Prime-Time TV Rankings

CBS returned to the top of the weekly television ratings last week after a one-week interruption caused by Fox Broadcasting’s World Series coverage and three days of reruns.

Bolstered by the four most-watched scripted programs, CBS averaged 11.09 million viewers for its prime-time programming between Nov. 2 and Sunday, its sixth first-place finish in the season’s seven weeks, according to live-plus-same-day figures released Tuesday by the Nielsen Co.

“NCIS” was the week’s most-watched scripted program, finishing third overall with 20.18 million viewers. Its spinoff, “NCIS: Los Angeles,” was the most-watched new series for the seventh consecutive week, finishing 10th overall with 15.29 million viewers.

Fox was second for the week, averaging 10.69 million viewers. The New York Yankees’ World Series-clinching 7-3 victory over the Philadelphia Phillies in Game 6 was the week’s most-watched program with 22.34 million viewers. Fox’s coverage of the entire Series averaged 19.4 million viewers, the most since 2004, when the Boston Red Sox won their first World Series title since 1918, and 43% more than the 2008 Series between the Phillies and Tampa Bay Rays.

ABC was third, averaging 9.25 million viewers. The premiere of its highly promoted science fiction series “V” was second in its 8-9 p.m. Tuesday slot behind “NCIS” and 12th for the week with 14.3 million viewers.

Among viewers ages 18 to 49, the group ABC, Fox and NBC target and advertisers covet, “V” was the week’s most-watched scripted program.

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Here are the rankings for national prime-time network television last week (Nov. 2-7) as compiled by the Nielsen Co. 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 World Series Game 6 FOX 22.34 2 Football: Dallas at Philadelphia NBC 21.88 3 NCIS CBS 20.18 4 NFL Pregame (Sun.) NBC 17.26 5 World Series Game 5 FOX 17.09 *--*

*--* 6 60 Minutes CBS 16.85 7 Dancing With the Stars ABC 16.69 8 The Mentalist CBS 16.21 9 CSI CBS 15.60 10 NCIS: Los Angeles CBS 15.29 *--*

*--* 11 Dancing With the Stars (Results) ABC 15.05 12 V ABC 14.30 13 Grey’s Anatomy ABC 13.95 14 Desperate Housewives ABC 13.79 15 Two and a Half Men CBS 13.51 *--*

*--* 16 The Good Wife CBS 12.74 17 The Big Bang Theory CBS 12.73 18 Criminal Minds CBS 12.55 19 CSI: Miami CBS 12.52 20 Survivor: Samoa CBS 12.44 *--*

*--* 21 CSI: NY CBS 12.00 22 Football Night America (Part 3) NBC 11.71 23 The Amazing Race CBS 11.62 24 Extreme Makeover: Home ABC 10.38 -- Edition (8 p.m.) 25 Castle ABC 9.43 *--*

*--* 26 The Biggest Loser NBC 9.11 Private Practice ABC 9.11 28 Brothers & Sisters ABC 9.08 29 How I Met Your Mother CBS 8.82 30 Modern Family ABC 8.77 *--*

*--* 31 Bones FOX 8.66 32 FlashForward ABC 8.57 33 20/20 ABC 8.42 34 Law & Order (Fri.) NBC 8.29 35 Numb3rs CBS 8.23 *--*

*--* 36 Cold Case CBS 8.17 37 The Office NBC 8.09 38 Accidentally on Purpose CBS 8.08 39 Family Guy FOX 8.00 40 Ghost Whisperer CBS 7.99 *--*

*--* 41 Three Rivers CBS 7.98 Law & Order NBC 7.98 43 Football Night America (Part 2) NBC 7.95 Law & Order: SVU NBC 7.95 45 Medium CBS 7.74 *--*

*--* 46 The Forgotten ABC 7.27 47 Family Guy (Sun., 8 p.m.) FOX 7.26 48 Cougar Town ABC 6.86 49 America’s Funniest Home Videos ABC 6.80 50 Seth & Alex’s Almost Live FOX 6.73 -- Comedy Show *--*

*--* 51 The New Adventures of Old Christine CBS 6.68 52 Mercy NBC 6.63 53 The Cleveland Show FOX 6.44 54 Gary Unmarried CBS 6.29 55 Law & Order: SVU (Sat.) NBC 6.28 *--*

*--* 56 30 Rock NBC 6.15 57 So You Think You Can Dance (Tue.) FOX 6.12 58 The Middle ABC 6.04 59 College Football (Sat.) ABC 5.99 Latin Grammys UNI 5.99 *--*

*--* 61 Jay Leno Show (Tue.) NBC 5.96 62 Heroes NBC 5.85 63 Trauma NBC 5.82 64 America’s Most Wanted: America FOX 5.62 -- Fights Back 65 Cops 2 FOX 5.57 *--*

*--* 66 Community NBC 5.45 67 Hank ABC 5.09 68 Law & Order (Sat.) NBC 5.02 69 Parks and Recreation NBC 4.91 70 Fringe FOX 4.86 *--*

*--* 71 Cops FOX 4.84 72 Jay Leno Show (Thu.) NBC 4.83 73 Jay Leno Show (Wed.) NBC 4.81 74 Sortilegio (Tue.) UNI 4.69 75 Ugly Betty ABC 4.65 *--*

*--* 76 Supernanny ABC 4.61 77 Jay Leno Show (Fri.) NBC 4.59 78 Sortilegio (Mon.) UNI 4.58 79 Sortilegio (Wed.) UNI 4.45 80 Eastwick ABC 4.44 *--*

*--* 81 Sortilegio (Fri.) UNI 4.33 82 Noche de Estrellas (Thu.) UNI 4.18 83 Football Pregame (Sat.) ABC 4.14 84 Crimetime Saturday CBS 4.12 85 Vampire Diaries CW 4.09 *--*

*--* 86 American Dad FOX 4.08 87 Strikeforce: Mixed Martial Arts CBS 4.04 Bones (Fri., 9 p.m.) FOX 4.04 89 House (Fri., 8 p.m.) FOX 3.95 90 Jay Leno Show (Mon.) NBC 3.92 *--*

*--* 91 En Nombre del Amor (Wed.) UNI 3.91 92 America’s Next Top Model CW 3.87 En Nombre del Amor (Tue.) UNI 3.87 94 En Nombre del Amor (Fri.) UNI 3.83 95 En Nombre del Amor (Mon.) UNI 3.74 *--*

*--* 96 Brothers (Sun., 7 p.m.) FOX 3.42 97 Lo Que No Vio de los UNI 3.20 -- Latin Grammys (Fri.) *--*

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 11.09 12.08 Fox 10.69 10.13 ABC 9.25 10.04 NBC 8.23 7.71 UNI 3.71 3.6 *--*