NBC finally has a No. 1 show

Original episodes of unscripted series dominated viewing choices in the week of “The Sopranos’ ” finale, capturing four of the top five spots on the broadcast networks, according to Nielsen Media Research figures released Tuesday.

Facing the Alma Awards on ABC and reruns on the other three major broadcast networks, last Tuesday’s premiere of “America’s Got Talent” drew 13 million viewers, becoming the first NBC program to top the weekly charts since the Dallas Cowboys-Seattle Seahawks NFL playoff game the week of Jan. 1-7. It also led among viewers ages 2-11, 12-17 and 25-54.

The premiere of the CBS stop-motion animated series “Creature Comforts” was 31st for the week with 6.19 million viewers, finishing second in its Monday 8-8:30 p.m. time slot behind a rerun of the ABC unscripted series “Wife Swap.” It was far ahead of the opening half-hour of NBC’s coverage of Game 4 of hockey’s Stanley Cup Finals between the Anaheim Ducks and Ottawa Senators, which averaged 2.88 million, finishing fourth in the time period.

CBS was the most-watched network in prime time between June 4 and Sunday, averaging 7.18 million viewers. Fox was second with 6.11 million.

ABC’s “World News With Charles Gibson” was the most-watched nightly network newscast for the 14th time in the last 18 weeks, averaging 7.71 million viewers, 6% more than the same week last year.

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Here are the rankings for national prime-time network television last week (June 4-10) 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 283.5 million potential viewers in the U.S. ages 2 and older. Viewership is listed in millions.

*--* 1 America’s Got Talent NBC 12.99 2 Two and a Half Men CBS 11.27 3 So You Think You Can Dance” (Thu.) FOX 11.07 4 So You Think You Can Dance” (Wed., 9 p.m.) FOX 10.34 5 Deal or No Deal (Tue.) NBC 10.11

6 CSI CBS 10.04 7 CSI: Miami CBS 9.49 8 60 Minutes CBS 9.46 9 NCIS CBS 9.35 10 Are You Smarter Than a 5th Grader? FOX 9.32

11 CSI: NY CBS 9.27 12 “NBA Finals: Game 1” (Thu.) ABC 9.21 13 Shark CBS 9.14 14 How I Met Your Mother CBS 8.72 15 “NBA Finals: Game 2” (Sun.) ABC 8.55

16 The Next Best Thing ABC 8.36 17 Hell’s Kitchen FOX 8.16 18 House (Tue.) FOX 8.00 19 American Inventor ABC 7.90 20 Criminal Minds CBS 7.62

21 Numb3rs CBS 7.30 22 48 Hours Mystery (Tue.) CBS 7.29 23 Dateline: NBC (Sun.) NBC 7.07 24 So You Think You Can Dance” (Wed., 8 p.m.) FOX 7.02 25 The Unit CBS 6.76

26 Wife Swap ABC 6.60 27 House (Mon.) FOX 6.42 28 Close to Home CBS 6.33 29 “Tony Awards” CBS 6.22 30 Pirate Master CBS 6.21

31 Creature Comforts CBS 6.18 32 20/20 ABC 5.99 33 Law & Order: SVU (Sun.) NBC 5.95 34 Supernanny ABC 5.90 35 King of Queens (8:30 p.m.) CBS 5.85

36 Law & Order NBC 5.82 37 The New Adventures of Old Christine CBS 5.74 38 The Ex-Wives Club ABC 5.70 39 Destilando Amor (Mon.) UNI 5.58 40 The King of Queens (8 p.m.) CBS 5.36

41 America’s Most Wanted FOX 5.31 42 Traveler ABC 5.30 43 The Simpsons FOX 5.27 “Die Another Day” CBS 5.27 45 La Fea Mas Bella (Mon.) UNI 5.26

46 Destilando Amor (Wed.) UNI 5.14 47 My Name Is Earl (8 p.m.) NBC 5.12 48 Destilando Amor (Tue.) UNI 5.10 49 America’s Funniest Home Videos (Fri.) ABC 4.97 50 My Name Is Earl (8:30 p.m.) NBC 4.84

51 Ghost Whisperer CBS 4.83 52 Cops (8:30 p.m.) FOX 4.77 53 La Fea Mas Bella (Wed.) UNI 4.73 54 La Fea Mas Bella (Thu.) UNI 4.64 55 Destilando Amor (Thu.) UNI 4.63

