PRIME-TIME TV RANKINGS

Pop music prevailed in the TV ratings last week as Fox’s “American Idol” and CBS’ Grammy telecast earned top spots in the prime-time audience rankings.

“Idol’s” Tuesday telecast was the most-watched program, with an average of 26.6 million viewers, although the Wednesday edition was not far behind (26.4 million), according to figures published Tuesday by Nielsen Media Research.

Sunday’s 3 1/2 -hour Grammys delivered 19 million viewers for CBS, a 10% increase over the previous year. With the award show pulling 18% of the 18- to 49-year-old crowd, CBS also achieved a rare Sunday win in that ad-friendly demographic.

Meanwhile, CBS’ regular lineup of procedural dramas and sitcoms continued to deliver strong results across the board, with the network claiming six of the 10 most-watched programs, led by “Two and a Half Men” (16.6 million) and “CSI: Miami” (16.1 million). “60 Minutes” (16.7 million), which led in to the Grammys, drew strength from an interview with the heroic pilot of a US Airways flight that ditched in the Hudson River last month.

With CBS and Fox clashing at the top, ABC and NBC were left to tough it out.

NBC appeared to gain no traction from its record-breaking Super Bowl telecast earlier this month; the network last week had no entry in the top 10 either in total viewers or young adults. And ABC, despite some success in rekindling viewer interest in its medical drama, “Private Practice” (which finished at No. 13 last week), is mired in fourth place for the season in the 18-to-49 demographic.

Overall, CBS won the week in total viewers (averaging 11.5 million for the period between Feb. 2 and Sunday), followed by Fox (10.75 million), ABC (7.76 million) and NBC (6.95 million). Fox won the 18-to-49 race.

On basic cable, the week’s top program was USA’s “Monk” on Friday, which attracted 5.7 million viewers. That would have made it No. 63 among the shows on the broadcast networks.

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scott.collins@latimes.com

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(BEGIN TEXT OF INFOBOX)

Here are the rankings for national prime-time network television last week (Feb. 2-8) 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 26.60 2 American Idol (Wed.) FOX 26.38 3 Grammy Awards CBS 19.05 4 60 Minutes CBS 16.74 5 Two and a Half Men CBS 16.55 *--*

*--* 6 CSI: Miami CBS 16.10 7 Grey’s Anatomy (Thu., 9 p.m.) ABC 15.27 8 House FOX 14.87 9 The Mentalist CBS 14.44 10 NCIS CBS 13.85 *--*

*--* 11 Desperate Housewives ABC 13.82 12 Lie to Me FOX 12.99 13 Private Practice ABC 12.91 14 Fringe FOX 12.78 15 Without a Trace CBS 12.16 *--*

*--* 16 CSI CBS 11.78 17 Ghost Whisperer CBS 11.41 18 24 FOX 11.34 19 The Bachelor ABC 11.02 20 Lost ABC 11.01 *--*

*--* 21 Bones FOX 10.86 22 The Big Bang Theory CBS 10.84 23 Extreme Makeover: Home Edition (8 p.m.) ABC 10.40 24 Biggest Loser NBC 10.35 25 Law & Order: SVU NBC 10.34 *--*

*--* 26 How I Met Your Mother CBS 10.30 Numb3rs CBS 10.30 28 Worst Week CBS 9.92 29 Flashpoint CBS 9.51 30 America’s Funniest Home Videos ABC 9.28 *--*

*--* 31 Brothers & Sisters ABC 9.26 32 Law & Order NBC 8.64 33 Medium NBC 8.56 34 Heroes NBC 8.55 35 Office NBC 8.48 *--*

*--* 36 Chuck NBC 8.45 37 Criminal Minds (8 p.m.) CBS 8.38 38 Shootout (Sat., 8:30 p.m) FOX 8.26 39 Eleventh Hour CBS 8.13 40 Hell’s Kitchen FOX 7.71 *--*

*--* 41 CSI: NY CBS 7.53 42 20/20 (Fri.) ABC 7.37 43 Shootout: Pace (Sat., 8:20 p.m.) FOX 7.27 44 Ugly Betty ABC 7.26 45 ER NBC 7.25 *--*

*--* 46 Dateline (Sun., 7 p.m.) NBC 7.04 47 True Beauty ABC 6.77 48 Life NBC 6.73 49 Katie Couric: Grammy Special CBS 6.55 50 Supernanny ABC 6.52 *--*

