Disney’s ‘Camp’ rocks the ratings

Friday’s premiere of Disney Channel’s made-for-television movie musical “Camp Rock” was cable television’s most-watched entertainment program of the 2007-08 season, with 8.86 million viewers, thanks to overwhelming viewership among its targeted audience of children and young teens.

Nearly half of all children ages 6 to 14 who were watching television from 8-9:55 p.m. Friday were tuned to “Camp Rock,” and nearly two-thirds of girls in that age category, according to figures released Tuesday by Nielsen Media Research.

The audience for the “Camp Rock” premiere was the second largest for a Disney Channel made-for-television movie, trailing only last summer’s “High School Musical 2.” “Camp Rock” would have placed sixth among the prime-time programs on the five major broadcast networks from June 16 through Sunday.

Among the season’s cable programming, only some sporting events and news coverage have drawn more viewers.

ABC’s coverage of Game 6 of the NBA Finals was the week’s most-watched program, averaging 16.88 million viewers, the most for a series-ending victory since Game 7 of the 2005 finals. The six-game series between the Los Angeles Lakers and Boston Celtics averaged 15 million viewers, the most since 2004, the last time the Lakers were in the final.

NBC ended CBS’ three-week winning streak in the prime-time race, thanks to the season premiere of the talent show “America’s Got Talent,” two episodes of “Deal or No Deal” and “Dateline NBC.”

ABC’s coverage of Friday’s Daytime Emmy Awards drew a record-low 5.38 million viewers, erasing the previous low of 6.09 million for the 2006 telecast. The viewership decreased 35% from the 8.33 million that watched last year’s ceremony, which aired on CBS.

However, the Daytime Emmy Awards finished first in its 8-10 p.m. time slot among women ages 25 to 54.

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Here are the rankings for national prime-time network television last week (June 16-22) 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 6 ABC 16.88 2 America’s Got Talent NBC 12.78 3 60 Minutes CBS 9.10 4 Two and a Half Men CBS 8.95 5 So You Think You Can Dance? (Thu.) FOX 8.87 *--*

*--* 6 So You Think You Can Dance? (Wed.) FOX 8.85 7 Deal or No Deal (Tue) NBC 8.72 8 House FOX 8.62 9 Deal or No Deal (Wed.) NBC 8.34 10 Hell’s Kitchen FOX 8.25 *--*

*--* 11 Dateline: NBC (Sun.) NBC 8.24 12 Million Dollar Password CBS 8.20 13 CSI: NY CBS 8.04 14 CSI: Miami CBS 7.98 15 CSI CBS 7.85 *--*

*--* -- Are You Smarter Than a 5th Grader? FOX 7.85 17 Cold Case CBS 7.25 Criminal Minds (Wed.) CBS 7.25 19 Bones FOX 7.13 20 The Bachelorette (9 p.m.) ABC 7.05 *--*

*--* 21 Criminal Minds (Sun.) CBS 7.00 22 Numb3rs (10 p.m.) CBS 6.67 23 Rules of Engagement (Mon.) CBS 6.66 24 “Olympic Trials” (Sun.) NBC 6.30 25 Extreme Makeover: Home Edition ABC 6.26 *--*

*--* 26 Numb3rs (9 p.m.) CBS 6.19 -- Nashville Star NBC 6.19 28 Swingtown CBS 6.01 29 The Bachelorette (8 p.m.) ABC 5.90 30 Moment of Truth FOX 5.84 *--*

*--* 31 Celebrity Circus NBC 5.71 32 How I Met Your Mother (Mon.) CBS 5.66 33 The Big Bang Theory CBS 5.63 34 Al Diablo con los Guapos (Wed.) UNI 5.62 35 Dateline: NBC (Fri.) NBC 5.61 *--*

*--* 36 The Price Is Right Primetime CBS 5.59 37 “AFI’s 10 Top 10” CBS 5.54 38 “NBA Countdown” ABC 5.53 39 Family Guy FOX 5.49 40 America’s Funniest Home Videos ABC 5.48 *--*

