PRIME-TIME TV RANKINGS

The most-watched Major League Baseball All-Star game since 2002 helped Fox Broadcasting to a narrow victory over CBS in the weekly prime-time television rankings, according to figures released Tuesday by Nielsen Media Research.

An average of 14.59 million people watched Fox’s coverage of the American League’s 4-3 victory over the National League last Tuesday, the most since 2002, when a 7-7 tie game averaged 14.65 million viewers.

The All-Star Game was the most-watched prime-time program from July 13 through Sunday, ending the three-week streak of an “America’s Got Talent” episode finishing first.

Fox averaged 6.21 million viewers for its prime-time programming for the week, despite having only three other programs among the week’s 33 most-watched programs on the five major broadcast networks -- the 43-minute All-Star game pregame show, which finished fourth, and the Thursday and Wednesday episodes of “So You Think You Can Dance,” which finished 17th and 19th.

CBS finished second for the week, averaging 6.19 million viewers, with each of the top eight most-watched scripted programs, led by “NCIS,” fifth overall with 10.45 million viewers.

NBC was third with 5.29 million viewers, with the Tuesday “America’s Got Talent” episode finishing second for the week with 13.51 million viewers, the most for any entertainment program during television’s summer season. The Wednesday “Talent” episode was third for the week, while a rerun of the previous Tuesday’s episode was 16th.

ABC was fourth with 4.16 million, followed by My Network TV with 1.44 million and the CW with 919,000.

Fox also finished first among viewers ages 18 to 49, the group it, ABC and NBC target and advertisers covet, and viewers ages 12 to 17, 18 to 34 and 25 to 54. CBS was first as usual among viewers ages 55 and older.

CBS, ABC and NBC each broadcast 22 hours of prime-time programming for the week, Fox 16, the CW 13 and My Network TV 12.

The premiere of Friday’s 90-minute Disney Channel special “Wizards on Deck With Hannah Montana” was the week’s most-watched cable program, with 9.29 million viewers, which would have placed it sixth among programs on the five major broadcast networks.

The “NBC Nightly News” was the most-watched network newscast for the 40th consecutive week, averaging 7.43 million viewers. ABC’s “World News With Charles Gibson” was second, averaging 6.54 million viewers, while “The CBS Evening News With Katie Couric” averaged 5.12 million viewers to finish third for the 147th consecutive week.

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Here are the rankings for national prime-time network television last week (July 13-19), 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 MLB All-Star Game FOX 14.59 2 America’s Got Talent (Tue.) NBC 13.51 3 America’s Got Talent (Wed., 9 p.m.) NBC 11.64 4 MLB All-Star Pregame FOX 11.22 5 NCIS CBS 10.45 *--*

*--* 6 Two and a Half Men CBS 9.12 7 The Mentalist CBS 8.37 8 The Big Bang Theory CBS 8.23 9 The Bachelorette ABC 8.01 CSI: Miami CBS 8.01 *--*

*--* CSI: NY CBS 8.01 12 Wipeout ABC 7.69 13 CSI CBS 7.67 14 CBS News Remembers Walter Cronkite (Sun.) CBS 7.65 15 Criminal Minds CBS 7.48 *--*

*--* 16 America’s Got Talent (Tue., 8 p.m.) NBC 7.47 17 So You Think Can Dance (Thu.) FOX 7.20 18 Law & Order: SVU NBC 7.11 19 So You Think Can Dance (Wed.) FOX 6.95 20 America’s Got Talent (Wed., 8 p.m.) NBC 6.50 *--*

*--* 21 Cold Case CBS 6.33 22 Primetime: Family Secrets ABC 6.16 Big Brother (Tue.) CBS 6.16 24 Dateline (Fri.) NBC 5.95 25 Without a Trace CBS 5.93 *--*

*--* 26 48 Hours Mystery Tuesday CBS 5.63 27 Big Brother (Thu.) CBS 5.62 28 Big Brother (Sun.) CBS 5.56 29 Primetime: Crime ABC 5.54 30 Dateline (Mon.) NBC 5.53 *--*

*--* 31 Movie: “Meteor” (Part 2) NBC 5.24 32 Rules of Engagement CBS 5.22 33 Ghost Whisperer CBS 5.19 34 Bones FOX 5.15 35 48 Hours Mystery CBS 5.07 *--*

*--* 36 Flashpoint CBS 5.02 37 Extreme Makeover: Home Edition (8 p.m.) ABC 5.00 How I Met Your Mother CBS 5.00 39 America’s Funniest Home Videos ABC 4.97 40 Numb3rs CBS 4.93 *--*

*--* 41 Are You Smarter Than a 5th Grader? FOX 4.92 42 Dateline (7 p.m., Sun.) NBC 4.79 43 Manana es Para Siempre (Tue.) UNI 4.72 44 Here Come the Newlyweds ABC 4.70 45 20/20 (Fri.) ABC 4.61 *--*

