) CW 1.60 117 All of Us CW 1.59 118 Hidden Palms (8 p.m.) CW 1.42 119 Reba (7 p.m.) CW 1.40 120 Zorro W TEL 1.39

Hidden Palms (9 p.m.) CW 1.39 122 Girlfriends CW 1.38 123 The Game CW 1.35 124 Marina (Wed.) TEL 1.33 125 Zorro (Thu.) TEL 1.25

126 Marina (Tue.) TEL 1.24 127 Esclava Isaura (Thu.) TEL 1.18 Esclava Isaura (Wed.) TEL 1.18 129 Zorro (Fri.) TEL 1.15 130 Esclava Isaura (Tue.) TEL 1.14

131 Zorro (Tue.) TEL 1.13 132 Gilmore Girls CW 1.04 Esclava Isaura (Mon.) TEL 1.04 134 Marina (Mon.) TEL 1.01 135 Esclava Isaura (Fri.) TEL 0.99

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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 6.83 11.51

NBC 5.67 8.23

FOX 5.55 9.63

ABC 4.48 9.06

UNI 3.72 3.62

CW 1.76 2.95

TEL 1.04 0.89

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