*--* 51 30 Rock NBC 6.39 52 48 Hours Mystery CBS 6.32 53 Movie: ‘XIII (Part 1)’ NBC 6.29 54 My Name Is Earl NBC 6.27 55 The Big Bang Theory CBS 6.10 *--*

*--* 56 Fuego en la Sangre (Tue.) UNI 6.05 57 Law & Order: SVU (Sat.) NBC 6.03 58 Fuego en la Sangre (Wed.) UNI 6.02 59 Primetime: What Would You Do ABC 5.86 60 Fuego en la Sangre (Thu.) UNI 5.85 *--*

*--* 61 How I Met Your Mother CBS 5.83 62 Life on Mars ABC 5.76 63 Crimetime Saturday CBS 5.68 64 Homeland Security USA ABC 5.61 65 Family Guy FOX 5.56 *--*

*--* 66 Fuego en la Sangre (Fri.) UNI 5.55 67 Fuego en la Sangre (Mon.) UNI 5.53 68 Crimetime Saturday (8 p.m.) CBS 5.24 69 Cuidado con el Angel (Tue.) UNI 5.23 70 Cuidado con el Angel (Thu.) UNI 5.13 *--*

*--* 71 Cuidado con el Angel (Wed.) UNI 5.10 72 Cuidado con el Angel (Mon.) UNI 5.06 73 Wife Swap ABC 5.00 Knight Rider NBC 5.00 75 Dateline (Fri.) NBC 4.98 *--*

*--* 76 Tontas No Van Cielo (Tue.) UNI 4.90 77 Scrubs (Tue., 9 p.m.) ABC 4.82 78 King of the Hill FOX 4.75 Kath & Kim NBC 4.75 The Simpsons FOX 4.75 *--*

*--* 81 Howie Do It (8 p.m.) NBC 4.73 82 Lost (Wed., 8 p.m.) ABC 4.70 83 Scrubs (Tue., 9:30 p.m.) ABC 4.68 84 Cuidado con el Angel (Fri.) UNI 4.66 85 America’s Most Wanted (Fri., 9 p.m.) FOX 4.65 *--*

*--* 86 American Dad FOX 4.60 87 Tontas No Van Cielo (Thu.) UNI 4.58 Cops (Fri., 8:30 p.m.) FOX 4.58 89 Tontas No Van Cielo (Wed.) UNI 4.57 90 Tontas No Van Cielo (Mon.) UNI 4.38 *--*

*--* 91 Tontas No Van Cielo (Fri.) UNI 4.31 92 Friday Night Lights NBC 4.18 93 Howie Do It 8:30 NBC 4.14 94 Cristina (Mon.) UNI 4.08 95 Cops (Fri., 8 p.m.) FOX 4.01 *--*

*--* 96 Smallville CW 3.93 97 Aqui y Ahora (Tue.) UNI 3.87 98 Don Francisco Presenta (Wed.) UNI 3.85 99 Rosa de Guadalupe (Thu.) UNI 3.80 100 Law & Order (Sat.) NBC 3.77 *--*

*--* 101 Rosa de Guadalupe (Fri.) UNI 3.47 102 Supernatural CW 3.37 103 Sabado Gigante (Sat.) UNI 2.92 104 Hole in the Wall (Sun., 7:30 p.m.) FOX 2.66 105 One Tree Hill (Mon.) CW 2.65 *--*

*--* 106 Hora Pico (Sun.) UNI 2.63 107 Grey’s Anatomy (Sat.) ABC 2.62 108 Private Practice (Sat.) ABC 2.49 90210 CW 2.49 110 Gossip Girl (Mon.) CW 2.31 *--*

*--* 111 Cine: ‘Don Quijote Cabalga de Nuevo’ UNI 2.30 112 Hole in the Wall (Sun., 7 p.m.) FOX 2.25 113 Hora Derbez (Sat.) UNI 2.15 114 Heroes 2/7 NBC 1.94 115 Desperate Housewives (Sat.) ABC 1.76 *--*

*--* 116 Privileged CW 1.65 117 Hora Pico 2/8 UNI 1.49 118 Movie: ‘Teen Wolf’ CW 1.39 119 Everybody Hates Chris CW 1.36 120 The Game CW 1.18 *--*

*--* 121 90210 (Encore) CW 0.99 122 Privileged (Encore) CW 0.96 123 13: Fear Is Real CW 0.85 124 Jericho CW 0.70 *--*

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 11.5 11.23

FOX 10.75 8.57

ABC 7.76 8.45

NBC 6.95 8.19

UNI 4.15 3.91 *--*