‘Stars’ can’t topple ‘Idol’

Viewers flocked to the returns of ABC’s “Dancing With the Stars” and CBS’ Monday comedies last week, but Fox Broadcasting extended its winning streak to 10 weeks, thanks to “American Idol,” according to figures released Tuesday by Nielsen Media Research.

The 92-minute premiere of “Dancing With the Stars” March 17 averaged 21.15 million viewers, 3% fewer than the 21.8 million who watched last spring’s two-hour “Dancing With the Stars” premiere. However, it was still enough to finish third for the week, behind the two “American Idol” episodes.

Viewership for the “Dancing” premiere was almost 7.1 million viewers larger than the week’s most-watched scripted series, the CBS comedy “Two and a Half Men.”

The premiere of the ABC comedy “Miss Guided” won its 10:30-11 p.m. period on March 18 with 9.28 million viewers. But episodes airing Thursday from 8 to 8:30 and 8:30 to 9 p.m. without a “Dancing With the Stars” lead-in were fourth in their time slots with 6.28 million and 6.31 million viewers, respectively.

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Here are the rankings for national prime-time network television last week (March 17-23) 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 American Idol (Tue.) FOX 27.34 2 American Idol (Wed.) FOX 26.08 3 Dancing With the Stars (Mon.) ABC 21.15 4 Dancing With the Stars (Tue.) ABC 17.02 5 Two and a Half Men CBS 14.06 *--*

*--* 6 Survivor: Micronesia (Wed.) CBS 11.56 7 60 Minutes CBS 11.54 8 Old Christine CBS 11.47 9 Lost ABC 11.46 10 Extreme Makeover: Home Edition ABC 11.36 *--*

*--* 11 Moment of Truth FOX 10.92 12 NCIS CBS 10.60 13 Law & Order (Wed.) NBC 10.49 14 Deal or No Deal (Thu.) NBC 10.26 15 Deal or No Deal (Mon.) NBC 10.08 *--*

*--* 16 Medium NBC 10.07 17 “NCAA Post-Game” CBS 10.03 (Sun.) “NCAA Basketball (Sat., 7:30 CBS 10.03 p.m.) 19 Oprah’s Big Give ABC 9.81 20 CSI: Miami CBS 9.64 *--*

*--* 21 How I Met Your Mother CBS 9.61 22 Miss Guided (Tue.) ABC 9.28 23 “NCAA Basketball” (Sat., 9:30 p.m.) CBS 9.20 24 The Big Bang Theory CBS 8.93 25 Apprentice 7 (Thu.) NBC 8.83 *--*

*--* 26 Bachelor: London Calling ABC 8.58 27 Don’t Forget the Lyrics FOX 8.37 28 Law & Order: SVU (Tue.) NBC 8.29 29 “NCAA Basketball” (Fri., 9:30 p.m.) CBS 8.21 30 “NCAA Basketball” (Thu., 7 p.m.) CBS 8.18 *--*

*--* 31 Law & Order: SVU (Sun.) NBC 8.09 32 America’s Funniest Home Videos ABC 8.05 33 Biggest Loser 5 NBC 7.89 34 Law & Order (Sun.) NBC 7.72 35 “NCAA Basketball” (Fri., 7 p.m.) CBS 7.67 *--*

*--* 36 “NCAA Basketball” (Thu., 9:30 p.m.) CBS 7.63 37 “The Ten Commandments” ABC 7.47 38 Are You Smarter Than a 5th Grader? FOX 7.46 39 20/20 (10 p.m.) ABC 7.36 40 Eli Stone ABC 7.32 *--*

*--* 41 New Amsterdam FOX 7.27 42 Supernanny ABC 6.96 43 Lipstick Jungle NBC 6.95 44 Law & Order: Criminal Intent (Wed., 9 p.m.) NBC 6.83 45 Here Come the Newlyweds ABC 6.73 *--*

*--* 46 Big Brother 9 (Wed.) CBS 6.60 47 Big Brother 9 (Sun.) CBS 6.46 48 Cold Case CBS 6.35 49 Dateline: NBC (Fri.) NBC 6.34 CSI: NY CBS 6.34 *--*

*--* 51 Miss Guided (Thu., 8:30 p.m.) ABC 6.31 52 20/20 (9 p.m.) ABC 6.30 53 Miss Guided (Thu., 8 p.m.) ABC 6.28 54 “It’s the Easter Beagle Charlie Brown” ABC 6.24 55 Law & Order (Sat.) NBC 6.20 *--*

*--* 56 Dateline: NBC (Sun.) NBC 6.08 57 Cops (8:30 p.m.) FOX 6.01 58 America’s Most Wanted FOX 5.91 59 Men in Trees ABC 5.89 60 Jericho CBS 5.73 *--*

*--* 61 Canterbury’s Law FOX 5.71 62 Wife Swap ABC 5.70 63 Al Diablo con los Guapos (Wed.) UNI 5.63 64 Law And Order: Criminal Intent (Wed., 8 p.m.) NBC 5.44 65 House FOX 5.43 *--*

*--* 66 Big Brother 9 (Tue.) CBS 5.38 67 Dexter CBS 5.27 68 Law & Order: SVU (Sat.) NBC 5.23 69 Al Diablo con los Guapos (Thu.) UNI 5.16 70 Amnesia NBC 5.14 *--*

*--* 71 Cops (8 p.m.) FOX 5.11 72 Al Diablo con los Guapos (Tue.) UNI 4.90 73 Just for Laughs ABC 4.87 74 Al Diablo con los Guapos (Mon.) UNI 4.84 75 The Simpsons FOX 4.81 *--*

*--* 76 Al Diablo con los Guapos (Fri.) UNI 4.69 77 Family Guy FOX 4.49 78 My Dad Is Better Than Your Dad NBC 4.40 *--*

Network averagesHere 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 FOX 10.07 11.16

ABC 9.19 8.88

CBS 8.82 10.06

NBC 7.13 8.15

UNI 3.35 3.50

CW 2.42 2.48 *--*