NFL and several premieres give NBC a ratings boost

NBC drew its largest non-Olympics prime-time audience in nearly three years last week, thanks to its final NFL telecast of the season, the premiere of “American Gladiators” and the season premieres of “Law & Order,” “The Apprentice” and “The Biggest Loser.”

NBC averaged 11.74 million viewers for its prime-time programming between Dec. 31 and Sunday, its highest figure outside Olympics coverage since the week of Jan. 10-16, 2005, according to Nielsen Media Research.

NBC’s coverage of Saturday’s AFC wild card playoff game between the Jacksonville Jaguars and Pittsburgh Steelers was the week’s most-watched telecast, averaging 25.74 million viewers and enabling NBC to have television’s most-watched night since the finale of Fox’s “American Idol” last May 23.

NBC was also the winner in Sunday’s matchup of the premieres of “American Gladiators” and ABC’s “Cashmere Mafia.” “American Gladiators,” a revival of the 1989-97 syndicated competition series, averaged 12.06 million viewers for its two-hour premiere, while “Cashmere Mafia,” a drama about four women, averaged 10.56 million viewers -- with viewership dropping 15% from the first half-hour to the second.

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Here are the rankings for national prime-time network television last week (Dec. 31-Jan. 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

“NFL Playoff Game: Jacksonville

NBC 25.74 at Pittsburgh” 2 “NFL Playoff Game Pre-Game” NBC 23.86 3 “NFL Playoff Bridge” NBC 23.48 4 “NFL Playoff Post-Game” CBS 21.37 5 Desperate Housewives (Sun.) ABC 19.78 6 60 Minutes CBS 18.25 7 Law & Order NBC 13.45 8 Deal or No Deal (Thu.) NBC 13.41 9 CSI CBS 13.25 10 Extreme Makeover: -- -- -- Home Edition ABC 12.60 11 Law & Order: SVU (Tue.) NBC 12.35 12 Deal or No Deal (Wed.) NBC 12.33 13 “Tostitos Fiesta Bowl” FOX 12.16 14 American Gladiators NBC 12.06 15 Amazing Race 12 CBS 11.98 16 “Fedex Orange Bowl” FOX 11.96 17 NCIS CBS 11.76 18 “Allstate Sugar Bowl” FOX 11.70 19 Apprentice 7 NBC 11.08 20 Cold Case CBS 10.96 21 “Cashmere Mafia” ABC 10.55 22 Without a Trace (10 p.m.) CBS 10.50 23 Biggest Loser 5 NBC 10.46 24 Deal or No Deal (Sun.) NBC 10.44 25 E.R. NBC 9.38 26 “Democratic Debate” ABC 9.36 27 “New Year’s Rockin’ Eve ‘08” ABC 9.20 28 Supernanny (10 p.m.) ABC 9.13 29 Supernanny (9 p.m.) ABC 8.89 30 Wife Swap ABC 8.43 31 1 vs. 100 NBC 8.42 32 Without a Trace (8 p.m.) CBS 8.34 33 America’s Funniest -- -- --- Home Videos ABC 8.16 34 The Simpsons FOX 8.04 35 Shark CBS 8.00 36 Criminal Minds CBS 7.93 37 Women’s Murder Club ABC 7.80 38 “Allstate Sugar -- -- -- Bowl Pre-Game” FOX 7.65 39 20/20 ABC 7.56 40 “Debate Analysis” ABC 7.37 -- The Unit CBS 7.37 42 Las Vegas NBC 7.14 43 “Shrek 2” ABC 7.10 44 King of the Hill FOX 6.94 45 “Debate Analysis 2” ABC 6.82 46 Ghost Whisperer CBS 6.74 47 48 Hrs Mystery (Sat.) CBS 6.70 48 House FOX 6.58 49 Power of Ten CBS 6.52 50 “Rose Bowl Post-Game” ABC 6.50 51 CSI: NY CBS 6.48 52 Two and a Half Men CBS 6.45 53 Family Guy FOX 6.15 54 Grey’s Anatomy (Thu.) ABC 6.14 55 Numb3rs CBS 6.10 56 48 Hours Mystery (Tue.) CBS 6.01 57 Bones FOX 5.81 58 America’s Most Wanted FOX 5.76 59 Cops (8:30 p.m.) FOX 5.75 60 Friday Night Lights NBC 5.52 61 CSI: Miami CBS 5.48 62 “High Crimes” CBS 5.39 63 American Dad -- -- --- (9:30 p.m.) FOX 5.19 64 According to Jim -- -- -- (9:30 p.m.) ABC 5.10 65 Ugly Betty ABC 5.07 66 Moonlight CBS 5.04 67 Desperate Housewives -- -- -- (Thu.) ABC 5.03 68 Rules of Engagement CBS 5.01 69 According to Jim -- -- -- (10 p.m.) ABC 5.00 70 Cops (8 p.m.) FOX 4.88 71 Boston Legal ABC 4.83 72 Just For Laughs ABC 4.82 73 Friday Night Smackdown CW 4.79 74 American Dad -- -- -- (7:30 p.m.) FOX 4.54 75 Amar Sin Limites (Thu.) UNI 4.25 76 Pasion (Thu.) UNI 4.22 77 How I Met Your Mother CBS 4.00 78 Grey’s Anatomy (Fri.) ABC 3.97 79 “Saturday Night Live in the -- -- -- 90s: Pop Culture Nation” NBC 3.96 80 “Men in Black 2” FOX 3.90 -- Amar Sin Limites (Wed.) UNI 3.90 82 Yo Amo Juan -- -- -- Querendon (Thu.) UNI 3.89 83 Pasion (Fri.) UNI 3.87 84 Big Bang Theory CBS 3.85 85 Yo Amo Juan -- -- -- Querendon (Wed.) UNI 3.83 86 Don Francisco Presenta UNI 3.70 87 Pasion (Wed.) UNI 3.67 88 Amar Sin Limites (Fri.) UNI 3.61 -- Yo Amo Juan -- -- -- Querendon (Fri.) UNI 3.61 90 American Dad (7 p.m.) FOX 3.59 91 Law & Order: SVU (Mon.) NBC 3.56 Ver Para Creer UNI 3.56 93 Familia P. Luche UNI 3.48 94 Retro P. Luche UNI 3.35 95 5 Magnificos UNI 3.17 96 Yo Amo Juan -- -- -- Querendon (Tue.) UNI 3.14 97 “Feliz 2008” UNI 2.95 98 Sabado Gigante UNI 2.71 *--*

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 11.74 8.93 CBS 8.81 11.45 FOX 8.68 8.47 ABC 8.37 10.29 UNI 3.05 3.49 TEL 1.94 2.75 *--*