NBC puts a dent in ‘Idol’

It’s a revelation: NBC found something to compete against “American Idol.”

NBC’s spiritual miniseries “Revelations” reached 15.6 million viewers for its debut last week, positive ratings news for a network that needs it. It was the most-watched NBC show airing opposite the Wednesday edition of Fox’s “American Idol” since a National Basketball Assn. finals game in 2002, according to Nielsen Media Research figures released Tuesday.

CBS scored another easy victory as the most popular network in prime time last week. “CSI: Crime Scene Investigation” was the most-watched program.

Fox’s Emmy-winning comedy “Arrested Development” ended its season last week with an episode seen by only 6 million people. The sitcom has garnered critical raves, but those ratings put it at risk of not returning.

Despite the continuing domination of “Desperate Housewives” and its Sunday night lineup, ABC slipped to fourth place. The lackluster showings of new series “Eyes,” “Blind Justice” and “Jake in Progress” prove not everything ABC programmers touch turns to gold.

NBC’s “Nightly News” won the evening news ratings race.

*

(BEGIN TEXT OF INFOBOX)

*--* Here are the rankings for national prime-time network television last week (April 11-17) 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 277.93 million potential viewers in the U.S. age 2 and older. Viewership is listed in millions. Program Net- work View- ers Program Net- work View- ers

*--*

*--* 1 CSI CBS 27.54 2 American Idol (Tue.) FOX 25.62 3 Desperate Housewives ABC 25.27 4 American Idol (Wed.) FOX 24.96 5 CSI: Miami CBS 20.67

6 Survivor: Palau CBS 20.37 7 Without a Trace CBS 19.98 8 Grey’s Anatomy ABC 19.18 9 House FOX 17.83 10 Law & Order NBC 16.85

11 Two and a Half Men CBS 16.36 12 Everybody Loves Raymond CBS 15.96 13 Revelations NBC 15.59 14 NCIS CBS 13.89 15 Cold Case CBS 13.47

16 Law & Order: Trial By Jury NBC 13.19 17 Amazing Race: 7 CBS 12.97 18 Extreme Makeover: Home Edition ABC 12.66 19 Apprentice 3 NBC 12.56 20 60 Minutes CBS 12.17

21 24 FOX 11.64 22 Law & Order: SVU NBC 11.58 23 Judging Amy CBS 11.17 24 CSI: NY CBS 11.00 25 Dateline: NBC (Wed.) NBC 10.83

26 Numb3rs CBS 10.54 27 Lost ABC 10.38 28 ER NBC 10.06 29 Law & Order: Criminal Intent NBC 9.90 30 Law & Order (Sat.) NBC 9.59

31 JAG CBS 9.25 32 Fear Factor NBC 9.16 Crimetime Saturday CBS 9.16 34 Still Standing CBS 8.66 35 Listen Up CBS 8.65

36 According to Jim ABC 8.59 37 Third Watch NBC 8.53 38 The Simpsons FOX 8.31 39 Stacked FOX 8.30 40 Blind Justice ABC 8.14

41 “Miss USA 2005” NBC 8.07 42 “Don’t Say a Word” CBS 8.05 Rodney ABC 8.05 44 Nanny 911 FOX 8.03 45 Dateline: NBC (Fri.) NBC 7.84

46 Alias ABC 7.74 47 King of Queens CBS 7.67 48 48 Hours Mystery CBS 7.52 49 America’s Funniest Home Videos ABC 7.45 50 The Bachelor ABC 7.39

51 Yes, Dear CBS 7.27 52 Joan of Arcadia CBS 7.23 53 America’s Most Wanted FOX 7.12 54 20/20 (Fri.) ABC 7.10 55 Price Is Right CBS 7.09

56 Supernanny ABC 7.08 57 Revelations (Sun.) NBC 6.98 58 Extreme Makeover: Home Edition: How’d They Do That? ABC 6.56 59 Simple Life 3 FOX 6.45 60 Cops (8:30 p.m.) FOX 6.40

61 The O.C. FOX 6.39 62 60 Minutes Wednesday CBS 6.14 63 Eyes ABC 6.07 64 Arrested Development FOX 5.99 65 Joey NBC 5.91

66 Law & Order: SVU (Sat.) NBC 5.85 67 The Simpsons (9 p.m.) FOX 5.79 68 My Wife and Kids ABC 5.72 69 George Lopez ABC 5.59 70 America’s Next Top Model 4 UPN 5.49

71 Cops FOX 5.44 72 Scrubs (9 p.m.) NBC 5.38 73 Contender NBC 5.37 74 8 Simple Rules ABC 5.26 Office NBC 5.26

76 Primetime Live ABC 5.24 77 WWE Smackdown! UPN 5.17 78 Wonderful World of Disney ABC 5.13 79 Hope & Faith ABC 5.01 80 8 Simple Rules (8:30 p.m.) ABC 4.98

81 Reba (9 p.m.) WB 4.71 82 Less Than Perfect ABC 4.70 83 “Mr. Deeds” FOX 4.68 84 Office NBC 4.58 85 Malcolm in the Middle FOX 4.43

86 Tru Calling FOX 4.26 87 Stacked (Sun.) FOX 4.24 88 King of the Hill FOX 4.20 89 “Home Intervention” NBC 4.15 90 Jake in Progress (8:30 p.m.) ABC 4.00

91 Extreme Makeover ABC 3.99 92 Jake in Progress ABC 3.86 93 Smallville WB 3.85 94 “Spy Kids 2: Island of Lost Dreams” ABC 3.74 Living With Fran WB 3.74

96 Charmed (8 p.m.) WB 3.47 97 Blue Collar TV (8:30 p.m.) WB 3.33 98 Will & Grace NBC 3.21 Blue Collar TV WB 3.21 100 Gilmore Girls WB 3.17

101 Scrubs (8:30 p.m.) NBC 3.12 102 “Blue Collar TV: Boyz in the Woodz” WB 3.01 103 Summerland WB 2.99 104 LAX NBC 2.76 105 Girlfriends UPN 2.75

106 Cuts UPN 2.68 107 One on One UPN 2.67 108 Steve Harvey’s Big Time WB 2.59 109 Enterprise UPN 2.56 110 One Tree Hill WB 2.54

111 Half and Half UPN 2.44 112 Reba (8:30 p.m.) WB 2.37 113 Kevin Hill UPN 2.32 114 Veronica Mars UPN 2.30 115 What I Like About You WB 2.02

116 Eve UPN 1.98 117 All of Us UPN 1.95 118 Charmed (7 p.m.) WB 1.85 119 America’s Next Top Model (Fri.) UPN 1.55 120 Jack & Bobby WB 1.54

*--*

*--* 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 12.21 12.84

FOX 9.67 9.93

NBC 8.66 9.91

ABC 7.96 10.16

UPN 3.18 3.35

WB 2.90 3.32

*--*