NEW YORK (AP) – The conclusion of another “American Idol” competition and the “Lost” season finale brought more than 50 million viewers to their television sets last week on the final day of the television season.

An estimated 30.3 million people saw Carrie Underwood beat Bo Bice on Fox’s two-hour “Idol” finale, according to Nielsen Media Research. Instead of shrinking from such withering competition, ABC’s “Lost,” which aired at the same time, averaged 20.7 million viewers.

Fox’s “House,” like “Lost” another in the crop of impressive freshman dramas, finished with 19.5 million viewers.

Don’t expect to see those numbers again anytime soon. It’s summertime, and the network prime-time schedules will be a mix of reruns and reality shows.

CBS reality stars Rob and Amber had 9.7 million guests to their wedding special on Sunday. ABC learned the ugly flipside to having popular prime-time serials: the 7.4 million who watched “Desperate Housewives” on Sunday and the 5.8 million who saw “Grey’s Anatomy” indicates that the shows don’t repeat well.

ABC also had one of the more unsightly sweeps performances when its made-for-TV movie on Donald Trump drew a paltry 5.6 million viewers.

Fox easily won the week, averaging 12.5 million viewers (7.5 rating, 13 share). CBS had 9.4 million viewers (6.4, 11), NBC had 7.8 million (5.2, 9), ABC had 7.2 million (4.7, 8), UPN had 2.8 million (1.9, 3), the WB had 2.5 million (1.7, 3) and Pax TV had 520,000 viewers (0.4, 1).

NBC’s “Nightly News” won the evening news ratings race, averaging 8.2 million viewers (5.9, 13). ABC’s “World News Tonight” had 8.1 million viewers (5.8, 13) and the “CBS Evening News” 6.4 million (4.6, 10).

A ratings point represents 1,096,000 households, or 1 percent of the nation’s estimated 109.6 million TV homes. The share is the percentage of in-use televisions tuned to a given show.

For the week of May. 23-29, the top 10 shows, their networks and viewerships: “American Idol” (Wednesday), Fox, 30.3 million; “American Idol” (Tuesday), Fox, 28.1 million; “CSI: Miami,” CBS, 21.2 million; “Lost,” ABC, 20.7 million; “House,” Fox, 19.5 million; “Law & Order: SVU,” NBC, 16.4 million; “CSI: Crime Scene Investigation,” CBS, 16.1 million; “Law & Order: Criminal Intent,” NBC, 15 million; “Two and a Half Men,” CBS, 14.9 million; “NCIS,” CBS, 14.7 million.



On the Net:

http://www.nielsenmedia.com

AP-ES-06-01-05 1624EDT


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