NBC takes the gold medal

NBC’s first full week of Summer Olympics coverage gave it prime-time television’s largest summer week ratings average in 12 years, according to figures released Tuesday by Nielsen Media Research.

NBC averaged 28.7 million viewers for its all-Olympics prime-time programming from Aug. 11 through Sunday, the highest summer weekly average since July 29-Aug. 4, 1996, when NBC averaged 32.1 million viewers for its coverage of the Atlanta Games.

NBC had the most one-sided victory in the weekly prime-time ratings race since the introduction of the Portable People Meter system in September 1987, with more than five times the 5.1 million average for runner-up CBS. ABC was third, averaging 3.4 million viewers, followed by Fox Broadcasting with 3.2 million and the CW with 1.5 million.

NBC averaged 29.8 million viewers for the first 10 days of its prime-time Olympics coverage, 14% more than the comparable period of the Athens Games in 2004.

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Here are the rankings for national prime-time network television last week (Aug. 11-17) 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. 2 and older. Viewership is listed in millions.

*--* Program Network Viewers 1 Olympics (Tue.) NBC 34.01 2 Olympics (Sat.) NBC 31.59 3 Olympics (Mon.) NBC 30.17 4 Olympics (Thu.) NBC 29.71 5 Olympics (Wed.) NBC 27.66 *--*

*--* 6 Olympics (Sun.) NBC 27.18 7 Olympics (Fri.) NBC 26.07 8 Two and a Half Men CBS 8.07 9 NCIS CBS 7.22 10 60 Minutes CBS 7.09 *--*

*--* 11 Criminal Minds CBS 6.43 12 Big Brother (Tue.) CBS 6.36 13 CSI: Miami CBS 6.30 14 Flashpoint CBS 6.11 15 Big Brother (Thu.) CBS 5.86 *--*

*--* 16 CSI: NY CBS 5.78 17 The New Adventures of Old Christine CBS 5.63 18 Big Brother (Sun.) CBS 5.53 19 20/20 (Fri.) ABC 5.52 20 CSI: Crime Scene Investigation CBS 5.32 *--*

*--* 21 Greatest American Dog CBS 5.11 22 Al Diablo con Guapos (Mon.) UNI 5.11 23 Ghost Whisperer CBS 4.91 24 Fuego en la Sangre (Mon.) UNI 4.85 25 Wipeout ABC 4.84 *--*

*--* 26 How I Met Your Mother CBS 4.82 27 Al Diablo con Guapos (Wed.) UNI 4.82 28 Al Diablo con Guapos (Tue.) UNI 4.81 29 Al Diablo Con Guapos (Thu.) UNI 4.68 30 Numb3rs CBS 4.67 *--*

*--* 31 Primetime: Medical Mysteries ABC 4.67 32 The Big Bang Theory CBS 4.62 33 Bones (Wed.) FOX 4.54 34 Extreme Makeover: Home Edition ABC 4.51 35 Fuego en la Sangre (Wed.) UNI 4.40 *--*

*--* 36 Primetime: Crime ABC 4.38 37 Fuego en la Sangre (Tue.) UNI 4.38 38 Without a Trace CBS 4.35 39 Fuego en la Sangre (Thu.) UNI 4.34 40 Al Diablo con Guapos (Fri.) UNI 4.25 *--*

*--* 41 Friday Night Smackdown CW 4.24 42 America’s Funniest Home Videos ABC 4.18 43 Cold Case CBS 4.14 44 Fuego en la Sangre (Fri.) UNI 4.00 45 Supernanny ABC 3.94 *--*

*--* 46 “Legally Blonde” ABC 3.89 47 House (Tue.) FOX 3.68 48 Wanna Bet ABC 3.68 49 The Simpsons FOX 3.54 50 Preseason Football: Oakland at Tennessee FOX 3.53 *--*

*--* 51 Family Guy (8:30) FOX 3.50 52 Grey’s Anatomy ABC 3.49 53 Cops (8:30) FOX 3.47 54 Rosa de Guadalupe (Thu.) UNI 3.43 55 Are You Smarter Than a 5th Grader? FOX 3.38 *--*

*--* 56 America’s Most Wanted: America Fights Back FOX 3.36 57 Million Dollar Password CBS 3.34 58 48 Hours Mystery CBS 3.26 59 Swingtown CBS 3.24 60 Wife Swap ABC 3.18 *--*

*--* 61 Preseason Football: Carolina at Philadelphia FOX 3.16 62 Aqui y Ahora (Tue.) UNI 3.09 63 Don Francisco Presenta (Wed.) UNI 3.06 64 Cops FOX 3.02 65 Rosa de Guadalupe (Fri.) UNI 3.01 *--*

*--* 66 Ugly Betty ABC 2.88 67 Querida Enemiga (Wed.) UNI 2.86 68 Querida Enemiga (Mon.) UNI 2.86 69 Querida Enemiga (Tue.) UNI 2.82 70 Terminator: Sarah Connor Chronicles FOX 2.77 *--*

*--* 71 Querida Enemiga (Thu.) UNI 2.75 72 Terminator: Sarah Connor Chronicles (Tue.) FOX 2.74 73 Desperate Housewives ABC 2.63 74 Cristina (Mon.) UNI 2.57 75 Private Practice ABC 2.54 *--*

*--* 76 The Mole ABC 2.52 77 48 Hours Mystery CBS 2.47 78 Querida Enemiga (Fri.) UNI 2.43 79 “Legally Blonde 2: Red, White & Blonde” ABC 2.42 80 Prison Break FOX 2.39 *--*

*--* 81 Terminator: Sarah Connor Chronicles (Sun.) FOX 2.39 82 Terminator: Sarah Connor Chronicles (Wed.) FOX 2.37 83 Crimetime Saturday (8) CBS 2.20 84 High School Musical (Mon.) ABC 2.16 85 Samantha Who? (9:30) ABC 2.15 *--*

*--* 86 Sabado Gigante (Sat.) UNI 1.99 87 Til Death (7:30) FOX 1.95 88 Pantera (Sun.) UNI 1.85 89 Eli Stone ABC 1.85 90 Samantha Who? ABC 1.77 *--*

*--* 91 La Familia P. Luche (Sun.) UNI 1.76 *--*