PRIME-TIME TV RANKINGS

If only every week could be so easy for Jay Leno.

Blessed with stars, a contrite Kanye West, the industry’s nearly undivided attention and a lack of competition from NBC’s rivals, his new prime-time show had a strong opening week. All five of its episodes finished among the Nielsen Co.’s 24 most-watched prime-time shows last week.

Reality sets in this week: Monday’s Leno episode had 5.7 million viewers, with demographic ratings on the cusp of what NBC considers profitable in the long term. The season premiere of CBS’ “CSI: Miami” had 13.7 million viewers in the same 10 p.m. slot.

The premiere of “The Jay Leno Show” had 18.4 million viewers last week, and the audience had slipped to 7.6 million by Friday, Nielsen said.

NBC had mixed results for its critically acclaimed Thursday lineup, which debuted a week early. “The Office” reached a healthy 8.2 million viewers, and the new comedy “Community,” with 7.9 million people, ranked No. 20 for the week. Amy Poehler’s “Parks and Recreation” has problems, though, with an audience of fewer than 5 million people.

The CW’s “Gossip Girl” opened its season with 2.6 million viewers, fewer than last year for the buzzed-about show’s opening. The network said the audience was slightly up in the target audience of young women.

NBC’s Sunday night football matchup between the New York Giants and the Dallas Cowboys in the Cowboys’ new stadium drew just under 25 million viewers, the biggest audience ever for the network’s Sunday night series.

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Here are the rankings for national prime-time network television last week (Sept. 14 to 20) 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 Football: New York Giants at Dallas Cowboys NBC 24.82 2 NFL Pregame (Sun.) NBC 18.91 3 The Jay Leno Show (Mon.) NBC 18.42 4 America’s Got Talent (Wed., 9 p.m.) NBC 15.79 5 NFL Postgame (Sun.) CBS 15.51 *--*

*--* 6 America’s Got Talent (Mon.) NBC 13.90 7 The 61st Primetime Emmy Awards CBS 13.47 8 The Jay Leno Show (Wed.) NBC 13.36 Football Night America (Part 3) NBC 13.36 10 60 Minutes CBS 13.12 *--*

*--* 11 NCIS CBS 12.43 12 Survivor: Samoa CBS 11.66 13 The Jay Leno Show (Tue.) NBC 11.08 14 Bones FOX 10.36 15 The Biggest Loser NBC 9.90 *--*

*--* 16 The Mentalist CBS 9.07 17 The Jay Leno Show (Thu.) NBC 8.82 18 CSI CBS 8.80 19 The Office NBC 8.21 20 Community NBC 7.89 *--*

*--* 21 Fringe FOX 7.82 22 Big Brother (Tue.) CBS 7.78 23 CSI: NY CBS 7.76 24 The Jay Leno Show (Fri.) NBC 7.60 25 Dateline (Fri.) NBC 7.38 *--*

*--* 26 Football Night America (Part 2) NBC 7.09 27 Criminal Minds CBS 6.72 28 Glee FOX 6.69 29 Football: Texas Tech at Texas ABC 6.67 30 The Big Bang Theory CBS 6.64 *--*

*--* 31 Two and a Half Men CBS 6.62 32 Barbara Walters (Tue.) ABC 6.23 33 Wipeout ABC 6.01 34 Manana es Para Siempre (Wed.) UNI 5.74 35 So You Think Can Dance (Wed.) FOX 5.67 *--*

*--* 36 Manana es Para Siempre (Thu.) UNI 5.65 37 20/20 (Fri.) ABC 5.59 38 Manana es Para Siempre (Mon.) UNI 5.56 39 The Simpsons (Sun., 8:30 p.m.) FOX 5.52 40 48 Hours Mystery CBS 5.51 *--*

*--* 41 Saturday Night Live Weekend Update Thursday NBC 5.47 42 Family Guy FOX 5.34 43 Manana es Para Siempre (Tue.) UNI 5.33 44 Are You Smarter Than a Fifth Grader? FOX 5.25 45 House (Mon., 9 p.m.) FOX 5.19 *--*

*--* 46 Manana es Para Siempre (Fri.) UNI 5.13 America’s Most Wanted: America Fights Back FOX 5.13 48 The Simpsons FOX 5.08 Cops 2 FOX 5.08 50 CSI: Miami CBS 4.98 *--*

*--* 51 Grey’s Anatomy (Thu., 8 p.m.) ABC 4.91 52 Parks and Recreation NBC 4.88 53 House FOX 4.82 54 How I Met Your Mother (8:30 p.m.) CBS 4.78 55 American Dad FOX 4.53 *--*

*--* 56 Law & Order: SVU (Sat.) NBC 4.48 57 Ghost Whisperer CBS 4.46 58 Shaq Vs. ABC 4.43 59 Medium CBS 4.41 60 Cops FOX 4.40 *--*

*--* 61 Numb3rs CBS 4.35 62 The New Adventures of Old Christine CBS 4.20 More to Love FOX 4.20 64 Football Pre-Game (Sat.) ABC 4.19 65 Primetime (Wed.) ABC 4.11 *--*

*--* 66 En Nombre del Amor (Wed.) UNI 4.10 67 How I Met Your Mother CBS 4.08 68 Gary Unmarried CBS 4.01 69 En Nombre del Amor (Mon.) UNI 3.97 70 Movie: “Dreamgirls” ABC 3.89 *--*

*--* 71 Movie: “King Kong” ABC 3.84 72 Don Francisco Presenta UNI 3.81 73 Vampire Diaries CW 3.77 74 En Nombre del Amor (Thu.) UNI 3.76 75 En Nombre del Amor (Tue.) UNI 3.73 *--*

*--* 76 The Simpsons (Sun., 7:30 p.m.) FOX 3.72 77 Crash Course ABC 3.51 78 En Nombre del Amor (Fri.) UNI 3.50 79 Law & Order (Sat.) NBC 3.45 80 Private Practice ABC 3.27 *--*