56 “Onstar NBA Countdown, Game 1” (Thu.) ABC 4.62 57 48 Hours Mystery (Sat.) CBS 4.58 58 La Fea Mas Bella (Tue.) UNI 4.56 59 “Ruffian” ABC 4.54 Law & Order: Criminal Intent (Fri.) NBC 4.54

Family Guy FOX 4.54 62 1 vs. 100 NBC 4.50 63 La Fea Mas Bella (Fri.) UNI 4.43 64 National Bingo Night ABC 4.38 65 Friday Night Smackdown CW 4.36

66 Studio 60 on Sunset Strip NBC 4.35 67 Bones FOX 4.02 68 “Copa Oro 2007” UNI 3.95 69 The Office NBC 3.83 70 George Lopez ABC 3.80

71 Cops (8 p.m.) FOX 3.78 “Onstar NBA Countdown, Game 2” (Sun.) ABC 3.78 Cristina UNI 3.78 74 Extreme Makeover: Home Edition ABC 3.76 America’s Funniest Home Videos (Sat.) ABC 3.76

76 Standoff FOX 3.72 77 “Fast Cars & Superstars” (Thu.) ABC 3.71 78 The Loop (9:30 p.m.) FOX 3.60 79 Scrubs NBC 3.59 80 Duelo de Pasiones (Mon.) UNI 3.52

Friday Night Lights NBC 3.52 82 “Alma Awards” ABC 3.50 83 Duelo de Pasiones Fri UNI 3.48 84 The Loop (8:30 p.m.) FOX 3.43 85 Duelo de Pasiones (Tue.) UNI 3.42

86 According to Jim ABC 3.40 87 Don Francisco Presenta UNI 3.39 88 Duelo de Pasiones (Wed.) UNI 3.36 89 On the Lot FOX 3.25 90 Duelo de Pasiones (Thu.) UNI 3.17

91 Ver Para Creer UNI 3.08 92 Aqui y Ahora UNI 2.96 93 “NHL Stanley Cup Final: Game 5” NBC 2.90 94 “Fast Cars & Superstars” (Sun.) ABC 2.85 95 “NHL Stanley Cup Final: Game 4” NBC 2.80

96 King of the Hill FOX 2.74 97 “Scary Movie” NBC 2.69 98 Rumbo al Mundial TEL 2.66 99 Most Outrageous Moments NBC 2.48 100 Cine Especial (9 p.m.) UNI 2.40

101 Smallville CW 2.22 102 All of Us CW 2.21 One Tree Hill CW 2.21 Cine Especial Sun (7 p.m.) UNI 2.21 105 Sabado Gigante UNI 2.18

106 Girlfriends CW 2.10 107 The Game CW 2.02 108 Everybody Hates Chris CW 1.96 109 War at Home FOX 1.91 110 Supernatural (Thu.) CW 1.73

111 Gilmore Girls CW 1.57 112 Hidden Palms (Wed.) CW 1.49 113 Hora Pico UNI 1.35 Zorro (Fri.) TEL 1.35 115 Esclava Isaura (Thu.) TEL 1.28

116 Esclava Isaura (Wed.) TEL 1.27 117 Supernatural (Sun.) CW 1.26 118 Dame Chocolate (Wed.) TEL 1.21 119 “Rumbo Pregame” TEL 1.18 Zorro (Wed.) TEL 1.18

Dame Chocolate (Mon.) TEL 1.18 122 Veronica Mars CW 1.17 123 Zorro (Thu.) TEL 1.16 124 Zorro (Mon.) TEL 1.09 125 Marina (Mon.) TEL 1.08

126 Dame Chocolate (Thu.) TEL 1.07 7th Heaven CW 1.07 128 Marina (Wed.) TEL 1.05 129 Marina (Thu.) TEL 0.97 130 Esclava Isaura (Fri.) TEL 0.96

131 Esclava Isaura (Mon.) TEL 0.95 132 Marina (Fri.) TEL 0.92 133 Dame Chocolate (Fri.) TEL 0.88 134 Hidden Palms (Sun.) CW 0.79 135 Cinemundo TEL 0.77

136 Marav Mundo Disney TEL 0.72

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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 7.18 11.86

FOX 6.11 9.94

ABC 5.68 9.42

NBC 5.11 8.39

UNI 3.69 3.62

CW 2.03 3.04

TEL 1.01 0.88

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