CBS combined the return of "Big Brother" with its strong lineup of reruns to be the most-watched network in prime time for the fourth consecutive week and sixth time in the seven weeks of TV's summer season.
CBS had five of the seven most-watched shows, topped by a second-place finish by "NCIS," and averaged 6.46 million viewers for its prime-time programming between July 6 and Sunday, according to figures released Tuesday by Nielsen Media Research.
"Big Brother" won both of its time slots. Thursday's season premiere was 18th for the week with 6.59 million viewers, 3% more than last season's Thursday premiere. Sunday's episode was 21st for the week with 6.29 million viewers.
Of the four major English-language broadcast networks, CBS is the only one with increased viewership this summer, up 2% from last year. ABC and NBC are both down 12% while Fox is down 20%.
For the third time in the three weeks it has aired this summer, an episode of NBC's "America's Got Talent" was the week's most-watched program.
The TNT police drama "The Closer" was the week's most-watched cable program, averaging 6.05 million viewers, which would have put it 24th among the programs on broadcast television.
calendar@latimes.com
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(BEGIN TEXT OF INFOBOX)
Here are the rankings for national prime-time network television last week (July 6-12) 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.
*--* Program Network Viewers 1 America's Got Talent (Wed.) NBC 11.91 2 NCIS CBS 11.00 3 America's Got Talent (Tue.) NBC 10.57 4 Two and a Half Men CBS 9.41 5 The Mentalist (Tue.) CBS 9.25 *--*
*--* 6 60 Minutes CBS 8.77 7 CSI: Miami CBS 8.76 8 Primetime: Family Secrets ABC 8.66 9 The Big Bang Theory CBS 8.34 10 The Mentalist CBS 8.26 *--*
*--* 11 Wipeout ABC 8.19 12 So You Think Can Dance (results) FOX 7.88 13 The Bachelorette ABC 7.71 14 CSI CBS 7.66 15 So You Think Can Dance FOX 7.59 *--*
*--* 16 CSI: NY CBS 7.25 17 Criminal Minds CBS 7.14 18 Big Brother (Thu.) CBS 6.59 19 America's Got Talent (Wed.) (8 p.m.) NBC 6.32 20 Dateline: Michael Jackson Remembered (Tue.) NBC 6.30 *--*
*--* 21 Big Brother (Sun.) CBS 6.29 22 Without a Trace CBS 6.09 23 Primetime: Crime ABC 6.07 24 Cold Case CBS 5.76 25 20/20 Special Edition (Tue.) ABC 5.74 *--*
