PRIME-TIME TV RANKINGS

ABC’s coverage of the opening two games of the NBA Finals produced last week’s two most-watched prime-time television programs and a 1% increase in viewership from last year, despite a one-sided opening game.

The Lakers’ 100-75 Game 1 victory over the Orlando Magic on Thursday averaged 13.04 million viewers, 3% fewer than the 13.38 million who watched the Boston Celtics’ 98-88 victory over the Lakers in Game 1 of the 2008 finals, according to figures released Tuesday by Nielsen Media Research.

The Lakers’ 101-96 overtime victory over the Magic in Game 2 on Sunday averaged 14.06 million viewers, 4% more than watched the Celtics’ 108-102 Game 2 victory last year.

Through two games, the finals are averaging 13.55 million viewers, 1% more than last year’s 13.44 million average.

CBS’ coverage of Sunday’s Tony Awards continued the trend of rising viewership for award shows, averaging 7.43 million viewers, 15% more than the 6.27 million that last year’s ceremony averaged. Viewership had also increased for ABC’s coverage of the Academy Awards and CBS’ coverage of the Grammy Awards and Academy of Country Music Awards earlier this year.

NBC had success in drawing young adults to the opening week of the competition series “I’m a Celebrity . . . Get Me Out of Here!” The two-hour premiere was that Monday’s most-watched prime-time show on broadcast television among viewers ages 18 to 34, while the Tuesday and Thursday episodes won their 8-9 p.m. time slots among viewers ages 18 to 49, the group targeted by NBC, ABC and Fox Broadcasting and coveted by advertisers.

NBC also had success for the two-night news special “Inside the Obama White House: Brian Williams Reports.” The opening segment won its Tuesday 9-10 p.m. time slot among viewers ages 18 to 49 and was seventh overall for the week with 9.17 million viewers. The second segment was eighth for the week, with 9.04 million viewers, the most for any NBC program in the Wednesday 9-10 p.m. time slot since Oct. 29.

NBC also had the week’s most-watched scripted program, the season finale of “Law & Order: Special Victims Unit,” third overall with 11.56 million viewers.

For the second time in the two full weeks of television’s summer season, CBS was the most-watched network, averaging 7.14 million viewers for its prime-time programming from June 1 through Sunday.

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Here are the rankings for national prime-time network television last week (June 1-7) 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 NBA Finals Game 2 ABC 14.06 2 NBA Finals Game 1 ABC 13.04 3 Law & Order: SVU NBC 11.56 4 NCIS CBS 11.26 5 The Mentalist (Tue.) CBS 10.87 *--*

*--* 6 Two and a Half Men CBS 10.09 7 Inside the Obama White House (Part 1, Tue.) NBC 9.17 8 Inside the Obama White House (Part 2, Wed.) NBC 9.04 9 60 Minutes CBS 8.89 10 Law & Order NBC 8.87 *--*

*--* 11 So You Think You Can Dance (Wed.) FOX 8.85 12 Criminal Minds CBS 8.64 13 The Mentalist CBS 8.55 14 CSI: Miami CBS 8.52 15 Wipeout ABC 8.44 *--*

*--* 16 Rules of Engagement CBS 8.31 17 So You Think You Can Dance (Thu.) FOX 8.17 18 CSI CBS 7.86 19 CSI: NY CBS 7.75 20 48 Hours Mystery Tuesday CBS 7.73 *--*

*--* 21 63rd Annual Tony Awards CBS 7.43 22 Medium NBC 7.41 23 48 Hours Mystery CBS 6.95 24 The Big Bang Theory CBS 6.77 25 Inside the Obama White House (Part 2, Fri.) NBC 6.45 *--*

*--* 26 I’m a Celebrity (Mon.) NBC 6.44 27 The Bachelorette ABC 6.41 28 Bones FOX 6.23 29 How I Met Your Mother CBS 6.18 30 Dateline (Fri.) NBC 6.08 *--*

