CBS stops ‘Idol’-fueled run by Fox

CBS ended Fox’s 11-week winning streak in the weekly prime-time ratings race last week with 11 of the 15 most-watched programs, according to figures released Tuesday by Nielsen Media Research.

CBS averaged 11.53 million viewers for its 22 hours of prime-time programming from March 31 through Sunday, the first time a network other than Fox finished first among total viewers since “American Idol� began its season Jan. 15.

The only non-CBS programs to crack the week’s top 15 were the two “American Idol� episodes on Fox, which were one and two, and ABC’s two “Dancing With the Stars� episodes, fourth and fifth.

Leading the way for CBS was the first post-strike episode of “CSI: Crime Scene Investigation,� which was third with 20.58 million viewers. CBS was also bolstered by a two-part episode of “CSI: Miami.�

CBS also had the most-watched comedy, “Two and a Half Men,� eighth overall with 14.5 million viewers, 2% more than the previous week.

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Here are the rankings for national prime-time network television last week (March 31-April 6) 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. ages 2 and older. Viewership is listed in millions.

*--* -- PROGRAM NETWORK VIEWERS 1 American Idol (Tue.) FOX 26.12 2 American Idol (Wed.) FOX 24.84 3 CSI CBS 20.58 4 Dancing With the Stars (Mon.) ABC 20.56 5 Dancing With the Stars (Tue.) ABC 17.28 *--*

*--* 6 CSI: Miami (Mon.) CBS 15.65 7 Without a Trace CBS 15.20 8 Two and a Half Men CBS 14.50 9 “NCAA Basketball: Kansas-UNC� CBS 14.43 10 CSI: Miami (Tue.) CBS 14.23 *--*

*--* 11 Survivor: Micronesia CBS 12.87 12 CSI: NY CBS 12.85 13 Criminal Minds CBS 12.81 14 Old Christine CBS 12.57 15 Cold Case CBS 11.93 *--*

*--* 16 Hell’s Kitchen FOX 11.85 17 “NCAA Basketball Pre-Game� CBS 11.26 18 Are You Smarter Than a 5th Grader? (9 p.m.) FOX 10.41 19 Moment of Truth FOX 10.16 20 Deal or No Deal (Mon.) NBC 10.07 *--*

*--* 21 Numb3rs CBS 10.00 22 NCIS CBS 9.97 23 60 Minutes CBS 9.92 24 Are You Smarter Than a 5th Grader? (8 p.m.) FOX 9.88 25 Extreme Makeover: Home Edition ABC 9.73 *--*

*--* 26 “Live to Be 150� ABC 9.70 27 Medium NBC 9.65 28 Deal or No Deal (Wed.) NBC 9.53 29 How I Met Your Mother CBS 9.50 30 Oprah’s Big Give ABC 9.42 *--*

*--* 31 Ghost Whisperer CBS 9.06 32 Price Is Right Prime Time CBS 8.63 33 The Big Bang Theory CBS 8.43 34 Biggest Loser 5 NBC 8.17 35 America’s Funniest Home Videos (Sun.) ABC 7.70 *--*

*--* 36 Bachelor: London Calling ABC 7.67 37 Here Come the Newlyweds ABC 7.66 38 My Name Is Earl NBC 7.53 39 House FOX 7.50 40 Law & Order: SVU (Sun.) NBC 7.12 *--*

*--* 41 Dexter CBS 7.03 42 Dateline: NBC (Fri.) NBC 6.82 43 New Amsterdam FOX 6.59 44 Law & Order (Wed.) NBC 6.48 45 Big Brother 9 (Sun.) CBS 6.32 *--*

*--* 46 Family Guy FOX 6.19 47 Big Brother 9 (Tue.) CBS 6.11 48 Canterbury’s Law FOX 6.06 49 Law & Order (Sat.) NBC 6.01 50 America’s Most Wanted FOX 5.98 *--*

*--* 51 America’s Funniest Home Videos (Fri.) ABC 5.97 52 Big Brother 9 (Wed.) CBS 5.94 53 Supernanny ABC 5.89 54 Law & Order: SVU (Tue.) NBC 5.77 55 Monk NBC 5.74 *--*

*--* 56 Wife Swap ABC 5.69 57 The Simpsons FOX 5.58 58 Cops (8 p.m.) FOX 5.50 59 Just for Laughs (8:30 p.m.) ABC 5.48 60 Men in Trees ABC 5.45 *--*

*--* 61 Al Diablo con los Guapos (Mon.) UNI 5.40 62 Just for Laughs (8 p.m.) ABC 5.32 63 Al Diablo con los Guapos (Tue.) UNI 5.30 64 King of the Hill (8:30 p.m.) FOX 5.28 65 Eli Stone ABC 5.15 *--*

*--* 66 Law and Order: Criminal Intent NBC 5.12 67 The Office (9 p.m.) NBC 5.09 68 Al Diablo con los Guapos (Wed.) UNI 5.05 *--*

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 11:53 10.10

FOX 9.62 11.07

ABC 7.61 8.84

NBC 6.29 8.06

UNI 3.76 3.53

CW 2.15 2.46 *--*