Here are the rankings for national prime-time network television last week (Jan. 18-24) 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. age 2 and older. Viewership is listed in millions.
| Program | Net- work | View- ers | | Program | Net- work | View- ers |
| 1 | NFC Championship: Minnesota at New Orleans | FOX | 57.93 |
| 2 | American Idol (Wed.) | FOX | 26.85 |
| 3 | American Idol (Tue.) | FOX | 26.38 |
| 4 | NFC Championship Post-game | FOX | 23.83 |
| 5 | Two and a Half Men | CBS | 16.31 |
| The Big Bang Theory | CBS | 16.31 |
| 7 | Criminal Minds | CBS | 14.91 |
| The Mentalist | CBS | 14.91 |
| 9 | CSI | CBS | 14.29 |
| 10 | NCIS | CBS | 14.19 |
| 11 | CSI: NY | CBS | 13.54 |
| 12 | CSI: Miami | CBS | 13.22 |
| 13 | Grey’s Anatomy | ABC | 12.70 |
| 14 | NCIS: Los Angeles | CBS | 12.34 |
| 15 | Bones | FOX | 11.97 |
| 16 | 24 | FOX | 11.11 |
| The Bachelor | ABC | 11.11 |
| 18 | Human Target | FOX | 10.46 |
| 19 | How I Met Your Mother | CBS | 10.41 |
| 20 | The Biggest Loser | NBC | 9.95 |
| 21 | Modern Family | ABC | 9.83 |
| 22 | Private Practice | ABC | 9.64 |
| 23 | Accidentally on Purpose | CBS | 9.56 |
| 24 | Castle | ABC | 9.48 |
| The Good Wife | CBS | 9.48 |
| 26 | Human Target (Tue.) | FOX | 8.83 |
| 27 | Extreme Makeover: Home Edition | ABC | 7.93 |
| 28 | Cougar Town | ABC | 7.54 |
| The Big Bang Theory (Thu., 8:30 p.m.) | CBS | 7.54 |
| 30 | The Office | NBC | 7.28 |
| 31 | CSI: Miami Sunday | CBS | 7.19 |
| 32 | The Deep End | ABC | 7.19 |
| Fringe | FOX | 6.90 |
| 34 | 60 Minutes Presents: A Tribute to Don Hewitt | CBS | 6.87 |
| The Big Bang Theory (Thu., 8 p.m.) | CBS | 6.87 |
| 36 | Chuck | NBC | 6.65 |
| 37 | 48 Hours Mystery | CBS | 6.54 |
| 38 | Cops (8:30 p.m.) | FOX | 6.47 |
| 39 | 20/20 | ABC | 6.39 |
| 40 | The New Adventures of Old Christine | CBS | 6.21 |
| 41 | Cold Case | CBS | 6.11 |
| 42 | The Jay Leno Show (Tue.) | NBC | 5.99 |
| Cops | FOX | 5.99 |
| 44 | Criminal Minds (Sat.) | CBS | 5.92 |
| 45 | Gary Unmarried | CBS | 5.89 |
| 46 | Mercy | NBC | 5.86 |
| 47 | America’s Funniest Home Videos | ABC | 5.73 |
| 48 | America’s Most Wanted: America Fights Back | FOX | 5.55 |
| 49 | 30 Rock | NBC | 5.54 |
| 50 | Law & Order: SVU | NBC | 5.45 |
| 51 | U.S. Figure Skating Championships (Sat.) | NBC | 5.39 |
| 52 | Sortilegio (Thu.) | UNI | 5.32 |
| 53 | CSI: NY (Sun.) | CBS | 5.28 |
| 54 | Sortilegio (Fri.) | UNI | 5.08 |
| 55 | Sortilegio (Mon.) | UNI | 5.04 |
| 56 | Modern Family (8 p.m.) | ABC | 5.00 |
| 57 | Dateline (Fri.) | NBC | 4.95 |
| 58 | Sortilegio (Wed.) | UNI | 4.90 |
| 59 | Community | NBC | 4.75 |
| 60 | Sortilegio (Tue.) | UNI | 4.74 |
| The Middle | ABC | 4.74 |
| 62 | The Jay Leno Show (Mon.) | NBC | 4.60 |
| 63 | Ugly Betty | ABC | 4.53 |
| 64 | The Jay Leno Show (Wed.) | NBC | 4.51 |
| 65 | The Jay Leno Show (Thu.) | NBC | 4.45 |
| 66 | Parks and Recreation | NBC | 4.36 |
| 67 | Hasta Que El Dinero Nos Separe (Mon.) | UNI | 4.22 |
| 68 | Desperate Housewives | ABC | 4.15 |
| 69 | En Nombre del Amor (Thu.) | UNI | 4.06 |
| 70 | Medium (10 p.m.) | CBS | 4.02 |
| 71 | Dateline (Sun.) | NBC | 4.00 |
| 72 | Heroes | NBC | 3.98 |
| 73 | En Nombre del Amor (Wed.) | UNI | 3.96 |
| 74 | CSI (Sat.) | CBS | 3.85 |
| 75 | En Nombre del Amor (Fri.) | UNI | 3.84 |
| 76 | En Nombre del Amor (Mon.) | UNI | 3.76 |
| Hasta Que El Dinero Nos Separe (Tue.) | UNI | 3.76 |
| 78 | Castle (Sat.) | ABC | 3.74 |
| 79 | Hasta Que El Dinero Nos Separe (Wed.) | UNI | 3.68 |
| The Vampire Diaries | CW | 3.68 |
| 81 | U.S. Figure Skating Championships (Sun.) | NBC | 3.59 |
| 82 | Hasta Que El Dinero Nos Separe (Thu.) | UNI | 3.56 |
| 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 | 24.4 | 9.79 |
|
| CBS | 9.55 | 11.72 |
|
| ABC | 6.31 | 8.91 |
|
| NBC | 5.26 | 7.71 |
|
| UNI | 3.63 | 3.5 |
