No thriller ratings for Grammys

Viewership for the CBS telecast of Sunday’s Grammy Awards was the second lowest since figures began being complied in 1977, but it was still enough to be the week’s fourth most-watched program, according to figures released Tuesday by Nielsen Media Research.

The 3-hour, 40-minute ceremony from Staples Center, shown live in the Eastern and Central time zones and on a delayed basis in the Pacific and Mountain time zones, averaged 17.17 million viewers, 14% less than last year’s ceremony, which averaged 20.06 million viewers.

Grammy viewership sunk to a record low of 17.01 million in 2006, when it was broadcast on a Wednesday, opposite “American Idol” for its opening hour. The Grammys drew a record 51.67 million viewers in 1984 when Michael Jackson, at the height of his popularity, won a record eight Grammys.

Thanks to a 1-2-3 finish by the Tuesday and Wednesday “American Idol” episodes and the medical drama “House,” Fox was the most-watched network for the fourth consecutive week, averaging 12.35 million viewers for its nearly 14 1/2 hours of prime-time programming. CBS was second with 9.58 million, followed by ABC with 8.24 million and NBC with 7.61 million, each for 22 hours of prime-time programming.

Fox also had the most-watched first-season program, the lie detector game show “The Moment of Truth,” which finished fifth overall with 16.62 million viewers.

Both of last week’s premieres finished third in their time slots. The CBS comedy “Welcome to the Captain” drew 7.91 million viewers, from 8:30 to 9 p.m. Feb. 4, finishing 34th among all prime-time programs of the five major broadcast networks airing between Feb. 4 and Sunday. The NBC drama “Lipstick Jungle” averaged 7.54 million, 41st for the week. However, it finished first in its Thursday 10 to 11 p.m. time slot among women ages 18 to 34 and 18 to 49, and second among viewers ages 18 to 49.

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Here are the rankings for national prime-time network television last week (Feb. 4-10) 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 27.91 2 American Idol (Wed.) FOX 26.28 3 House (Tue.) FOX 23.16 4 Grammy Awards CBS 17.17 5 Moment of Truth FOX 16.62 6 Extreme Makeover: Home Edition ABC 15.77 7 Lost (9 p.m.) ABC 15.29 8 Survivor: Micronesia CBS 14.02 9 Deal or No Deal (Mon.) NBC 13.16 10 60 Minutes CBS 13.06 11 20/20 (Mon.) ABC 12.66 12 Two and a Half Men (Mon.) CBS 12.31 13 CSI CBS 11.84 14 Without a Trace CBS 10.20 15 CSI: NY CBS 10.16 16 Law & Order (Wed.) NBC 10.06 17 Dance War ABC 9.79 18 Are You Smarter Than a 5th Grader? FOX 9.51 19 Criminal Minds CBS 9.48 20 NCIS CBS 9.47 21 Old Christine CBS 9.43 22 America’s Funniest Home Videos ABC 9.33 23 Deal or No Deal (Thu.) NBC 9.31 24 American Gladiators (Mon.) NBC 9.04 25 Eli Stone ABC 8.83 26 Terminator: Sarah Connor Chronicles FOX 8.82 27 CSI: Miami CBS 8.78 28 Apprentice 7 NBC 8.71 29 Don’t Forget the Lyrics FOX 8.68 30 Brothers & Sisters ABC 8.63 31 “Budweiser Shoot-Out” FOX 8.54 32 House (Fri.) FOX 8.32 33 “Most Outrageous Moments” NBC 8.15 34 Welcome to the Captain CBS 7.91 35 Law and Order: Criminal Intent (Wed.) NBC 7.84 36 Deal or No Deal (Wed.) NBC 7.83 37 Two and a Half Men (Wed.) CBS 7.70 38 1 vs. 100 NBC 7.63 39 Supernanny ABC 7.56 -- How I Met Your Mother CBS 7.56 41 Lipstick Jungle NBC 7.54 42 Biggest Loser 5 NBC 7.45 43 Prison Break FOX 7.43 44 Las Vegas NBC 7.40 45 Family Guy (9:30 p.m.) FOX 7.29 46 Law & Order (Sat.) NBC 6.98 47 Law & Order: SVU (Sat.) NBC 6.93 48 The Simpsons FOX 6.84 49 48 Hours Mystery (10 p.m.) CBS 6.77 -- Numb3rs CBS 6.77 51 “Charlie and the Chocolate Factory” ABC 6.60 -- Ghost Whisperer CBS 6.60 53 Family Guy (9 p.m.) FOX 6.55 54 Wife Swap ABC 6.53 55 Lost (8 p.m.) ABC 6.44 56 20/20 (Fri.) ABC 6.34 57 The Big Bang Theory CBS 6.17 58 King of the Hill FOX 6.06 59 Bones FOX 5.77 60 Moonlight CBS 5.45 61 “A Charlie Brown Valentine” ABC 5.35 62 Super Tuesday (9 p.m.) ABC 5.32 63 Friday Night Lights NBC 5.19 64 Super Tuesday NBC 5.15 -- Cashmere Mafia ABC 5.15 66 Al Diablo con los Guapos (Thu.) UNI 5.12 67 48 Hours Mystery (9 p.m.) CBS 5.10 -- Mexico vs. USA UNI 5.10 69 Law & Order: Criminal Intent (Sat.) NBC 5.03 70 Al Diablo con los Guapos (Tue.) UNI 4.83 71 Super Tuesday (10 p.m.) ABC 4.80 72 Al Diablo con los Guapos (Wed.) UNI 4.79 73 Super Tuesday (8 p.m.) ABC 4.76 74 Al Diablo con los Guapos (Mon.) UNI 4.68 75 Friday Night Smackdown CW 4.55 76 Al Diablo con los Guapos (Fri.) UNI 4.50 77 Crimetime Saturday CBS 4.35 78 Super Tuesday CBS 4.29 79 Cristina UNI 4.06 80 Smallville CW 4.01 81 Pasion (Thu.) UNI 3.99 82 Pasion (Tue.) UNI 3.98 83 Grey’s Anatomy ABC 3.97 84 Desperate Housewives ABC 3.82 85 American Gladiators (Sun., 8 p.m.) NBC 3.65 86 Pasion (Mon.) UNI 3.64 87 American Gladiators (Sun., 7 p.m.) NBC 3.61 88 Familia P. Luche UNI 3.55 89 Yo Amo Juan Querendon (Wed.) UNI 3.47 90 Pasion (Fri.) UNI 3.37 91 Retro P. Luche UNI 3.34 *--*

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 FOX 12.35 11.09

CBS 9.58 11.12

ABC 8.24 9.56

NBC 7.61 8.68

UNI 3.61 3.50

CW 2.29 2.63 *--*