Nielsen Media Research

The first two games of the World Series drew their highest TV ratings in four years. The two-game average is an 18.1 rating and 30 share, up 8% from the 16.7 rating and 29 share for the first two games between Toronto and Philadelphia in 1993, Nielsen Media Research said.

Melvin Avanzado, a 47-year-old Los Angeles attorney, understands why NBC is showing tape-delayed Olympics coverage to viewers in the Pacific and Mountain time zones. He understands about sponsorship dollars and maximizing viewership. He doesn't like it much, either. But Avanzado doesn't try to avoid results until he can watch warmed-over coverage that often doesn't end until midnight. "I'd have to totally unplug," he said. "Some people try. I was at dinner with a friend Saturday night when Apolo Ohno was racing.

The list of prime-time television rankings from Nielsen Media Research that usually appears Wednesdays is delayed this week because of the Presidents Day holiday. It will be published in Calendar later this week.

Today: Television for the week that ended Sunday Top network shows Viewers ages 18-49 1 Sunday Night Football NBC, 11.3 million viewers 2 NFL Thursday Football NBC, 11.3 million 3 Sunday Night NFL Pre-Kick NBC, 8.9 million 4 NFL Thursday Pre-Kick NBC, 7.5 million 5The OT Fox, 6.4 million -- Top cable shows All viewers 1 College Football (USC/Ohio State) ESPN, 10.6 million viewers 2 Video Music Awards MTV, 9.0 million 3 College Football (Miami/Florida State)

Allegations surrounding President Clinton resulted in the biggest audience for a State of the Union address since the first year of his presidency. Year: Millions of viewers 1998: 53 1997: 41 1996: 41 1995: 42 1994: 46 1993: 67 Source: Nielsen Media Research

CBS pulled the plug on the reality series "The Will" after just one airing. The show, which attracted 4.2 million viewers for its premiere Saturday evening, was canceled Wednesday. The series, which featured 10 participants vying to be sole heir to a rancher's fortune, ranked 79th in viewers, according to Nielsen Media Research, making it the network's lowest-ranked show of the week. A rerun of "Cold Case" will air in its time slot Saturday.

Where the Nielsen Families Watch TV Percentages of the 7,818 television sets in the Nielsen national sample of 4,000 households. Living room: 43.1% Bedroom: 22.8% Master Bedroom: 11.6% Family Room: 10.7% Kitchen: 5.6% Basement: 3.2% Other*: 3.0% * Other includes patio, home office, garage, dining room, etc. Source: Nielsen Media Research

ABC's Sunday-morning political talk show "This Week" has scored its first win over NBC's "Meet the Press" since 1999. It is the first time host George Stephanopoulos has delivered more viewers. His marquee guest might have helped: President-elect Barack Obama. Nielsen Media Research said Thursday that the ABC show was seen by 4.34 million viewers on Sunday, a whisker ahead of the 4.3 million who watched "Meet the Press." Obama's visit to "Meet the Press" on Dec. 7 was seen by 6.5 million people.

Today: Television Top network programs, ages 18 to 49 Season to date: 1 American Idol (Tues.) Fox, 13.3 million viewers 2 American Idol (Wed.) Fox, 13.2 3 Sunday Night Football NBC, 8.1 4 Desperate Housewives ABC, 7.9 5 Grey's Anatomy ABC, 7.5 -- Top NBC programs, ages 18 to 49 Season to date: 1 Sunday Night Football 8.1 million viewers 2 The Office 6.3 3 Heroes 5.8 4 The Biggest Loser 5.3 5 ER 5.2 Source: Nielsen Media Research

Given that Fox's new high school show, "Glee," has already attracted a cult following, there was considerable speculation about how it would do in its official premiere Wednesday night. Turns out the show passed a key audition, but it's still too soon to tell its ultimate fate. "Glee" attracted 7.3 million viewers and won its time slot among adults ages 18 to 49, according to early data from Nielsen Media Research. That put "Glee" -- a kind of cross between "High School Musical" and "Freaks and Geeks" -- a strong No. 2 to NBC's "America's Got Talent" (9.7 million viewers)

If you don't like the message, get a new messenger. Worried that more people are seeing their programs than is being reported, a consortium of 14 major media companies, advertisers and agencies is teaming up in an effort to develop new methods to measure how people watch their favorite TV shows. Among those participating in the venture are Time Warner Inc., Viacom Inc., CBS Corp., NBC Universal, Walt Disney Co., News Corp., Procter & Gamble Co., AT&T Inc., Unilever and advertising giant WPP Group.

Friday's premiere of Disney Channel's "Wizards of Waverly Place: The Movie" was cable television's most-watched program of the year and nearly beat out all of the week's prime-time programming on the five major broadcast networks. "Wizards of Waverly Place: The Movie," a two-hour version of the series about three siblings with magical abilities, drew 11.43 million viewers, just 30,000 behind the Tuesday version of NBC's "America's Got Talent," according to figures released Tuesday by Nielsen Media Research.

Plenty of daytime shows are hurting for viewers. But the audience is positively fleeing the Daytime Emmys. Sunday's 36th Annual Daytime Emmy telecast -- which aired for two hours in prime time on the CW -- skidded to an all-time low of 2.2 million total viewers, according to preliminary data from Nielsen Media Research. That's a 58% plunge from last year's show on ABC. The closing days of summer seldom produce blockbuster audiences, and on Sunday what viewers there were flocked to an NFL preseason matchup between the Bears and the Broncos on NBC (9.9 million)

Grabbing "Project Runway" is beginning to look like a triumph for Lifetime. The fashion design reality series began its long-delayed sixth season Thursday, delivering 4.2 million viewers, according to Nielsen Media Research. That's the program's highest premiere number and a whopping 45% increase compared with last summer's Season 5 launch on Bravo. "Runway" is being closely watched because the move to Lifetime resulted in a nasty lawsuit between NBC Universal, which owns Bravo, and Weinstein Co., which makes the show.