National Nielsen Viewership

Here are the rankings for national prime-time network television last week (Sept. 20-26) 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 that there are 256.6 million potential U.S. viewers age 2 and older. Viewership is listed here in millions.

Cable Top 10

Here are Nielsen’s Top 10 cable programs in prime time last week, also ranked by total viewers (in millions).

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Net- View- Program work ers 1. Football, Giants vs. Patriots ESPN 8.08 2. Wrestling (Mon., 10 p.m.) USA 6.91 3. Wrestling (Mon., 9 p.m.) USA 6.63 4. NFL Primetime ESPN 5.30 5. Wrestling (Mon., 8 p.m.) TNT 4.97 6. Wrestling (Sun., 7 p.m.) USA 3.91 7. Boxing HBO 3.59 8. Wrestling (Mon., 9 p.m.) TNT 3.43 9. “There’s Something About Mary” HBO 3.40 10. Wild Thornberrys (Thur.) NICK 3.11

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Network Averages

Here is the number of viewers that each network averaged per hour of prime time, for last week and for the season.

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Last Season week to date NBC 14.46 million 14.46 CBS 14.15 14.15 ABC 12.18 12.18 FOX 7.84 7.84 WB 4.05 4.05 UPN 3.57 3.57

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Southland Viewing

Here are Nielsen’s Top 10 prime-time programs in the Los Angeles area during the same week. The rankings are based on the number of households watching.

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Sta- House- Program tion holds 1. Friends KNBC 1,201,613 2. “SNL 25th Anniversary” KNBC 1,088,641 3. Frasier KNBC 1,052,696 4. Jesse KNBC 914,048 5. Stark Raving Mad KNBC 862,697 6. Law & Order KNBC 811,346 7. Dharma & Greg KABC 759,995 8. Once and Again KABC 744,590 9. West Wing KNBC 729,184 Will & Grace KNBC 729,184

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