CBS on a winning streak

ABC’s coverage of the NBA Finals swept the top three places among the week’s prime-time programs, but CBS had each of the next six most-watched programs, helping it win the ratings race for the third time in the three weeks of television’s summer season.

CBS averaged 7.19 million viewers for its prime-time programming between June 9 and Sunday, topped by a rerun of the comedy “Two and a Half Men,” fourth overall with 10.72 million viewers, according to figures released Tuesday by Nielsen Media Research.

The week’s most-watched program was ABC’s coverage of Game 5 of the NBA Finals, which averaged 17.39 million viewers, the most for an NBA game since Game 7 of the 2005 finals between the Detroit Pistons and San Antonio Spurs. Through five games, the series between the Lakers and the Boston Celtics is averaging 14.6 million viewers, the most since 2004 and 57% more than last year’s Finals between the Cleveland Cavaliers and the San Antonio Spurs.

CBS’ coverage of Sunday’s 62nd annual Tony Awards tied for 28th for the week, averaging 6.27 million for the three-hour, two-minute telecast opposite Game 5 of the NBA Finals in most of the nation, a slight increase from the record low of 6.22 million for last year’s telecast, which competed for viewers with the much-anticipated finale of the HBO organized crime drama “The Sopranos” and Game 2 of the NBA Finals in much of the nation.

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Here are the rankings for national prime-time network television last week (June 9-15) 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 NBA Finals, Game 5 (Sun.) ABC 17.39 2 NBA Finals, Game 3 (Tue.) ABC 14.51 3 NBA Finals, Game 4 (Thu.) ABC 13.76 4 Two and a Half Men CBS 10.72 5 NCIS CBS 10.16 *--*

*--* 6 CSI CBS 9.42 7 Million Dollar Password CBS 9.36 8 48 Hours Mystery (Tue.) CBS 9.21 9 CSI: NY CBS 9.18 10 So You Think You Can Dance (Wed.) FOX 8.91 *--*

*--* 11 Hell’s Kitchen FOX 8.81 12 Deal or No Deal (Wed.) NBC 8.62 13 CSI: Miami CBS 8.53 14 Rules of Engagement CBS 8.51 15 Criminal Minds CBS 8.32 *--*

*--* 16 Without a Trace CBS 8.20 17 So You Think You Can Dance (Thu.) FOX 8.02 18 House FOX 7.97 19 60 Minutes CBS 7.56 20 Bones FOX 7.49 *--*

*--* 21 Swingtown CBS 7.00 22 Numb3rs (10 p.m.) CBS 6.81 23 Nashville Star NBC 6.70 24 Celebrity Circus NBC 6.52 25 The Bill Engvall Show CBS 6.41 *--*

*--* 26 The Bachelorette ABC 6.35 27 How I Met Your Mother CBS 6.30 28 Law & Order: SVU (9 p.m.) NBC 6.27 -- “The Tony Awards” CBS 6.27 30 Are You Smarter Than a 5th Grader? FOX 6.25 *--*

*--* 31 Most Outrageous Moments (Tue., 8:30 p.m.) NBC 6.13 32 Moment of Truth FOX 6.01 33 Law & Order: SVU (10 p.m.) NBC 5.96 34 The Price Is Right Primetime CBS 5.95 35 Most Outrageous Moments (Tue., 8 p.m.) NBC 5.80 *--*

*--* 36 Numb3rs (9 p.m.) CBS 5.70 37 American Gladiators NBC 5.64 38 20/20 ABC 5.52 39 America’s Most Wanted FOX 5.19 40 Family Guy FOX 5.14 *--*

*--* 41 “The Notebook” CBS 5.09 42 “Tim Russert Tribute” NBC 5.04 43 Ghost Whisperer CBS 4.95 44 America’s Funniest Videos ABC 4.91 45 Fear Itself NBC 4.87 *--*

*--* 46 Al Diablo con los Guapos (Mon.) UNI 4.81 47 American Dad FOX 4.71 48 “NBA Countdown” (Tue.) ABC 4.70 49 Saturday Night Live NBC 4.63 50 “NBA Countdown” (Sun.) ABC 4.62 *--*

*--* 51 Fuego en la Sangre (Tue.) UNI 4.60 52 Al Diablo con los Guapos (Wed.) UNI 4.59 53 Fuego en la Sangre (Wed.) UNI 4.58 54 Men in Trees ABC 4.57 55 Cops (8:30 p.m.) FOX 4.50 *--*

*--* 56 Al Diablo con los Guapos (Tue.) UNI 4.45 57 Al Diablo con los Guapos (Thu.) UNI 4.44 -- Fuego en la Sangre (Mon.) UNI 4.44 59 “NBA Countdown” (Thu.) ABC 4.38 60 Al Diablo con los Guapos (Fri.) UNI 4.32 *--*

*--* 61 Fuego en la Sangre (Fri.) UNI 4.30 62 Dateline: NBC (Fri.) NBC 4.16 63 Fuego en la Sangre (Thu.) UNI 4.15 64 Supernanny ABC 4.08 65 “Historias Para Contar” UNI 4.07 *--*

*--* 66 Last Comic Standing 6 NBC 4.05 67 Cops (8 p.m.) FOX 4.02 68 Most Outrageous Moments (Fri., 8:30 p.m.) NBC 3.93 -- Friday Night Smackdown! CW 3.93 70 The Mole ABC 3.88 *--*

*--* 71 48 Hours Mystery (Sat., 8 p.m.) CBS 3.78 -- The Simpsons FOX 3.78 73 Wife Swap ABC 3.77 74 King of the Hill FOX 3.74 75 Most Outrageous Moments (Fri., 8 p.m.) NBC 3.64 *--*

*--* 76 Extreme Makeover: Home Edition ABC 3.61 77 Wonderful World of Disney ABC 3.54 78 “Hollywood Homicide” FOX 3.50 79 Don Francisco Presenta UNI 3.37 80 My Name Is Earl (Thu.) NBC 3.28 *--*

*--* 81 According to Jim (9:30 p.m.) ABC 3.23 82 According to Jim (9 p.m.) ABC 3.14 83 Cristina UNI 3.13 84 My Name Is Earl (Sat.) NBC 3.12 85 Aqui y Ahora UNI 3.08 *--*

*--* 86 Jimmy Kimmel Live (Thu.) ABC 3.03 87 Jimmy Kimmel Live (Tue.) ABC 3.00 88 Jimmy Kimmel Live (Sun.) ABC 2.91 89 Yo Amo Juan Querendon (Tue.) UNI 2.89 90 Yo Amo Juan Querendon (Thu.) UNI 2.84 *--*

*--* 91 Yo Amo Juan Querendon (Fri.) UNI 2.70 92 Amas de Casa Desesperadas UNI 2.64 93 Don’t Forget the Lyrics FOX 2.58 94 Yo Amo Juan Querendon (Mon.) UNI 2.57 *--*

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 CBS 7.19 9.79

NBC 6.78 7.57

ABC 6.75 8.62

FOX 6.01 10.45

UNI 3.38 3.51

CW 1.69 2.40 *--*