PRIME-TIME TV RANKINGS

CBS combined the return of “Big Brother” with its strong lineup of reruns to be the most-watched network in prime time for the fourth consecutive week and sixth time in the seven weeks of TV’s summer season.

CBS had five of the seven most-watched shows, topped by a second-place finish by “NCIS,” and averaged 6.46 million viewers for its prime-time programming between July 6 and Sunday, according to figures released Tuesday by Nielsen Media Research.

“Big Brother” won both of its time slots. Thursday’s season premiere was 18th for the week with 6.59 million viewers, 3% more than last season’s Thursday premiere. Sunday’s episode was 21st for the week with 6.29 million viewers.

Of the four major English-language broadcast networks, CBS is the only one with increased viewership this summer, up 2% from last year. ABC and NBC are both down 12% while Fox is down 20%.

For the third time in the three weeks it has aired this summer, an episode of NBC’s “America’s Got Talent” was the week’s most-watched program.

The TNT police drama “The Closer” was the week’s most-watched cable program, averaging 6.05 million viewers, which would have put it 24th among the programs on broadcast television.

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Here are the rankings for national prime-time network television last week (July 6-12) 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 America’s Got Talent (Wed.) NBC 11.91 2 NCIS CBS 11.00 3 America’s Got Talent (Tue.) NBC 10.57 4 Two and a Half Men CBS 9.41 5 The Mentalist (Tue.) CBS 9.25 *--*

*--* 6 60 Minutes CBS 8.77 7 CSI: Miami CBS 8.76 8 Primetime: Family Secrets ABC 8.66 9 The Big Bang Theory CBS 8.34 10 The Mentalist CBS 8.26 *--*

*--* 11 Wipeout ABC 8.19 12 So You Think Can Dance (results) FOX 7.88 13 The Bachelorette ABC 7.71 14 CSI CBS 7.66 15 So You Think Can Dance FOX 7.59 *--*

*--* 16 CSI: NY CBS 7.25 17 Criminal Minds CBS 7.14 18 Big Brother (Thu.) CBS 6.59 19 America’s Got Talent (Wed.) (8 p.m.) NBC 6.32 20 Dateline: Michael Jackson Remembered (Tue.) NBC 6.30 *--*

*--* 21 Big Brother (Sun.) CBS 6.29 22 Without a Trace CBS 6.09 23 Primetime: Crime ABC 6.07 24 Cold Case CBS 5.76 25 20/20 Special Edition (Tue.) ABC 5.74 *--*

*--* 26 Are You Smarter Than a Fifth Grader? FOX 5.70 27 Bones FOX 5.68 28 How I Met Your Mother CBS 5.48 29 Rules of Engagement CBS 5.47 30 48 Hours Mystery (Tue.) CBS 5.37 *--*

*--* 31 Dateline (Mon.) NBC 5.26 32 Numb3rs CBS 5.10 33 Law & Order: Criminal Intent NBC 5.09 34 The Philanthropist NBC 5.08 35 Movie: “Meteor” (Part 1) NBC 5.07 *--*

*--* 36 Extreme Makeover: Home Edition ABC 4.90 37 Law & Order: SVU (Sat.) NBC 4.87 38 Manana Para Siempre (Mon.) UNI 4.74 39 Law & Order NBC 4.70 40 The Great American Road Trip NBC 4.63 *--*

*--* 41 America’s Funniest Home Videos ABC 4.61 Flashpoint CBS 4.61 43 Ghost Whisperer CBS 4.56 44 Manana Para Siempre (Tue.) UNI 4.54 Manana Para Siempre (Wed.) UNI 4.54 *--*

*--* 46 Cuidado con El Angel UNI 4.48 47 Just for Laughs ABC 4.38 48 Here Come the Newlyweds ABC 4.36 49 Family Guy FOX 4.22 50 Manana Para Siempre (Fri.) UNI 4.21 *--*

*--* 51 Dateline (Fri.) NBC 4.18 52 20/20 (Fri.) ABC 4.15 53 The Superstars ABC 4.12 54 48 Hours Mystery (8 p.m.) CBS 4.11 55 The Simpsons (9:30 p.m.) FOX 4.01 *--*

*--* 56 America’s Most Wanted: America Fights Back FOX 3.91 57 I Survived a Japanese Game Show ABC 3.90 The New Adventures of Old Christine CBS 3.90 59 Crimetime Saturday CBS 3.82 60 Gary Unmarried CBS 3.78 *--*

*--* 61 Soccer: Mexico vs. Panama UNI 3.74 62 The Simpsons FOX 3.72 63 Manana Para Siempre (Thu.) UNI 3.69 64 Merlin NBC 3.67 Cristina UNI 3.67 *--*

*--* House FOX 3.67 67 En Nombre del Amor (Tue.) UNI 3.59 68 Cops (8:30 p.m.) FOX 3.56 69 Mental (Fri.) FOX 3.55 70 En Nombre del Amor (Wed.) UNI 3.45 *--*

*--* 71 Samantha Who? ABC 3.43 72 En Nombre del Amor (Fri.) UNI 3.36 73 The Listener NBC 3.30 74 Lie to Me (Mon.) FOX 3.25 75 30 Rock (8 p.m.) NBC 3.17 *--*

*--* 76 Rosa de Guadalupe UNI 3.16 77 King of the Hill FOX 3.15 78 En Nombre del Amor Thu UNI 3.14 79 Samantha Who? (8:30 p.m.) ABC 3.11 80 Law & Order: CI (Sat.) NBC 3.06 *--*

*--* 81 Aqui y Ahora UNI 3.02 82 Un Gancho al Corazon (Thu.) UNI 3.01 83 Soccer: Mexico vs. Guadeloupe UNI 2.96 84 Un Gancho al Corazon (Mon.) UNI 2.92 85 The Office (8:30 p.m.) NBC 2.90 *--*

*--* Wipeout (Sat.) ABC 2.90 87 The Office NBC 2.89 88 Cops FOX 2.79 89 Don Francisco Presenta UNI 2.78 90 Eli Stone ABC 2.76 *--*

*--* 91 Un Gancho al Corazon (Wed.) UNI 2.73 92 Un Gancho al Corazon (Tue.) UNI 2.71 93 The Great Amercan Road Trip (Sun.) NBC 2.69 94 Castle ABC 2.67 95 Grey’s Anatomy ABC 2.64 *--*

*--* 96 Desperate Housewives ABC 2.49 97 30 Rock NBC 2.48 98 Un Gancho al Corazon (Fri.) UNI 2.39 99 According to Jim (9:30 p.m.) ABC 2.23 100 Movie: “Legally Blonde 2” FOX 2.16 *--*

*--* 101 Private Practice ABC 2.15 102 Surviving Suburbia ABC 2.05 103 Chopping Block NBC 2.04 104 Brothers & Sisters ABC 2.03 *--*

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 6.46 10.38

NBC 4.79 6.95

FOX 4.37 8.43

ABC 4.32 7.81

UNI 3.19 3.80 *--*