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HOLLYWOOD (CNS) - “America's Got Talent,'' which returned to its customary 8 p.m. time slot after a one-week absence, was last week's most-watched prime-time program while sporting events accounted for seven of the top nine, according to live-plus-same-day figures released today by Nielsen.
“America's Got Talent'' averaged 7.01 million viewers, its third first-place finish in the four full weeks of television's summer season. The one-hour version of the NBC competition series the previous week -- which began at 10 p.m. in most of the nation because of NBC's coverage of the U.S. Olympic swimming trials -- was 11th for the week, averaging 4.205 million viewers.
NBC's coverage of Sunday's conclusion of the U.S. Olympic women's gymnastics trials was second among prime-time programs airing between June 21 and Sunday, averaging 5.732 million viewers. Friday's competition was ninth for the week, and first for the night, averaging 4.59 million viewers.
Five of the week's eight prime-time programs to average more than five million viewers were NBA conference finals games, topped by TNT's coverage of the Milwaukee Bucks' 113-102 victory over the Atlanta Hawks in Game 3 of the Eastern Conference finals, which averaged 5.595 million viewers Sunday – third for the week and first among cable programs.
The other prime-time program to average more than 5 million viewers was “60 Minutes,'' eighth for the week, averaging 5.038 million viewers. It began one hour, 14 minutes later than usual in the Eastern and Central time zones where the bulk of the nation's population lives because of the runover of CBS' coverage of the Travelers Championship, which ended with an eight-hole playoff.
The runover averaged 6.38 million viewers. It is not considered a separate program but is included in CBS' weekly average.
NBC was the most-watched network, averaging 3.5 million viewers. CBS was second, averaging 2.99 million, followed by ABC, which averaged 2.71 million viewers. Each aired 22 hours of prime-time programming.
Fox averaged 1.71 million viewers for its 16 hours, 16 minutes of prime-time programming, fourth among the five major English-language broadcast networks and seventh overall.
The CW again was fifth among the five major English-language broadcast networks, averaging 580,000 viewers for its 12 hours of programming.
“Celebrity Family Feud'' was ABC's most-watched program, averaging 4.376 million viewers, putting it 10th for the week. The cooking competition “MasterChef'' was Fox's most-watched program, averaging 2.823 million viewers, 40th overall.
The crime drama “Walker'' was The CW's most-watched program for the third consecutive week, averaging 1.082 million viewers, 105th among broadcast programs. Its overall rank was not available.
The premiere of ”When Nature Calls with Helen Mirren,'' the ABC unscripted comedy about the lighter side of the natural world, was second in its Thursday 8-9 p.m. time slot and 15th for the week for the week, averaging 3.698 million viewers.
The other premiere on the five major broadcast networks, the NBC quiz show, “College Bowl,'' was third in its Tuesday 10-11 p.m. time slot and 41st for the week, averaging 2.802 million viewers following “America's Got Talent.''
Coverage of three games of the NBA's Western Conference finals between the Clippers and Phoenix Suns enabled ESPN to edge TNT, 2.188 million-2.178 million, to be the most-watched cable network. Fox News Channel was third, averaging 2.146 million.
For the third consecutive week, the most-watched Spanish-language program was an episode of the Univision telenovela “Si nos dejan,'' whose Monday episode averaged 1.7 million viewers, 55th among broadcast programs. Its overall rank was not available.
Univision was the most-watched Spanish-language network for the 82nd consecutive week and 84th time in 85 weeks, averaging 1.24 million viewers. Telemundo was second, averaging 990,000 viewers, followed by UniMas (610,000), Estrella TV (100,000) and Azteca America (40,000).
ABC's “World News Tonight with David Muir'' was the most-watched network nightly newscast for the 82nd consecutive week, the 133rd time in 134 weeks and the 185th time in 187 weeks, averaging 7.774 million viewers.
“NBC Nightly News with Lester Holt'' was second, averaging 6.341 million viewers, followed by the “CBS Evening News with Norah O'Donnell,'' which averaged 4.732 million viewers.
The week's 10 most-watched prime-time programs were NBC's “America's Got Talent'' and its coverage of Sunday's conclusion of the U.S. Olympic women's gymnastics trials; TNT's coverage of Game 3 of the NBA's Eastern Conference finals; ESPN's coverage of Game 4 and Game 3 of the NBA Western Conference finals; TNT's coverage of Game 1 of the Eastern Conference finals; ESPN's coverage of Game 2 of the Western Conference finals; CBS' “60 Minutes''; NBC's Friday coverage of the U.S. Olympic women's gymnastics trials; and ABC's “Celebrity Family Feud.''
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