*--* 41 48 Hours Mystery CBS 5.40 42 Ghost Whisperer CBS 5.39 43 “Daytime Emmy Awards” ABC 5.38 44 American Gladiators NBC 5.26 -- Fuego en la Sangre (Wed.) UNI 5.26 *--*

*--* 46 Al Diablo con los Guapos (Mon.) UNI 5.15 47 America’s Most Wanted FOX 5.13 48 Fuego en la Sangre (Tue.) UNI 5.12 49 Al Diablo con los Guapos (Tue.) UNI 4.97 50 Crimetime Saturday (8 p.m.) CBS 4.90 *--*

*--* 51 Al Diablo con los Guapos (Thu.) UNI 4.81 52 Cops (8:30 p.m.) FOX 4.73 53 Dateline: NBC (Mon.) NBC 4.68 54 Fear Itself NBC 4.65 55 Fuego en la Sangre (Thu.) UNI 4.61 *--*

*--* 56 “Olympic Trials” (Sat.) NBC 4.57 57 Fuego en la Sangre (Mon.) UNI 4.56 58 Last Comic Standing 6 NBC 4.54 59 American Dad FOX 4.47 60 Wife Swap ABC 4.39 *--*

*--* 61 Al Diablo con los Guapos (Fri.) UNI 4.38 62 Supernanny (10 p.m.) ABC 4.35 63 Supernanny (9 p.m.) ABC 4.34 64 The Simpsons FOX 4.33 -- Rules of Engagement (Thu.) CBS 4.33 *--*

*--* 66 Law & Order: Criminal Intent (Sat.) NBC 4.27 67 King of the Hill FOX 4.23 68 Cops (8 p.m.) FOX 4.12 69 Fuego en la Sangre (Fri.) UNI 4.09 70 How I Met Your Mother (Thu.) CBS 4.05 *--*

*--* 71 Friday Night Smackdown CW 3.97 72 The Mole ABC 3.85 73 Most Outrageous Moments (8:30 p.m.) NBC 3.75 74 Yo Amo Juan Querendon (Sun.) UNI 3.70 75 Crimetime Saturday (9 p.m.) CBS 3.56 *--*

*--* 76 Don Francisco Presenta UNI 3.55 77 Wonderful World of Disney ABC 3.47 78 “Planet of the Apes” FOX 3.42 79 Most Outrageous Moments (8 p.m.) NBC 3.40 80 The Office NBC 3.38 *--*

*--* 81 Yo Amo Juan Querendon (Mon.) UNI 3.31 82 Aqui y Ahora UNI 3.22 -- Grey’s Anatomy ABC 3.22 84 Jimmy Kimmel Live ABC 3.12 -- Yo Amo Juan Querendon (Tue.) UNI 3.12 *--*

*--* 86 Cristina UNI 3.08 87 Desperate Housewives ABC 3.07 88 Amas de Casa Desesperadas UNI 3.02 89 Yo Amo Juan Querendon (Thu.) UNI 2.90 90 Yo Amo Juan Querendon (Wed.) UNI 2.88 *--*

*--* 91 Ugly Betty ABC 2.87 92 Yo Amo Juan Querendon (Fri.) UNI 2.85 93 Fabrica de Risas UNI 2.47 94 “MVP: He Shoots, She Scores” ABC 2.42 95 Don’t Forget the Lyrics FOX 2.34 *--*

*--* 96 Smallville CW 2.28 97 Sabado Gigante UNI 2.09 98 Familia P. Luche UNI 2.02 99 Farmer Wants a Wife CW 2.00 100 Supernatural CW 1.95 *--*

Network averagesHere 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 6.48 7.54

CBS 6.39 9.70

FOX 6.07 10.34

ABC 5.39 8.54

UNI 3.80 3.52

CW 1.70 2.38 *--*