CBS stops ‘Idol’-fueled run by Fox

CBS ended Fox’s 11-week winning streak in the weekly prime-time ratings race last week with 11 of the 15 most-watched programs, according to figures released Tuesday by Nielsen Media Research.

CBS averaged 11.53 million viewers for its 22 hours of prime-time programming from March 31 through Sunday, the first time a network other than Fox finished first among total viewers since “American Idol” began its season Jan. 15.

The only non-CBS programs to crack the week’s top 15 were the two “American Idol” episodes on Fox, which were one and two, and ABC’s two “Dancing With the Stars” episodes, fourth and fifth.

Leading the way for CBS was the first post-strike episode of “CSI: Crime Scene Investigation,” which was third with 20.58 million viewers. CBS was also bolstered by a two-part episode of “CSI: Miami.”

CBS also had the most-watched comedy, “Two and a Half Men,” eighth overall with 14.5 million viewers, 2% more than the previous week.

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Here are the rankings for national prime-time network television last week (March 31-April 6) 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 286 million potential viewers in the U.S. ages 2 and older. Viewership is listed in millions.

*--* -- PROGRAM NETWORK VIEWERS 1 American Idol (Tue.) FOX 26.12 2 American Idol (Wed.) FOX 24.84 3 CSI CBS 20.58 4 Dancing With the Stars (Mon.) ABC 20.56 5 Dancing With the Stars (Tue.) ABC 17.28 *--*

*--* 6 CSI: Miami (Mon.) CBS 15.65 7 Without a Trace CBS 15.20 8 Two and a Half Men CBS 14.50 9 “NCAA Basketball: Kansas-UNC” CBS 14.43 10 CSI: Miami (Tue.) CBS 14.23 *--*

*--* 11 Survivor: Micronesia CBS 12.87 12 CSI: NY CBS 12.85 13 Criminal Minds CBS 12.81 14 Old Christine CBS 12.57 15 Cold Case CBS 11.93 *--*

*--* 16 Hell’s Kitchen FOX 11.85 17 “NCAA Basketball Pre-Game” CBS 11.26 18 Are You Smarter Than a 5th Grader? (9 p.m.) FOX 10.41 19 Moment of Truth FOX 10.16 20 Deal or No Deal (Mon.) NBC 10.07 *--*

*--* 21 Numb3rs CBS 10.00 22 NCIS CBS 9.97 23 60 Minutes CBS 9.92 24 Are You Smarter Than a 5th Grader? (8 p.m.) FOX 9.88 25 Extreme Makeover: Home Edition ABC 9.73 *--*

*--* 26 “Live to Be 150” ABC 9.70 27 Medium NBC 9.65 28 Deal or No Deal (Wed.) NBC 9.53 29 How I Met Your Mother CBS 9.50 30 Oprah’s Big Give ABC 9.42 *--*

*--* 31 Ghost Whisperer CBS 9.06 32 Price Is Right Prime Time CBS 8.63 33 The Big Bang Theory CBS 8.43 34 Biggest Loser 5 NBC 8.17 35 America’s Funniest Home Videos (Sun.) ABC 7.70 *--*

*--* 36 Bachelor: London Calling ABC 7.67 37 Here Come the Newlyweds ABC 7.66 38 My Name Is Earl NBC 7.53 39 House FOX 7.50 40 Law & Order: SVU (Sun.) NBC 7.12 *--*

*--* 41 Dexter CBS 7.03 42 Dateline: NBC (Fri.) NBC 6.82 43 New Amsterdam FOX 6.59 44 Law & Order (Wed.) NBC 6.48 45 Big Brother 9 (Sun.) CBS 6.32 *--*

*--* 46 Family Guy FOX 6.19 47 Big Brother 9 (Tue.) CBS 6.11 48 Canterbury’s Law FOX 6.06 49 Law & Order (Sat.) NBC 6.01 50 America’s Most Wanted FOX 5.98 *--*

*--* 51 America’s Funniest Home Videos (Fri.) ABC 5.97 52 Big Brother 9 (Wed.) CBS 5.94 53 Supernanny ABC 5.89 54 Law & Order: SVU (Tue.) NBC 5.77 55 Monk NBC 5.74 *--*

*--* 56 Wife Swap ABC 5.69 57 The Simpsons FOX 5.58 58 Cops (8 p.m.) FOX 5.50 59 Just for Laughs (8:30 p.m.) ABC 5.48 60 Men in Trees ABC 5.45 *--*

*--* 61 Al Diablo con los Guapos (Mon.) UNI 5.40 62 Just for Laughs (8 p.m.) ABC 5.32 63 Al Diablo con los Guapos (Tue.) UNI 5.30 64 King of the Hill (8:30 p.m.) FOX 5.28 65 Eli Stone ABC 5.15 *--*

*--* 66 Law and Order: Criminal Intent NBC 5.12 67 The Office (9 p.m.) NBC 5.09 68 Al Diablo con los Guapos (Wed.) UNI 5.05 *--*

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 11:53 10.10

FOX 9.62 11.07

ABC 7.61 8.84

NBC 6.29 8.06

UNI 3.76 3.53

CW 2.15 2.46 *--*