Tuned in to chase bucks and get kicks

Winning premieres by “Million Dollar Password” and “EliteXC Saturday Night Fights” helped make CBS the most-watched network in the first full week of television’s summer season, according to figures released Tuesday by Nielsen Media Research.

Sunday’s premiere of “Million Dollar Password” averaged 10.62 million viewers, making it the week’s third-most-watched program, behind the season finale of the ABC drama “Lost” and a rerun of the CBS comedy “Two and a Half Men.”

“EliteXC Saturday Night Fights,” the first prime-time broadcast of mixed martial arts on a major broadcast network, won its Saturday 9-11 p.m. time slot among all viewers ages 18 to 34, 18 to 49 and 25 to 54, and its targeted audience of young men.

The entire two-hour, 51-minute telecast, which ended at 11:51 p.m., averaged 4.85 million viewers, while the prime-time portion averaged 4.31 million viewers, finishing second in the time period behind a rebroadcast of the movie “The Rookie” on ABC.

Cable’s most-watched program of the week was TNT’s coverage of Game 5 of the Lakers-Spurs Western Conference finals May 27, with 7.25 million viewers, which would have placed it 20th among programming on the five major broadcast networks. The Lakers’ series-clinching victory in Game 6 on Thursday was second, with 6.79 million viewers.

--

Here are the rankings for national prime-time network television last week (May 26-June 1) 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 Lost (9 p.m.) ABC 12.30 2 Two and a Half Men CBS 10.81 3 Million Dollar Password CBS 10.62 4 60 Minutes CBS 10.29 5 NCIS CBS 9.77 *--*

*--* 6 Criminal Minds CBS 9.73 7 CSI: NY CBS 9.56 8 So You Think You Can Dance? (Thu.) FOX 9.56 9 Hell’s Kitchen FOX 9.50 10 So You Think You Can Dance? (Wed.) FOX 9.36 *--*

*--* 11 CSI CBS 8.80 12 Without a Trace CBS 8.52 13 Rules of Engagement CBS 8.47 14 48 Hours Mystery CBS 8.45 15 Dateline: NBC (Sun.) NBC 8.09 *--*

*--* 16 Price Is Right Primetime CBS 7.78 17 Cold Case CBS 7.73 18 “NBC Nightly News” (Mon.) NBC 7.48 19 Moment of Truth FOX 7.40 20 Law & Order: SVU (10 p.m.) NBC 7.31 *--*

*--* 21 CSI: Miami CBS 7.13 22 Law & Order: SVU (9 p.m) NBC 7.06 23 Lost (8 p.m.) ABC 6.77 24 Supernanny ABC 6.68 25 How I Met Your Mother (Mon.) CBS 6.65 *--*

*--* 26 Numb3rs (10 p.m.) CBS 6.48 27 Most Outrageous Moments (Tue., 8:30 p.m.) NBC 6.26 28 “ABC World News Tonight” (Mon.) ABC 6.25 29 The Big Bang Theory (Mon.) CBS 6.25 30 Dateline: NBC (Fri.) NBC 6.14 *--*

*--* 31 Numb3rs (9 p.m.) CBS 5.96 32 Most Outrageous Moments (Tue., 8 p.m.) NBC 5.89 33 The Unit (Tue.) CBS 5.83 34 Ghost Whisperer CBS 5.68 35 Wife Swap ABC 5.68 *--*

*--* 36 Bachelorette ABC 5.59 37 Most Outrageous Moments (Sun.) NBC 5.51 38 America’s Most Wanted FOX 5.45 39 Men in Trees ABC 5.32 40 Dateline: NBC (Mon.) NBC 5.22 *--*

*--* 41 Family Guy FOX 5.22 42 “CBS Evening News” (Mon.) CBS 5.16 43 American Gladiators (Mon.) (S) NBC 5.12 44 20/20 ABC 5.04 45 Extreme Makeover: Home Edition ABC 5.02 *--*

*--* 46 The Unit (Sun.) CBS 4.95 47 “Scripps National Spelling Bee” ABC 4.91 48 So You Think You Can Dance? (Mon.) FOX 4.91 49 “Saturday Night Fights” CBS 4.85 50 According to Jim (8:30 p.m.) ABC 4.79 *--*

*--* 51 Samantha Who? (9 p.m.) ABC 4.78 52 How I Met Your Mother (Thu.) CBS 4.77 53 The Big Bang Theory (Thu.) CBS 4.74 54 Al Diablo con los Guapos (Thu.) UNI 4.70 55 Al Diablo con los Guapos (Wed.) UNI 4.62 *--*

*--* 56 “Vacation Swap” ABC 4.61 57 American Dad FOX 4.60 58 Samantha Who (9:30 p.m.) ABC 4.57 59 Fuego en la Sangre (Thu.) UNI 4.56 60 According to Jim (8 p.m.) ABC 4.55 *--*

*--* 61 Al Diablo con los Guapos (Tue.) UNI 4.54 62 America’s Funniest Home Videos ABC 4.52 63 Fuego en la Sangre (Tue.) UNI 4.51 64 The Simpsons FOX 4.49 65 Crimetime Saturday CBS 4.44 *--*

*--* 66 Last Comic Standing 6 NBC 4.40 67 Cops (8:30 p.m.) FOX 4.38 68 Most Outrageous Moments (Fri., 8:30 p.m.) NBC 4.33 69 Most Outrageous Moments (Fri., 8 p.m.) NBC 4.32 70 Fuego en la Sangre (Wed.) UNI 4.31 *--*

*--* 71 Boston Legal ABC 4.30 72 “The Rookie” ABC 4.21 *--*

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 7.33 9.93

FOX 6.07 10.68

ABC 5.52 8.74

NBC 5.29 7.64

UNI 3.30 3.53

CW 1.75 2.43 *--*