The Oscars are runners-up in the ‘American Idol’ age

The least-watched Oscar ceremony since at least 1974 plus five hours of “American Idol” programming on Fox resulted in a second-place finish for ABC in the weekly prime-time television ratings, according to figures released Tuesday by Nielsen Media Research.

Fox averaged 14.96 million viewers for its 15 hours of prime-time programming between Feb. 18 and Sunday, its sixth first-place finish in the six weeks “American Idol” has aired this season. ABC was second, averaging 9.88 million viewers.

The ABC broadcast of Sunday’s 80th Academy Awards telecast averaged 32.01 million viewers, the least since individual viewership figures began being calculated in 1974. The previous low was 33.04 million for the 2003 ceremony held shortly after the start of the Iraq war.

The Oscars also lost their customary title as TV’s most-watched entertainment program of the season, a distinction that the Jan. 16 season premiere of “American Idol” holds with 33.42 million viewers.

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Here are the rankings for national prime-time network television last week (Feb 18-24) 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 Net- work View- ers *--*

*--* 1 Academy Awards ABC 32.01 2 American Idol (Tue.) FOX 29.01 3 American Idol (Wed.) FOX 28.88 4 American Idol (Thu.) FOX 23.37 5 “Oscar’s Red Carpet 2008” ABC 21.54 *--*

*--* 6 Deal or No Deal (Mon.) NBC 16.95 7 Lost (9 p.m.) ABC 13.65 8 Survivor: Micronesia CBS 12.66 9 Two and a Half Men CBS 12.45 10 Don’t Forget the Lyrics FOX 12.43 *--*

*--* 11 Without a Trace CBS 12.09 12 CSI CBS 11.92 13 “Barbara Walters Special” ABC 11.69 14 Fox NASCAR Sprint Cup FOX 10.92 15 Law & Order NBC 10.86 *--*

*--* 16 NCIS CBS 10.85 17 60 Minutes CBS 10.69 18 My Dad Is Better Than Your Dad (Mon.) NBC 9.81 19 CSI: Miami CBS 9.51 20 The New Adventures of Old Christine CBS 9.40 *--*

*--* 21 The Price Is Right Primetime CBS 9.35 22 Law & Order: SVU NBC 9.28 23 Dance War ABC 9.16 24 Deal or No Deal (Wed.) NBC 9.03 25 20/20 (10 p.m.) ABC 8.66 *--*

*--* 26 Medium NBC 8.45 27 Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles FOX 8.10 28 Apprentice 7 NBC 8.07 Biggest Loser 5 NBC 8.07 30 House FOX 7.96 *--*

*--* 31 Numb3rs CBS 7.82 32 Law & Order: Criminal Intent (Wed.) NBC 7.71 33 Amnesia NBC 7.44 34 Boston Legal ABC 7.43 1 vs. 100 NBC 7.43 *--*

*--* 36 Prison Break FOX 7.37 37 CSI: NY CBS 7.30 38 Eli Stone ABC 7.19 39 Criminal Minds CBS 7.15 40 Bones FOX 7.04 *--*

*--* 41 Cold Case CBS 6.98 42 Cops (8:30 p.m.) FOX 6.73 43 20/20 (9 p.m.) ABC 6.57 44 The Simpsons FOX 6.39 45 Ghost Whisperer CBS 6.37 *--*

*--* 48 Hours Mystery (Sat.) CBS 6.37 47 Dateline: NBC (Fri.) NBC 6.34 48 Dexter CBS 6.33 49 “Premio Lo Nuestro’08” UNI 6.24 50 How I Met Your Mother CBS 6.02 *--*

*--* 51 America’s Most Wanted FOX 6.00 52 Cops (8 p.m.) FOX 5.92 53 Supernanny ABC 5.88 54 Jericho CBS 5.86 55 Big Brother 9 (Sun.) CBS 5.76 *--*

*--* 56 Lipstick Jungle NBC 5.72 57 Law & Order: Criminal Intent (Sun., 8 p.m.) NBC 5.49 58 Al Diablo con los Guapos (Mon.) UNI 5.45 59 Lost (8 p.m.) ABC 5.43 60 Wife Swap ABC 5.42 *--*

*--* 61 Big Brother 9 (Tue.) CBS 5.39 62 Welcome to the Captain CBS 5.34 63 Big Brother 9 (Wed.) CBS 5.22 64 48 Hours Mystery (9 p.m.) CBS 5.19 65 Al Diablo con los Guapos (Fri.) UNI 5.14 *--*

*--* Al Diablo con los UNI 5.14 Guapos (Tue.) 67 Law &Order: Criminal Intent NBC 5.07 (Sun., 10 p.m.) 68 Al Diablo con los Guapos (Wed.) UNI 5.00 69 Crimetime Saturday CBS 4.99 70 Law & Order: Criminal Intent NBC 4.96 (Sun., 9 p.m.) *--*

*--* 71 According to Jim ABC 4.85 72 “Knight Rider” NBC 4.80 73 Cashmere Mafia ABC 4.78 74 Just for Laughs (8:30 p.m.) ABC 4.63 75 “Forrest Gump” ABC 4.60 *--*

*--* 76 Friday Night Smackdown! CW 4.56 77 My Name Is Earl NBC 4.48 78 Just for Laughs (8 p.m.) ABC 4.46 *--*

*--* 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 14.96 11.32

ABC 9.88 9.48

CBS 7.93 10.85

NBC 7.23 8.65

UNI 3.94 3.52

CW 2.40 2.62 *--*