PRIME-TIME TV RANKINGS

Here are the rankings for national prime-time network television last week (Jan. 5-11) 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.

Viewership for the Golden Globe Awards and the People’s Choice Awards sank to non-strike lows, while college football’s championship game registered a rare increase in viewers, helping Fox Broadcasting become the week’s most-watched network for the first time since mid-July.

NBC’s coverage of Sunday’s Golden Globes averaged 14.86 million viewers, 9% less than the previous nonstrike broadcast network low of 16.37 million in 1982, the last year of CBS’ coverage. Even so, it finished ninth among all programs broadcast from Jan. 5 through Sunday.

CBS’ People’s Choice Awards averaged a nonstrike low of 9.41 million viewers to finish 28th for the week and second in its two-hour time slot. The record viewership of 35.32 million came in 1977.

Fox averaged 14.17 million for its prime-time programming for the week, finishing first for the first time since the week of July 14-20, when its programming included Major League Baseball’s All-Star Game, according to figures released this week by Nielsen Media Research.

Fox was bolstered by a 1-2 finish for the Bowl Championship Series National Championship Game and the NFL playoff game between the Arizona Cardinals and Carolina Panthers.

The University of Florida’s 24-14 victory over Oklahoma averaged 26.77 million viewers, 16% more than the 23.07 million average for Louisiana State University’s 38-24 victory over Ohio State in last year’s championship. Fox credited the rise in viewership to a more competitive game and the presence of two Heisman Trophy winners: Florida’s Tim Tebow and Oklahoma’s Sam Bradford.

*--* -- Program Network Viewers 1 College Football: BCS FOX 26.77 Championship: Oklahoma vs. Florida 2 NFL Playoffs: Arizona at Carolina FOX 23.78 3 NFL Playoffs: San Diego at CBS 21.35 Pittsburgh 4 The Mentalist CBS 19.62 5 NCIS CBS 19.10 *--*

*--* 6 Tostitos Fiesta Bowl FOX 17.06 7 60 Minutes CBS 15.03 8 The Golden Globe Awards NBC 14.86 9 Grey’s Anatomy (Thu., 9 p.m.) ABC 13.87 10 Desperate Housewives ABC 13.79 *--*

*--* 11 Without a Trace CBS 13.13 12 24 FOX 12.61 13 Barbara Walters (Wed.) ABC 12.55 14 Cold Case CBS 12.30 15 Biggest Loser NBC 11.92 *--*

*--* 16 Two and a Half Men CBS 11.56 17 CSI CBS 11.00 18 Law & Order: SVU NBC 10.82 19 Ghost Whisperer CBS 10.64 20 CSI: Miami CBS 10.40 *--*

*--* 21 Extreme Makeover: Home Edition (8 p.m.) ABC 10.28 22 Law & Order NBC 10.26 23 The Unit CBS 10.16 24 Numb3rs CBS 10.13 25 Flashpoint CBS 10.00 *--*

*--* 26 Superstars of Dance NBC 9.67 27 The People’s Choice Awards CBS 9.41 28 Private Practice ABC 8.98 29 Brothers & Sisters ABC 8.97 30 The Bachelor ABC 8.74 *--*

*--* 31 CSI: NY (Thu., 8 p.m.) CBS 8.57 32 The Big Bang Theory CBS 8.50 33 America’s Funniest Home Videos ABC 8.02 34 20/20 Special (Thu.) ABC 7.94 35 20/20 (Fri.) ABC 7.91 *--*

*--* 36 The New Adventures of Old Christine CBS 7.89 37 Golden Globes Arrivals NBC 7.78 Howie Do It (8 p.m.) NBC 7.78 39 Homeland Security USA ABC 7.77 40 Eleventh Hour CBS 7.64 *--*

*--* 41 True Beauty ABC 7.61 42 Ugly Betty ABC 7.53 43 Law & Order: SVU (9 p.m.) NBC 7.47 44 ER NBC 7.34 45 How I Met Your Mother CBS 7.23 *--*

*--* 46 Game Show in My Head CBS 7.17 47 Gary Unmarried CBS 7.13 48 48 Hours Mystery CBS 7.11 49 Worst Week CBS 7.04 50 What Would You Do? ABC 7.02 *--*

*--* 51 Scrubs (Tue., 9 p.m.) ABC 6.74 52 Bones FOX 6.64 53 Scrubs (Tue., 9:30 p.m.) ABC 6.61 54 Crimetime Saturday CBS 6.59 55 Bones (Wed., 9 p.m.) FOX 6.55 *--*

*--* 56 Law & Order: SVU (Sat.) NBC 6.37 57 Knight Rider NBC 5.74 58 My Name Is Earl NBC 5.60 59 Game Show in My Head (8:30 p.m.) CBS 5.56 60 Supernanny ABC 5.55 *--*

*--* 61 House FOX 5.51 62 Fuego en la Sangre (Tue.) UNI 5.45 63 Fuego en la Sangre (Wed.) UNI 5.41 64 30 Rock NBC 5.37 65 Momma’s Boys NBC 5.32 *--*

*--* 66 Fuego en la Sangre (Fri.) UNI 5.26 67 Fuego en la Sangre (Mon.) UNI 5.13 68 Fuego en la Sangre (Thu.) UNI 5.12 69 Cuidado con el Angel (Wed.) UNI 5.01 70 Dateline (Fri.) NBC 4.93 *--*

*--* 71 Cuidado con el Angel (Mon.) UNI 4.88 72 Cuidado con el Angel (Fri.) UNI 4.85 73 Wife Swap ABC 4.72 Cuidado con el Angel (Tue.) UNI 4.72 75 The Office NBC 4.67 *--*

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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 FOX 14.17 7.91 CBS 11.74 10.98 NBC 8.26 7.64 ABC 7.8 8.78 UNI 3.93 3.86 *--*