Scripted shows boost CBS

In a week when four of the five major networks had double-digit percentage decreases in viewership from a year ago, CBS’ continued strength in scripted programming gave it a second consecutive victory in the weekly prime-time ratings race, according to figures released Tuesday by Nielsen Media Research.

With six of the nine most-watched scripted programs, CBS averaged 9.99 million viewers for its 22 hours of prime-time programming from April 28 through Sunday, its first back-to-back weekly victories since winning four consecutive weeks Dec. 3-30. “CSI: Crime Scene Investigation” was the most-watched scripted program, finishing fourth overall with 18.01 million viewers.

Fox, which had the usual 1-2 finish from “American Idol,” was second, averaging 9.42 million for its 15 hours of prime-time programming. Fox also benefited from the first post-writers strike episode of the medical drama “House,” which was ninth with 14.64 million viewers, Fox’s largest non-sports audience in the Monday 9-10 p.m. time slot since a Jan. 15, 2007, episode of “24” and a record 11.94 million for the cooking competition series “Hell’s Kitchen.”

Fox finished first for the 17th consecutive week among viewers ages 18 to 49, the group it, ABC and NBC target and advertisers covet. The streak is the longest during the official broadcast season in Fox’s history and the longest streak among any network since NBC’s 27-week streak during the 1995-96 season.

ABC was third overall with 9.17 million viewers, its most in six weeks, outside of Oscar week. NBC was fourth with 6.46 million, followed by the CW with 2.56 million.

ABC and NBC both air 22 hours of prime-time programming a week, and the CW airs 13 hours.

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Here are the rankings for national prime-time network television last week (April 28-May 4) 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 American Idol (Tue.) FOX 25.09 2 American Idol (Wed.) FOX 22.80 3 Dancing With the Stars (Mon.) ABC 18.22 4 CSI (Thu.) CBS 18.01 5 Dancing With the Stars (Tue.) ABC 17.06 *--*

*--* 6 Desperate Housewives ABC 16.76 7 Grey’s Anatomy ABC 15.31 8 NCIS CBS 14.76 9 House FOX 14.64 10 CSI: Miami CBS 13.88 *--*

*--* 11 Criminal Minds CBS 13.03 12 Two and a Half Men CBS 12.91 13 Without a Trace CBS 12.83 14 Survivor: Micronesia CBS 12.32 15 Law & Order: SVU (Tue.) NBC 12.31 *--*

*--* 16 Hell’s Kitchen FOX 11.94 17 Extreme Makeover: Home Edition ABC 11.57 18 Cold Case CBS 11.56 19 CSI: NY CBS 11.51 20 60 Minutes CBS 10.73 *--*

*--* Lost ABC 10.73 22 Brothers & Sisters ABC 10.46 23 Numb3rs CBS 10.33 24 Rules of Engagement CBS 10.30 25 Shark CBS 10.16 *--*

*--* 26 Deal or No Deal (Mon.) NBC 10.05 27 Samantha Who? ABC 9.87 28 Bones FOX 9.80 29 Medium NBC 9.68 30 Law & Order (Wed.) NBC 9.65 *--*

*--* 31 Ghost Whisperer CBS 9.21 32 How I Met Your Mother CBS 8.84 33 Are You Smarter Than a 5th Grader? FOX 8.45 34 The Big Bang Theory CBS 8.07 35 Deal or No Deal (Wed.) NBC 7.94 *--*

*--* 36 Moonlight CBS 7.89 37 Ugly Betty ABC 7.87 38 ER NBC 7.81 39 The Office NBC 7.75 40 Family Guy FOX 7.69 *--*

*--* 41 CSI (Tue.) CBS 7.61 42 Women’s Murder Club ABC 7.53 43 Boston Legal ABC 7.39 44 Don’t Forget the Lyrics FOX 7.29 45 America’s Funniest Home Videos ABC 7.28 *--*

*--* 46 “Fox NASCAR Sprint Cup” FOX 7.27 47 Bachelor: London Calling ABC 7.17 48 Price Is Right Primetime CBS 7.15 49 Back to You FOX 7.12 50 My Name Is Earl NBC 6.72 *--*

*--* 51 Law & Order: SVU (Sun.) NBC 6.35 52 Dexter CBS 6.34 53 American Dad FOX 6.28 54 The Simpsons (8 p.m.) FOX 6.28 55 Wonderful World of Disney ABC 6.23 *--*

*--* 56 20/20 (8 p.m.) ABC 6.22 57 Dateline: NBC (Fri.) NBC 6.11 58 48 Hours Mystery (10 p.m.) CBS 5.98 59 Wife Swap ABC 5.91 60 Scrubs NBC 5.82 *--*

*--* 61 King of the Hill (8:30 p.m.) FOX 5.71 62 ‘Til Death FOX 5.57 63 Supernanny ABC 5.50 64 30 Rock NBC 5.38 65 Fuego en la Sangre (Mon.) UNI 5.29 *--*

*--* 66 Fuego en la Sangre (Wed.) UNI 5.28 67 Fuego en la Sangre (Thu.) UNI 5.25 68 48 Hours Mystery (9 p.m.) CBS 5.23 69 Fuego en la Sangre (Tue.) UNI 5.17 70 Law & Order (Sat.) NBC 5.08 *--*

*--* 71 Most Outrageous Moments (Fri., 8:30 p.m.) NBC 5.06 72 Al Diablo con los Guapos (Wed.) UNI 4.95 73 Al Diablo con los Guapos (Tue.) UNI 4.82 74 Most Outrageous Moments (Fri., 8 p.m.) NBC 4.79 75 Crimetime Saturday CBS 4.76 *--*

*--* 76 Al Diablo con los Guapos (Mon.) UNI 4.73 77 Al Diablo con los Guapos (Thu.) UNI 4.69 78 Fuego en la Sangre (Fri.) UNI 4.52 79 Dateline: NBC (Sun.) NBC 4.25 80 America’s Top Model 4 (Wed.) CW 4.19 *--*

*--* 81 Monk NBC 4.14 82 20/20 (10 p.m.) ABC 4.10 83 Most Outrageous Moments (Tue.) NBC 4.09 84 According to Jim (8:30 p.m.) ABC 4.07 85 Cristina UNI 4.01 *--*

*--* 86 According to Jim (8 p.m.) ABC 3.92 87 Aqui y Ahora UNI 3.88 *--*

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 9.99 10.02

FOX 9.42 10.86

ABC 9.17 8.80

NBC 6.46 7.91

UNI 3.76 3.54

CW 2.56 2.45 *--*