*--* 46 Manana es Para Siempre (Mon.) UNI 4.55 47 Manana es Para Siempre (Wed.) UNI 4.39 48 J.K. Rowling: A Year in the Life ABC 4.37 49 Merlin NBC 4.36 50 Law & Order: CI NBC 4.32 *--*

*--* 51 Philanthropist NBC 4.28 52 Law & Order: SVU (Sat.) NBC 4.26 53 Premios Juventud 2009 (Thu.) UNI 4.15 54 America’s Most Wanted: America Fights Back FOX 4.08 55 The Simpsons (Sun., 9:30 p.m.) FOX 4.07 *--*

*--* 56 Gary Unmarried CBS 4.06 57 The New Adventures of Old Christine CBS 4.00 58 Manana es Para Siempre (Fri.) UNI 3.99 59 House FOX 3.98 60 The Listener NBC 3.87 *--*

*--* 61 Family Guy FOX 3.86 62 Cops 2 FOX 3.82 63 I Survived a Japanese Game Show ABC 3.79 64 The Superstars ABC 3.62 65 Mental (Fri., 9 p.m.) FOX 3.59 *--*

*--* 66 En Nombre del Amor (Mon.) UNI 3.58 67 En Nombre del Amor (Wed.) UNI 3.49 68 En Nombre del Amor (Tue.) UNI 3.48 69 Cristina (Mon.) UNI 3.42 70 The Simpsons FOX 3.39 *--*

*--* 71 30 Rock (8 p.m.) NBC 3.33 72 Great American Road Trip NBC 3.32 73 Law & Order: CI (Sat.) NBC 3.30 74 Futbol: Copa de Oro 2009: Mexico vs. Haiti. UNI 3.18 75 Wipeout (Sat., 8 p.m.) ABC 3.13 *--*

*--* 76 King of the Hill FOX 3.07 77 Lie to Me (Mon., 9 p.m.) FOX 3.06 78 En Nombre del Amor (Fri.) UNI 3.05 79 The Office NBC 3.04 80 Noche de Estrellas (Thu.) UNI 3.02 *--*

*--* 81 Cops FOX 3.00 82 The Office (8:30 p.m.) NBC 2.99 83 Private Practice ABC 2.92 84 Don Francisco Presenta (Wed.) UNI 2.91 85 Aqui y Ahora (Tue.) UNI 2.89 *--*

*--* 86 30 Rock NBC 2.80 87 Un Gancho al Corazon (Tue.) UNI 2.77 88 Grey’s Anatomy (Thu., 9 p.m.) ABC 2.75 89 Crimetime Saturday CBS 2.72 Un Gancho al Corazon (Wed.) UNI 2.72 *--*

*--* 91 Desperate Housewives ABC 2.68 92 Castle ABC 2.63 93 Premios Juventud: Acceso Total (Fri.) UNI 2.60 94 Better Off Ted (Tue.) ABC 2.50 95 Un Gancho al Corazon (Mon.) UNI 2.49 *--*

*--* Crimetime Saturday (8 p.m.) CBS 2.49 97 Surviving Suburbia ABC 2.47 98 Un Gancho al Corazon (Fri.) UNI 2.34 99 Chopping Block NBC 2.16 100 According to Jim (9:30 p.m.) ABC 2.13 *--*

*--* Dirty Sexy Money ABC 2.13 102 Scrubs-Tu (9:30 p.m.) ABC 2.12 103 Brothers & Sisters ABC 2.06 104 Sabado Gigante (Sat.) UNI 1.83 105 According to Jim (9 p.m.) ABC 1.71 *--*

*--* 106 American Dad (Sun., 7:30 p.m.) FOX 1.69 107 Kings NBC 1.57 108 Movie: “The Thomas Crown Affair” CW 1.52 109 Hazme Reir! y Seras Millonario (Sun.) UNI 1.49 110 The Goode Family ABC 1.47 *--*

*--* 111 ‘Til Death (Sun., 7 p.m.) FOX 1.46 112 Smallville CW 1.30 113 Supernatural CW 1.09 114 America’s Next Top Model (8 p.m., Encore) CW 0.91 115 America’s Next Top Model (9 p.m., Encore) CW 0.89 *--*

*--* The Game CW 0.89 117 One Tree Hill (Mon.) CW 0.83 118 Everybody Hates Chris CW 0.81 119 Hitched or Ditched CW 0.79 120 El Juego de Oro (Sat.) UNI 0.69 *--*

*--* 121 90210 CW 0.68 122 Privileged CW 0.67 123 Gossip Girl (Mon.) CW 0.50 124 Valentine CW 0.40 *--*

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 Fox 6.21 8.38

CBS 6.19 10.28

NBC 5.29 6.91

ABC 4.16 7.73

UNI 3.19 3.79 *--*

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