Viewers judge ‘Idol’ worthy

Not only is Fox’s “American Idol” dominating prime time again, it may help determine the fates of programs lucky or unlucky enough to be in its path.

The talent show took two of the three top spots in Nielsen Media Research’s top 10 last week, with only CBS’ “CSI: Crime Scene Investigation” in its league.

Another Fox series, “House,” has the good fortune to follow right after “American Idol” on Tuesdays. That has helped the freshman medical drama gain a solid footing; its 15 million viewers last week ranked it the 15th most popular prime-time show in figures released Tuesday.

The ABC comedies “George Lopez” and “My Wife and Kids” have the misfortune of being scheduled directly opposite “American Idol” on Tuesdays, and are suffering for it. They both had barely 6 million viewers last week, ranking Nos. 75 and 77 for the week.

Meanwhile, only an estimated 18.8 million people watched Ray Charles’ swan song clean up at the Grammys on Sunday night, a startling 28% drop from the 2004 Grammys. After two years on an upswing, Grammy ratings sank to their lowest level since 1995, according to Nielsen.

That showing continues a trend of less-than-stellar ratings for awards shows.

The Emmys last fall had its smallest audience ever. The Golden Globes last month had its fewest viewers since returning to broadcast television in 1996, down a whopping 10 million people from 2004. The 12.9 million people who watched the American Music Awards in November was a distant echo of the 48 million who tuned in two decades ago.

CBS won the week with an average of nearly 13.5 million viewers per hour of prime time.

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Here are the rankings for national prime-time network television last week (Feb. 7-13) 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 277.93 million potential viewers in the U.S. age 2 and older. Viewership is listed in millions.

*--* 1 American Idol (Tue.) FOX 28.77 2 CSI CBS 27.85 3 American Idol (Wed.) FOX 26.08 4 Desperate Housewives ABC 22.30 5 Without a Trace CBS 19.63

6 Lost ABC 19.48 7 CSI: Miami CBS 18.82 8 “Grammy Awards” CBS 18.80 9 Everybody Loves Raymond CBS 17.49 10 ER NBC 17.07

11 Two and a Half Men CBS 16.75 12 CSI (8 p.m.) CBS 16.67 13 Extreme Makeover: Home Edition ABC 16.55 14 Apprentice 3 NBC 15.13 15 House FOX 14.97

16 Law & Order: SVU NBC 14.18 17 Medium NBC 13.97 18 Law & Order: Criminal Intent (Sun., 9 p.m.) NBC 13.53 19 Law & Order NBC 13.16 20 CSI: NY CBS 13.08

21 Boston Legal ABC 12.89 22 60 Minutes CBS 12.76 23 NCIS CBS 12.74 24 Amazing Racing: 6 CBS 12.61 25 Crossing Jordan NBC 12.20

26 Las Vegas NBC 11.84 27 Will & Grace NBC 11.49 28 Joey NBC 11.40 29 Supernanny ABC 11.39 30 24 FOX 11.10

31 Fear Factor NBC 10.91 32 Alias ABC 10.80 33 Numb3rs CBS 10.68 34 Extreme Makeover: Home Edition (7 p.m.) ABC 10.51 35 Still Standing CBS 10.19

36 Law & Order: SVU (Sat.) NBC 10.10 37 60 Minutes Wednesday CBS 9.96 38 According to Him ABC 9.81 39 NYPD Blue ABC 9.73 Dateline: NBC (Fri.) NBC 9.73

41 The West Wing NBC 9.62 42 “Budweiser Shoot-Out” FOX 9.53 43 The Bachelorette ABC 9.38 44 20/20 (Fri.) ABC 9.27 45 JAG CBS 9.25

46 Listen Up CBS 9.23 47 Third Watch NBC 9.09 48 Rodney ABC 9.01 49 Wife Swap ABC 8.93 50 That ‘70s Show FOX 8.87

King of Queens CBS 8.87 52 Primetime Live ABC 8.77 Law & Order: Criminal Intent (Sun., 8 p.m.) NBC 8.77 54 Simple Life 3 FOX 8.61 55 King of Queens (9:30 p.m.) CBS 8.40

56 Hope & Faith ABC 8.36 57 Law & Order: Criminal Intent (Sat.) NBC 8.33 58 Extreme Makeover: Home Edition: How’d They Do That? ABC 8.31 59 Law & Order (Sat.) NBC 8.20 60 O.C. FOX 8.15

61 Trading Spouses FOX 8.13 62 The Simpsons FOX 8.01 63 Extreme Makeover ABC 7.83 64 Medical Investigation NBC 7.78 65 8 Simple Rules (8:30 p.m.) ABC 7.67

66 Less Than Perfect ABC 7.63 67 Crimetime Saturday CBS 7.57 68 8 Simple Rules ABC 7.54 69 Joan of Arcadia CBS 7.25 70 48 Hours Mystery CBS 7.07

71 7th Heaven WB 6.91 72 Scrubs NBC 6.72 73 Dateline: NBC (Sun.) NBC 6.49 74 Gilmore Girls WB 6.33 75 My Wife and Kids ABC 6.25

76 “Charlie Brown Valentine” ABC 6.17 77 George Lopez ABC 6.05 78 Most Outrageous Moments on Live TV NBC 6.02 79 Committed NBC 5.77 80 “Winnie the Pooh, A Valentine” ABC 5.67

81 “Happy Days 30th Anniversary Reunion” ABC 5.66 82 Arrested Development FOX 5.61 83 Malcolm in the Middle FOX 5.43 84 The Simpsons (9:30 p.m.) FOX 5.37 Bernie Mac FOX 5.37

86 Sports Illustrated; Model Search NBC 5.36 87 Bernie Mac (8:30 p.m.) FOX 5.35 88 Reba WB 5.31 89 WWE Smackdown! UPN 5.27 90 Family Guy FOX 5.10

91 Smallville WB 4.91 92 Everwood WB 4.70 93 King of the Hill FOX 4.68 94 Wickedly Perfect CBS 4.65 95 One Tree Hill WB 4.47

96 Jonny Zero FOX 4.18 97 Point Pleasant FOX 4.09 98 Girlfriends UPN 4.02 99 Blue Collar TV WB 3.79 100 One on One (8:30 p.m.) UPN 3.53

101 Half and Half UPN 3.48 102 One on One UPN 3.31 103 “Scooby Doo Valentine” WB 3.25 104 What I Like About You WB 3.18 105 Enterprise UPN 3.17

106 Veronica Mars UPN 2.97 107 Charmed WB 2.95 108 Road to Stardom UPN 2.93 109 Jack & Bobby WB 2.23 110 Eve UPN 2.15

111 All of Us UPN 2.12 112 Steve Harvey’s Big Time WB 2.01 113 Kevin Hill UPN 1.97 114 “Sugar and Spice” WB 1.77 115 Road to Stardom (Fri.) UPN 1.18

116 Summerland WB 1.08

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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 13.48 12.94

FOX 10.43 9.85

NBC 10.42 10.07

ABC 10.14 10.37

WB 3.61 3.48

UPN 3.21 3.38

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