PRIME-TIME TV RANKINGS

Sunday’s Super Bowl on NBC was the No. 2 telecast of all time, so it’s no surprise the network emerged the champion in the weekly TV ratings.

The NFL championship, which ended with the Pittsburgh Steelers’ last-minute victory over the Arizona Cardinals, drew an average of 98.7 million viewers, according to figures published Tuesday by Nielsen Media Research.

That eclipsed last year’s Super Bowl record on Fox, with 97.5 million, and ranks behind only the 1983 finale of “MASH� (106 million) on TV’s all-time most-watched list.

(On Monday, Nielsen had said the game drew 95.4 million viewers. But on Tuesday, the company said those had been preliminary results and that a closer examination of additional data produced the higher figure.)

The game also cast a glow over the rest of NBC’s lineup Sunday night. The post-game show drew 57.4 million viewers, followed by a record crowd for the sitcom “The Office� (22.9 million).

Meanwhile, Fox’s “American Idol� performed strongly in its normal Tuesday and Wednesday slots and again with a Thursday special that drew 24.6 million.

Given the intense competition all week, CBS’ schedule held up well, with four shows among the 10 most-watched, led by “CSI: Crime Scene Investigation� (20.2 million).

NBC dominated the week overall (21.6 million, its best weekly average since the Beijing Olympics), followed by Fox (11.3 million), CBS (9.5 million) and ABC (5.8 million).

In season-to-date averages, the Super Bowl helped NBC pull to a 3.1 rating in the 18-to-49 demographic, or within one-tenth of a rating point of Fox and CBS, which are currently tied.

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Here are the rankings for national prime-time network television last week (Jan. 26-Feb. 1) 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 Net work Viewers *--*

*--* 1 Super Bowl XLIII: Arizona vs. Pittsburgh NBC 98.73 2 Super Bowl Postgame NBC 57.40 3 American Idol (Wed.) FOX 27.36 4 American Idol (Tue.) FOX 25.54 5 American Idol (Thu.) FOX 24.61 *--*

*--* 6 The Office (Sun.) NBC 22.90 7 CSI CBS 20.15 8 NCIS CBS 19.20 9 House FOX 15.69 10 The Mentalist CBS 15.23 *--*

*--* 11 Without a Trace CBS 13.00 12 Two and a Half Men CBS 12.78 13 Eleventh Hour CBS 12.74 14 24 FOX 12.22 15 Lie to Me FOX 12.20 *--*

*--* 16 Fringe FOX 11.62 17 Lost ABC 11.23 18 The Biggest Loser NBC 11.08 19 Hell’s Kitchen FOX 10.86 20 The Bachelor ABC 10.57 *--*

*--* 21 Criminal Minds CBS 10.23 22 CSI: NY CBS 9.35 23 The Big Bang Theory CBS 9.21 24 CSI: Miami CBS 9.19 25 Law & Order NBC 8.96 *--*

*--* 26 Criminal Minds (Thu .) CBS 8.84 27 Flashpoint CBS 8.43 28 Movie: “The Last Templar (Part 2)� NBC 8.32 29 Ghost Whisperer CBS 8.22 30 How I Met Your Mother CBS 8.08 *--*

*--* 31 48 Hours Mystery CBS 7.97 32 Super Bowls’ Greatest Commercials CBS 7.90 33 Private Practice ABC 7.73 34 Crimetime Saturday CBS 7.51 Numb3rs CBS 7.51 *--*

*--* 36 Law & Order: SVU NBC 7.14 37 Worst Week CBS 7.13 38 True Beauty ABC 6.95 39 Superstars of Dance NBC 6.80 40 The Mentalist (Sun.) CBS 6.79 *--*

*--* 41 Cops FOX 6.78 42 20/20 (Fri.) ABC 6.64 43 America’s Most Wanted: America Fights Back FOX 6.57 44 Law & Order: SVU (9 p.m.) NBC 6.38 45 Prime-Time: What Would You Do? ABC 6.35 *--*

*--* 46 Knight Rider NBC 6.23 47 Life on Mars ABC 6.22 48 Dateline (Fri.) NBC 6.20 49 20/20 Special (Fri.) ABC 6.08 50 CBS Evening News Prime-Time Special CBS 6.03 *--*

*--* Wipeout Bowl I (10 p.m.) ABC 6.03 52 Fuego en la Sangre (Mon.) UNI 5.94 53 Cops FOX 5.93 Fuego en la Sangre (Thu.) UNI 5.93 55 The Office NBC 5.82 *--*