*--* 31 Bones (Mon., 9 p.m.) FOX 6.02 32 House FOX 5.98 33 Numb3rs CBS 5.83 34 The Big Bang Theory (Tue.) CBS 5.67 35 I’m a Celebrity (Tue.) NBC 5.54 *--*

*--* 36 Dateline (Sun., 7 p.m.) NBC 5.53 37 Flashpoint CBS 5.48 38 Manana Es Para Siempre (Mon.) UNI 5.44 39 Ghost Whisperer CBS 5.38 40 The Listener NBC 5.31 *--*

*--* 41 Manana Es Para Siempre (Tue.) UNI 5.26 42 I’m a Celebrity (Thu.) NBC 5.24 43 NBA Countdown (Thu.) ABC 5.15 44 The New Adventures of Old Christine (Thu.) CBS 5.04 45 Here Come the Newlyweds ABC 4.95 *--*

*--* 46 America’s Most Wanted FOX 4.92 47 20/20 (Fri.) ABC 4.91 48 Mental FOX 4.89 49 Manana Es Para Siempre (Wed.) UNI 4.88 50 Manana Es Para Siempre (Thu.) UNI 4.85 *--*

*--* 51 Family Guy FOX 4.84 52 I’m a Celebrity (Wed.) NBC 4.80 53 Inside the Obama White House (Part 1, Fri.) NBC 4.70 54 The New Adventures of Old Christine CBS 4.49 55 NHL Stanley Cup Final (Game 5, Sat.) NBC 4.45 *--*

*--* 56 Cuidado con el Angel (Mon.) UNI 4.44 57 Gary Unmarried CBS 4.41 Manana Es Para Siempre (Fri.) UNI 4.41 59 Cuidado con el Angel (Tue.) UNI 4.34 60 American Dad FOX 4.22 *--*

*--* 61 Movie: “The Last Templar” (Sun.) NBC 4.13 62 Cuidado con el Angel (Thu.) UNI 4.12 63 The Simpsons FOX 4.09 64 House (Tue., 8 p.m.) FOX 4.08 65 Cops 2 FOX 4.05 *--*

*--* 66 According to Jim (Tue., 8 p.m.) ABC 3.98 67 According to Jim (Tue., 8:30 p.m.) ABC 3.96 68 Cristina (Mon.) UNI 3.91 69 Cuidado con el Angel (Fri.) UNI 3.80 70 Earth 2100 ABC 3.77 *--*

*--* 71 King of the Hill FOX 3.76 72 Wipeout (Sat.) ABC 3.75 73 Cuidado con el Angel (Wed.) UNI 3.71 74 Crimetime Saturday CBS 3.56 75 Jimmy Kimmel Live: Game Night (Thu.) ABC 3.55 *--*

*--* 76 Don’t Forget the Lyrics FOX 3.47 77 Don Francisco Presenta (Wed.) UNI 3.30 78 Las Tontas No Van al Cielo (Tue.) UNI 3.26 79 Las Tontas No Van al Cielo (Mon.) UNI 3.25 80 NBA Countdown (Sun.) ABC 3.24 *--*

*--* 81 Las Tontas No Van al Cielo (Thu.) UNI 3.24 82 Cops FOX 3.23 Las Tontas No Van al Cielo (Wed.) UNI 3.23 84 Mujeres Asesinas (Thu.) UNI 3.19 85 NHL Stanley Cup Pregame (Sat.) NBC 3.18 *--*

*--* 86 Las Tontas No Van al Cielo (Fri.) UNI 3.08 87 Jimmy Kimmel Live: Game Night (Sun.) ABC 3.02 Rosa de Guadalupe (Fri.) UNI 3.02 89 Aqui y Ahora (Tue.) UNI 2.95 90 The Unusuals ABC 2.93 *--*

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 7.14 10.87

ABC 6.21 8.24

NBC 6.14 7.21

FOX 5.24 8.95

UNI 3.36 3.87 *--*