NBC scores over Fox

NBC and Fox battled for ratings dominance during the final week before the official start of the fall season, with pro football giving NBC the clear edge by week’s end.

NBC’s Sunday game between the Dallas Cowboys and the Green Bay Packers amassed an impressive 22.2 million viewers, making it the No. 1 program for the week ending Sept. 21, according to figures released Tuesday by Nielsen Media Research.

On Tuesday, the fifth-season opener of Fox’s medical drama “House” (14.8 million) proved especially potent for viewers ages 18 to 49, the category in which it ranked No. 2 for the week. As a lead-in, “House” also dramatically boosted the fortunes of the new sci-fi drama “Fringe” (13.3 million), which saw its numbers leap after a disappointing premiere.

CBS’ summer cop drama “Flashpoint” wrapped up its limited run Thursday on a high note, taking its time slot with 9.7 million viewers and earning a renewal from the network.

The news was worse for ABC, which sank to record-low ratings for Sunday’s critically drubbed 60th annual Primetime Emmys telecast (12.3 million).

Here are the rankings for national prime-time network television last week (Sept. 15-21) 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 Football: Dallas Cowboys at Green Bay Packers NBC 22.23 2 House FOX 14.77 3 60 Minutes CBS 14.59 4 NFL Pre-Game NBC 14.02 5 Fringe FOX 13.27 *--*

*--* 6 The 60th Annual Primetime Emmy Awards ABC 12.34 7 America’s Got Talent (Wed.) NBC 12.23 8 Football Night in America Part 3 NBC 10.92 9 CSI: Crime Scene Investigation CBS 10.19 10 America’s Got Talent (Thu.) NBC 10.03 *--*

*--* 11 Two and a Half Men CBS 9.97 12 Bones FOX 9.84 13 NCIS CBS 9.70 14 Flashpoint CBS 9.67 15 NFL Postgame FOX 9.59 *--*

*--* 16 Deal or No Deal (Mon.) NBC 8.87 17 Criminal Minds CBS 8.72 18 CSI: NY CBS 8.10 19 Cold Case (8 p.m.) CBS 8.03 20 CSI: Crime Scene Investigation (8 p.m.) CBS 7.96 *--*

*--* 21 Biggest Loser 6 NBC 7.94 22 Cold Case CBS 7.72 23 CSI: Miami CBS 7.71 24 Football Night in America Part 2 NBC 7.58 25 Big Brother 10 (Tue.) CBS 7.56 *--*

*--* 26 The New Adventures of Old Christine CBS 7.42 27 Law & Order: Criminal Intent (Wed.) NBC 7.02 28 Al Diablo con Los Guapos (Fri.) UNI 6.78 29 Without a Trace CBS 6.44 30 Numb3rs CBS 6.35 *--*

*--* 31 Al Diablo con Los Guapos (Tue.) UNI 6.28 32 Criminal Minds (Sun.) CBS 6.27 33 Kitchen Nightmares FOX 6.15 34 Al Diablo con Los Guapos (Thu.) UNI 6.10 35 Are You Smarter Than a Fifth Grader? FOX 6.06 *--*

*--* 36 Numb3rs (9 p.m.) CBS 6.05 37 Wipeout ABC 5.96 38 The Big Bang Theory CBS 5.94 39 Grey’s Anatomy ABC 5.92 40 Al Diablo con Los Guapos (Wed.) UNI 5.87 *--*

*--* 41 Prison Break FOX 5.79 42 20/20 (Fri.) ABC 5.75 43 Law & Order: SVU NBC 5.70 44 Primetime: UFOs ABC 5.69 45 Al Diablo con Guapos (Mon.) UNI 5.65 *--*

*--* 46 Fuego en la Sangre (Tue.) UNI 5.60 47 Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles FOX 5.56 48 Crimetime Saturday CBS 5.56 49 Cops (8:30 p.m.) FOX 5.41 50 How I Met Your Mother CBS 5.40 *--*

*--* 51 America’s Funniest Home Videos (Fri.) ABC 5.39 52 Fuego en la Sangre (Mon.) UNI 5.39 53 48 Hours Mystery CBS 5.36 54 Hole in the Wall (8:30 p.m.) FOX 5.33 55 Family Guy FOX 5.32 *--*

*--* 56 Ghost Whisperer CBS 5.31 57 Dateline (Fri.) NBC 5.30 58 America’s Most Wanted: America Fights Back FOX 5.27 59 Don’t Forget the Lyrics FOX 5.26 60 The Simpsons FOX 5.15 *--*

*--* 61 The Simpsons (8:30 p.m.) FOX 5.15 62 Fuego en la Sangre (Wed.) UNI 5.10 63 My Name Is Earl NBC 5.05 64 Law & Order: Criminal Intent (10 p.m. Sat.) NBC 4.99 65 Til Death FOX 4.89 *--*

*--* 66 “Batman Begins” ABC 4.73 67 Jimmy Kimmel’s Big Night of Stars ABC 4.61 68 The New Adventures of Old Christine (8:30 p.m.) CBS 4.59 69 Cops FOX 4.56 70 The Simpsons (7:30 p.m. Sun.) FOX 4.56 *--*

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 NBC 6.05 5.87 CBS 5.98 6.46 FOX 5.04 6.19 ABC 4.49 5.54 UNI 2.37 2.04 *--*