*--* 56 Homeland Security USA ABC 5.65 57 Fuego en la Sangre (Wed.) UNI 5.60 58 Grey’s Anatomy (Thu., 9 p.m.) ABC 5.59 59 Fuego en la Sangre (Tue.) UNI 5.45 60 Howie Do It (8:30 p.m.) NBC 5.37 *--*

*--* 61 Cuidado con el Angel (Wed.) UNI 5.21 62 Lost (Wed., 8 p.m.) ABC 5.18 63 Cuidado con el Angel (Mon.) UNI 5.16 64 Howie Do It (8 p.m.) NBC 5.14 65 Fuego en la Sangre (Fri.) UNI 5.11 *--*

*--* 66 Scrubs (Tue., 9 p.m.) ABC 5.07 67 30 Rock NBC 5.05 68 Scrubs (9:30 p.m.) ABC 4.99 69 Cuidado con el Angel (Thu.) UNI 4.97 70 Wife Swap ABC 4.96 *--*

*--* 71 My Name Is Earl NBC 4.91 72 Cuidado con el Angel (Tue.) UNI 4.88 73 Cold Case (8 p.m.) CBS 4.70 74 Tontas No Van Cielo (Wed.) UNI 4.64 75 ER NBC 4.53 *--*

*--* 76 The New Adventures of Old Christine (8:30 p.m.) CBS 4.52 77 Tontas No Van Cielo (Thu.) UNI 4.45 78 Tontas No Van Cielo (Tue.) UNI 4.41 79 Cuidado con el Angel (Fri.) UNI 4.38 80 Cristina (Mon.) UNI 4.36 *--*

*--* 81 House (Fri., 8 p.m.) FOX 4.33 82 Tontas No Van Cielo (Mon.) UNI 4.28 83 Smallville CW 4.21 84 SNL: Sports Extra NBC 4.10 85 Friday Night Lights NBC 4.03 *--*

*--* 86 Don Francisco Presenta (Wed.) UNI 3.98 87 Ugly Betty ABC 3.95 88 The Unit (9 p.m.) CBS 3.92 89 Rosa de Guadalupe (Thu.) UNI 3.83 90 Gran Estreno (Sun.) UNI 3.82 *--*

*--* 91 Tontas No Van Cielo (Fri.) UNI 3.81 92 Rosa de Guadalupe (Fri.) UNI 3.80 Family Guy FOX 3.80 94 Wipeout (Sun., 8 p.m.) ABC 3.75 95 Lie to Me (Fri., 9 p.m.) FOX 3.74 *--*

*--* 96 Wipeout (Sun., 9 p.m.) ABC 3.66 97 America’s Funniest Home Videos ABC 3.61 98 Supernatural CW 3.56 99 Kath & Kim NBC 3.29 100 American Dad FOX 3.28 *--*

*--* 101 Aqui y Ahora (Tue.) UNI 3.22 102 CBS Reports: Road to the White House CBS 3.05 103 Crusoe NBC 2.89 Sabado Gigante (Sat.) UNI 2.89 105 Movie: ‘Anchorman’ ABC 2.79 *--*

*--* 106 The Simpsons FOX 2.48 107 Hora Pico (Sun.) UNI 2.45 108 Life on Mars (Sun.) ABC 2.34 109 American Dad (Sun., 8:30 p.m.) FOX 2.29 110 Quien Tiene Razon? (Sun.) UNI 2.11 *--*

*--* 111 Hora Derbez (Sat.) UNI 2.05 112 The Game CW 1.83 113 Everybody Hates Chris CW 1.74 114 Are You Smarter than a Fifth Grader? (Sun., 7 p.m.) FOX 1.64 115 Gossip Girl (Mon.) CW 1.61 *--*

*--* 116 One Tree Hill (Mon.) CW 1.41 117 Privileged (Encore) CW 1.05 118 90210 CW 1.04 119 13: Fear Is Real CW 0.86 120 Privileged CW 0.85 *--*

*--* 121 90210 (Encore) CW 0.82 122 Movie: “Throw Momma From the Train� CW 0.70 123 Jericho CW 0.63 *--*

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 NBC 21.58 8.26

FOX 11.28 8.46

CBS 9.45 11.21

ABC 5.81 8.49

UNI 4.22 3.9 *--*