‘Idol,’ NFC matchup score big for Fox

The NFC championship game and the season premiere of “American Idol” combined to give Fox the most-watched week of any network in nearly three years, according to figures released Wednesday by Nielsen Media Research.

Fox averaged 24.29 million viewers for its prime-time programming between Jan. 14 and Sunday, the most for any network since the week of Jan. 31-Feb. 5, 2005, when Fox averaged 28.83 million viewers with a programming lineup that included Super Bowl XXXIX.

It was the most-watched non-Super Bowl week since Feb. 11-17, 2002, when NBC’s programming included the Winter Olympics from Salt Lake City. In weeks without Super Bowls or Olympics, it was the most-watched since Feb. 15-21, 1993.

Fox’s margin of 14.56 million over second-place CBS was the largest between the first- and second-place networks since at least 1991, excluding Super Bowl and Olympics weeks, according to Fox.

Fox’s coverage of the New York Giants’ 23-20 overtime victory over the Green Bay Packers in Sunday’s NFC championship game averaged 53.94 million viewers, the most for any television program, other than Super Bowls, since the May 14, 1998, finale of the NBC comedy “Seinfeld,” which averaged 76.3 million viewers.

Viewership for last Tuesday’s two-hour seventh-season premiere of “American Idol” was 33.42 million, the lowest for an “Idol” season premiere since 2004, but still the most for any entertainment program this season. The second “American Idol” shown Wednesday drew 30.44 million viewers, the second most for any entertainment program this season.

The second episode of Fox’s “Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles” drew 10.08 million viewers from 9 to 10 p.m. last Monday. The premiere a day earlier drew 18.4 million, helped in part by a huge lead-in from the Dallas Cowboys-New York Giants playoff game.

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Here are the rankings for national prime-time network television last week (Jan. 14-20) 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 “NFC Championship Game” FOX 53.94 2 “NFC Championship FOX 40.64 Postgame 1” 3 American Idol (Tue.) FOX 33.41 4 American Idol (Wed.) FOX 30.44 5 “NFC Championship FOX 23.10 Postgame 2”

6 NCIS CBS 15.82 7 Deal or No Deal (Mon.) NBC 15.08 8 CSI: Miami CBS 14.80 9 CSI CBS 14.15 10 Without a Trace (10 p.m.) CBS 13.29

11 “Comanche Moon 2” CBS 12.56 12 Law & Order: SVU NBC 12.20 (Tue.) 13 “Comanche Moon 3” CBS 12.13 14 Deal or No Deal (Wed.) NBC 11.81 15 Law & Order (Wed.) NBC 11.59

16 Are You Smarter Than a FOX 11.58 5th Grader? 17 Two and a Half Men CBS 11.51 18 American Gladiators NBC 10.61 19 Extreme Makeover: Home ABC 10.50 Edition 20 Dance War ABC 10.49

21 Terminator: The Sarah FOX 10.08 Conner Chronicles Numb3rs CBS 10.08 23 Ghost Whisperer CBS 9.90 24 Amazing Race 12 CBS 9.75 25 Medium NBC 9.51

26 Ugly Betty ABC 9.50 27 Apprentice 7 NBC 9.14 28 Without a Trace (8 p.m.) CBS 8.93 29 ER NBC 8.92 30 Don’t Forget the Lyrics FOX 8.79

31 Law & Order: NBC 8.77 Criminal Intent (Wed.) 32 Rules of Engagement CBS 8.42 33 Moonlight CBS 8.17 34 The Big Bang Theory CBS 8.07 35 Prison Break FOX 7.87

36 “CBS News Presents: CBS 7.63 Global Warming” 37 Shark CBS 7.44 38 Boston Legal ABC 7.43 39 Grey’s Anatomy (Thu.) ABC 7.40 40 1 vs. 100 NBC 7.32

41 Biggest Loser 5 NBC 7.18 42 America’s Most Wanted FOX 7.13 How I Met Your Mother CBS 7.13 44 House FOX 7.05 45 Cold Case CBS 6.70

46 Cops (8:30 p.m.) FOX 6.54 47 Las Vegas NBC 6.45 48 20/20 ABC 6.23 49 Supernanny ABC 6.04 50 Law & Order (Sat.) NBC 5.90

51 America’s Funniest Home ABC 5.84 Videos 52 Cops (8 p.m.) FOX 5.80 53 My Name Is Earl NBC 5.62 54 Law & Order: SVU NBC 5.47 (Sat.) 55 Cashmere Mafia ABC 5.46

56 48 Hours Mystery CBS 5.42 57 Friday Night Lights NBC 5.33 58 “Runaway Jury” CBS 5.12 59 Wife Swap ABC 5.11 60 Bones FOX 5.07

61 “The Terminal” ABC 4.99 62 Dateline: NBC (Sun.) NBC 4.89 63 The Office NBC 4.87 64 October Road ABC 4.86 65 Brothers & Sisters ABC 4.85

Law & Order: NBC 4.85 Criminal Intent (Sat.) 67 Power of 10 CBS 4.79 68 Friday Night Smackdown CW 4.77 69 Big Shots ABC 4.70 70 Amar Sin Limites (Thu.) UNI 4.58

71 Notes From the Underbelly ABC 4.57 72 Just for Laughs (8 p.m.) ABC 4.52 73 Amar Sin Limites (Fri.) UNI 4.49 74 Amar Sin Limites (Wed.) UNI 4.32 75 Amar Sin Limites (Tue.) UNI 4.25

76 Just for Laughs (8:30 ABC 4.18 p.m.) 77 “Runaway Bride” NBC 4.15 78 Amar Sin Limites (Mon.) UNI 4.13 79 According to Jim ABC 4.01 Pasion (Wed.) UNI 4.01

81 Pasion (Thu.) UNI 3.96 82 Pasion (Mon.) UNI 3.91 83 Pasion (Tue.) UNI 3.89 84 Pasion (Fri.) UNI 3.81 85 Yo Amo Juan Querendon UNI 3.68 (Thu.)

86 Grey’s Anatomy (Fri.) ABC 3.61 87 Familia P. Luche UNI 3.58 88 Desperate Housewives ABC 3.56 89 Yo Amo Juan Querendon UNI 3.47 (Mon.) 90 Yo Amo Juan Querendon UNI 3.35 (Tue.)

Chavo Animada UNI 3.35 92 Retro P. Luche UNI 3.27 93 Yo Amo Juan Querendon UNI 3.22 (Fri.) 94 Amas de Casa UNI 3.16 Desesperadas (Thu.) 95 Carpoolers ABC 3.07

96 Cristina UNI 3.01 97 5 Magnificos UNI 2.94 98 Don Francisco Presenta UNI 2.82 99 One Tree Hill CW 2.72 100 Sabado Gigante UNI 2.70

Amas de Casa UNI 2.70 Desesperadas (Wed.) 102 Smallville CW 2.64 103 Aqui y Ahora Tue UNI 2.42 104 Supernatural CW 2.39 105 Everybody Hates Chris CW 2.04

106 Parodia UNI 2.02 107 Familia de Diez UNI 1.74 108 The Game CW 1.67 109 Reaper CW 1.58 110 Crowned (Wed.) CW 1.45

111 Girlfriends CW 1.32 112 Aliens in America (Mon.) CW 1.31 113 Gossip Girl CW 1.02 114 Life Is Wild CW 0.77 *--*

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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 Lastweek Seasonto date FOX 24.29 9.94

CBS 9.73 11.00

NBC 7.76 8.47

ABC 6.21 9.52

UNI 3.49 3.47

CW 2.04 2.57 *--*