CBS scores with NFL

The Season 8 return of “American Idol” brought huge audiences back to Fox, but the network still couldn’t get past CBS last week, which cruised to No. 1 with football and the goodbye episode for star William L. Petersen on “CSI: Crime Scene Investigation.”

Tuesday’s two-hour premiere of “Idol” averaged 30.4 million viewers, down 9% compared with last year’s opener, according to data published Wednesday by Nielsen Media Research.

But CBS piled up 40.6 million viewers, the largest prime-time audience so far this season, for its Sunday telecast of the AFC Championship game between the Baltimore Ravens and the Pittsburgh Steelers. And 24.2 million tuned in to see Petersen take his final bow after 8 1/2 seasons on “CSI.”

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Prime-Time TV Rankings

Here are the rankings for national prime-time network television last week (Jan. 12-18) 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. NFL Playoffs Baltimore at Pittsburgh CBS 40.64

2. American Idol (Tue.) FOX 30.42

3. American Idol (Wed.) FOX 30.32

4. NFL Postgame (Sun.) CBS 25.44

5. CSIC BS 24.25

6. NCIS CBS 18.62

7. The Mentalist CBS18.07

8. Two and a Half Men CBS 17.10

9. The Mentalist (Sun.) CBS 16.39

10. CSI: Miami CBS 15.83

11. CSI (8 p.m.) CBS 15.51

12. Criminal Minds CBS 13.78

13. Eleventh Hour CBS 13.16

14. Grey’s Anatomy (Thu., 9 p.m.) ABC 13.10

15Desperate Housewives ABC 13.08

16. CSI: NY CBS 12.67

17. Without a Trace CBS 12.42

18. 24 FOX 12.31

19. The Big Bang Theory CBS 11.81

20. How I Met Your Mother CBS 11.76

21. Numb3rs CBS 11.02

22. Ghost Whisperer CBS 10.58

23. Worst Week CBS 10.36

24. Flashpoint CBS 10.28

25. Law & Order: SVU NBC 9.77

26. The Bachelor ABC 9.06

27. Brothers & Sisters ABC 8.87

28. The Biggest Loser NBC 8.86

29. Extreme Makeover: Home Edition (8 p.m.) ABC 8.64

30. Private Practice ABC 8.49

-- The Office NBC 8.49

32. Law & Order NBC 8.26

33. Primetime: What Would You Do? ABC 7.30

34. Superstars of Dance NBC 7.19

35. The New Adventures of Old Christine CBS 7.17

36. Gary Unmarried CBS 6.96

37. E.R. NBC 6.95

38. 30 Rock NBC 6.63

39. America’s Funniest Home Videos ABC 6.61

40. 48 Hours Mystery CBS 6.46

--True Beauty ABC 6.46

42. Cops 2 FOX 6.18

43. My Name Is Earl NBC 6.15

44. 20/20 (Fri.) ABC 6.13

45. America’s Most Wanted: America Fights Back FOX 6.09

46. Law & Order: SVU (Sat.) NBC 6.07

47. Howie Do It (8:30 p.m.) NBC 6.06

48. Homeland Security USA ABC 6.04

49. My Name Is Earl (Thu.) NBC 5.99

50. Howie Do It (8 p.m.) NBC 5.98

51. Dateline (Sun., 7 p.m.) NBC 5.79

52. Are You Smarter Than a Fifth Grader? FOX 5.64

53. Dateline (Fri.) NBC 5.57

54. Fuego en la Sangre (Tue.) UNI 5.42

55. Fuego en la Sangre (Mon.) UNI 5.41

56. Knight Rider NBC 5.38

57. Cops FOX 5.27

58. Fuego en la Sangre (Fri.) UNI 5.22

-- Fuego en la Sangre (Thu.) UNI 5.22

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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 17.04 11.34

FOX 12.81 8.18

ABC 6.73 8.66

NBC 6.15 7.55

UNI 3.88 3.86 *--*