Here are the rankings for national prime-time network television last week (Jan. 11-17) 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 | Net- work | View- ers | | Program | Net- work | View- ers |
1 | NFL Football: Ravens at Colts | CBS | 30.57 |
2 | American Idol (Tue.) | FOX | 29.94 |
3 | American Idol (Wed.) | FOX | 26.39 |
4 | NFL Postgame (Sun) | CBS | 25.81 |
5 | NCIS | CBS | 20.84 |
6 | Two and a Half Men | CBS | 17.27 |
7 | Golden Globe Awards | NBC | 16.98 |
8 | The Big Bang Theory | CBS | 15.82 |
9 | 60 Minutes | CBS | 15.77 |
10 | NCIS: Los Angeles | CBS | 15.60 |
11 | The Mentalist | CBS | 15.37 |
12 | CSI | CBS | 15.33 |
13 | CSI: NY | CBS | 14.03 |
14 | Criminal Minds | CBS | 13.90 |
15 | The Good Wife | CBS | 13.87 |
16 | CSI: Miami | CBS | 13.70 |
17 | Grey’s Anatomy (Thu., 9 p.m.) | ABC | 12.78 |
18 | House | FOX | 12.25 |
19 | 24 (Sun., 9 p.m.) | FOX | 11.44 |
20 | Desperate Housewives | ABC | 11.32 |
21 | Private Practice | ABC | 10.96 |
22 | Bones | FOX | 10.75 |
23 | Cold Case | CBS | 10.62 |
24 | The Bachelor | ABC | 10.50 |
25 | Human Target | FOX | 10.12 |
26 | How I Met Your Mother | CBS | 9.77 |
27 | NCIS (Sun., 10 p.m.) | CBS | 9.67 |
28 | Numb3rs | CBS | 9.65 |
29 | Castle | ABC | 9.47 |
30 | The Mentalist (8 p.m.) | CBS | 9.40 |
31 | Medium | CBS | 8.96 |
32 | Ghost Whisperer | CBS | 8.61 |
33 | Accidentally on Purpose | CBS | 8.44 |
34 | The Biggest Loser | NBC | 8.11 |
35 | The Simpsons (Wed., 9:30 p.m.) | FOX | 8.06 |
36 | Brothers & Sisters | ABC | 7.97 |
37 | Modern Family | ABC | 7.83 |
38 | Fringe (Mon., 9 p.m.) | FOX | 7.72 |
39 | Dateline (Fri.) | NBC | 7.69 |
40 | Law & Order: SVU | NBC | 7.65 |
41 | Chuck | NBC | 7.35 |
42 | Cops | FOX | 7.31 |
| America’s Funniest Home Videos | ABC | 7.31 |
44 | Cougar Town | ABC | 7.27 |
45 | Law & Order | NBC | 7.21 |
46 | Cops 2 | FOX | 7.10 |
47 | Fringe | FOX | 6.60 |
48 | America’s Most Wanted: America Fights Back | FOX | 6.55 |
49 | Extreme Makeover: Home Edition (8 p.m.) | ABC | 6.48 |
50 | Jay Leno Show (Tue.) | NBC | 6.10 |
51 | The New Adventures of Old Christine | CBS | 5.97 |
52 | The Middle | ABC | 5.95 |
53 | Mercy | NBC | 5.85 |
54 | Golden Globe Arrivals | NBC | 5.60 |
55 | Gary Unmarried | CBS | 5.59 |
56 | Community | NBC | 5.41 |
| 20/20 (Fri.) | ABC | 5.41 |
58 | Law & Order: SVU (Sat.) | NBC | 5.39 |
59 | Haiti: Race to Save a Country (Thu.) | ABC | 5.36 |
60 | Supernanny | ABC | 5.31 |
61 | Jay Leno Show (Wed.) | NBC | 5.30 |
62 | Jay Leno Show (Fri.) | NBC | 5.23 |
63 | 30 Rock (9 p.m.) | NBC | 5.12 |
| Modern Family (Wed.) | ABC | 5.12 |
65 | Sortilegio (Mon.) | UNI | 5.08 |
66 | Sortilegio (Thu.) | UNI | 5.02 |
67 | 30 Rock (9:30 p.m.) | NBC | 4.98 |
68 | Sortilegio (Wed.) | UNI | 4.84 |
69 | Jay Leno Show (Mon.) | NBC | 4.80 |
70 | Heroes | NBC | 4.72 |
71 | Sortilegio (Tue.) | UNI | 4.65 |
| Sortilegio (Fri.) | UNI | 4.65 |
73 | Parks and Recreation | NBC | 4.63 |
74 | En Nombre del Amor (Mon.) | UNI | 4.49 |
75 | Shark Tank | ABC | 4.43 |
76 | Jay Leno Show (Thu.) | NBC | 4.40 |
| Ugly Betty | ABC | 4.40 |
78 | The Forgotten | ABC | 4.32 |
79 | En Nombre del Amor (Wed.) | UNI | 4.29 |
80 | En Nombre del Amor (Tue.) | UNI | 4.23 |
81 | En Nombre del Amor (Thu.) | UNI | 4.22 |
82 | Law & Order (Sat.) | NBC | 3.98 |
83 | Bones (Fri., 8 p.m.) | FOX | 3.84 |
84 | En Nombre del Amor (Fri.) | UNI | 3.82 |
85 | 24 (Sun., 7 p.m.) | FOX | 3.81 |
86 | Cristina (Mon.) | UNI | 3.69 |
87 | Un Gancho al Corazón (Mon.) | UNI | 3.41 |
88 | Un Gancho al Corazón (Tue.) | UNI | 3.25 |
89 | Un Gancho al Corazón (Wed.) | UNI | 3.22 |
90 | Haiti (Fri.) | UNI | 3.21 |
91 | Un Gancho al Corazón (Thu.) | UNI | 3.20 |
92 | Don Francisco Presenta | UNI | 3.14 |
93 | Castle (Sat., 10 p.m.) | ABC | 3.00 |
94 | Un Gancho al Corazón (Fri.) | UNI | 2.90 |
95 | Aqui y Ahora (Tue.) | UNI | 2.85 |
96 | Cine Especial (Sun., 8 p.m.) | UNI | 2.78 |
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 | 16.36 | 11.8 |
|
Fox | 12.34 | 9.02 |
|
NBC | 7.31 | 7.82 |
|
ABC | 6.44 | 9.02 |
|
UNI | 3.55 | 3.5 |