Week of May 29th-June 4th/2006 complete ratings

from the L.A. Times

For summertime viewers, it's all just fun and games
From City News Service

CBS' "Gameshow Marathon" and NBC's "Last Comic Standing" both had
winning premieres in the first full week of television's summer
season, according to figures released Tuesday by Nielsen Media
Research.

The premiere of "Gameshow Marathon" won its Wednesday 8-9 p.m. time
period last week with 8.17 million viewers against a new episode of
"Dateline" on NBC and reruns on the four other major broadcast
networks.

Viewership grew to 8.33 million for the second episode on Thursday,
which won the 8-9 p.m. time period against the opening hour of ABC's
coverage of the Scripps National Spelling Bee and reruns on the four
other major broadcast networks.

"Last Comic Standing," which had success in the summers of 2003 and
2004 but disappeared after being a prime-time flop in the fall of
2004, attracted 8.59 million viewers for its two-hour season premiere
last Tuesday.

It won its time period against reruns on CBS, the WB, UPN, two reruns
of "According to Jim" and original episodes of the canceled comedies
"Rodney" and "Less Than Perfect" on ABC and the movie "Shanghai
Knights" on Fox.

Viewers were spellbound by the first prime-time major network telecast
of the Scripps National Spelling Bee, which drew 8.53 million viewers.

The audience grew each half-hour, with 14.06 million watching for the
final 11 minutes as Katherine "Kerry" Close, a 13-year-old from Spring
Lake, N.J., correctly spelled "ursprache" to emerge victorious over
runner-up Finola Mei Hwa Hackett of Edmonton, Alberta.

The bee was the most-watched program on ABC on a summer Thursday from
8 to 10 p.m. since Sept. 6, 2001, other than NBA Finals and NFL
football telecasts.

Prime-time TV Rankings

Here are the rankings for national prime-time network television last
week (May 29-June 4) 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. ages 2 and older. Viewership is listed in
millions.

William George Ferguson...

Just because, here's the highest/lowest by network
Hmmm, I should probably list the lowest non-Saturday shows for the Big
Three)

Casey McDonald's Guidance Counsellor, Ian J. Ball...

For comparison purposes, I'll put it the ratings for the only shows
airing "original" episodes:

NBC

1 Deal or No Deal (Mon.) NBC 13.84
2 CSI CBS 13.57
3 Without a Trace CBS 12.06
4 CSI: Miami CBS 11.74
5 NCIS CBS 11.23

6 Two and a Half Men CBS 10.61
7 Deal or No Deal (Wed.) NBC 10.25
8 Criminal Minds CBS 10.14
9 So You Think Can Dance (Thu.) FOX 10.03
10 CSI: NY CBS 9.81

11 48 Hours Mystery (Tue.) CBS 9.67
12 60 Minutes CBS 9.46
13 Apprentice 5 NBC 9.16
14 Old Christine CBS 9.09
15 The Unit CBS 9.05

16 So You Think Can Dance (Wed.) FOX 8.81
17 Numb3rs CBS 8.72
18 Last Comic Standing 4 NBC 8.59
Cold Case CBS 8.59
20 Law & Order: SVU NBC 8.54

21 "Scripps National Spelling Bee" ABC 8.53
22 Law & Order NBC 8.35
23 "Gameshow Marathon" (Thu.) CBS 8.33
24 Dateline: NBC (Wed.) NBC 8.23
25 "NBA Playoffs" (Mon.) ABC 8.19

26 "Gameshow Marathon" (Wed.) CBS 8.17
27 Crossing Jordan NBC 8.02
28 Close to Home CBS 7.87
29 Law & Order: Criminal Intent (Sun.) NBC 7.64
30 Dateline: NBC: (Sun.) NBC 7.42

31 48 Hours Mystery CBS 7.24
32 Primetime ABC 7.13
"Ocean's Eleven" CBS 7.13
34 Grey's Anatomy ABC 7.04
35 Medium NBC 6.63

36 20/20 ABC 6.61
37 Dateline: NBC (Fri.) NBC 6.58
38 Crimetime Saturday (9 p.m.) CBS 6.53
39 King of Queens CBS 6.52
40 America's Most Wanted FOX 6.17

41 America's Funniest Home Videos (Fri.) ABC 6.04
42 So You Think Can Dance (Thu.) FOX 6.00
43 Desperate Housewives ABC 5.98
44 Extreme Makeover: Home Edition ABC 5.95
45 Ghost Whisperer CBS 5.89

46 "2 Fast 2 Furious" FOX 5.84
47 America's Funniest Home Videos (Sun.) ABC 5.75
48 The Simpsons FOX 5.70
49 Bones FOX 5.55
50 Commander in Chief ABC 5.54

51 Cops (8:30 p.m.) FOX 5.37
Law & Order: Criminal Intent (Sat.) NBC 5.37
53 ER NBC 5.31
54 Family Guy FOX 5.30
55 According to Jim ABC 5.20

Boston Legal ABC 5.20
57 "Shanghai Knights" FOX 5.11
58 According to Jim ABC 4.93
59 How I Met Your Mother CBS 4.90
Fea Mas Bella (Wed.) UNI 4.90

61 Rodney ABC 4.89
62 American Dad FOX 4.84
63 Office (9 p.m.) NBC 4.82
64 "GMC NBA Nation" (Mon.) ABC 4.81
65 The Office (8:30 p.m.) NBC 4.75

66 Less Than Perfect ABC 4.67
67 The Office (9:30 p.m.) NBC 4.65
68 Cops (8 p.m.) FOX 4.61
The Office (8 p.m.) NBC 4.61
70 Crimetime Saturday (8 p.m.) CBS 4.57

71 Last Comic Standing 4 NBC 4.53
72 Dateline: NBC (Sat.) NBC 4.34
73 War at Home FOX 4.30
74 Fea Mas Bella (Thu.) UNI 4.20
75 Barrera de Amor (Wed.) UNI 4.07

76 Fea Mas Bella (Tue.) UNI 3.95
77 "Laura Croft: Tomb Raider: FOX 3.93
George Lopez ABC 3.93
79 Lost ABC 3.89
80 Barrera de Amor (Tue.) UNI 3.80

81 Hope & Faith ABC 3.79
82 Barrera de Amor (Thu.) UNI 3.77
83 Freddie ABC 3.74
84 Fea Mas Bella (Mon.) UNI 3.69
85 Fea Mas Bella (Fri.) UNI 3.68

86 WWE Smackdown! UPN 3.63
87 Barrera de Amor (Mon.) UNI 3.57
88 Wonderful World of Disney ABC 3.53
89 King of the Hill FOX 3.50
90 Don Francisco Presenta UNI 3.26

91 Everwood WB 3.22
92 Aqui y Ahora (Thu.) UNI 3.06
93 Peregrina (Wed.) UNI 3.03
94 "The 4400: Unlocking the Secrets" NBC 2.95

Casey McDonald's Guidance Counsellor, Ian J. Ball...

1 Deal or No Deal (Mon.) NBC 13.84
13 Apprentice 5 NBC 9.16
18 Last Comic Standing 4 NBC 8.59

[Ian: Eh, not bad, even for the last two...]