‘Idol’ worship keeps Fox on top

With the three “American Idol” episodes and “Moment of Truth” sweeping the top four spots, Fox was the most-watched network in prime time for the eighth time in the eight weeks that “Idol” has aired this season.

Fox averaged 12.12 million viewers for its 15 hours of prime-time programming between March 3 and Sunday, according to figures released Tuesday by Nielsen Media Research.

The premiere of the Fox supernatural police drama “New Amsterdam” last Tuesday won its 9-10 p.m. time slot and finished sixth for the week with 13.5 million viewers, 47% of the 28.46 million who watched the “American Idol” episode preceding it.

A second episode of “New Amsterdam” Thursday drew 10.12 million viewers, finishing second in the 9-10 p.m. time slot and 15th for the week.

Four series that premiered a week earlier all experienced double-digit drops in their second outings.

The ABC competition series “Oprah’s Big Give” dropped 24% to 11.88 million to finish 10th for the week, after its premiere drew 15.68 million and finished fourth for the week.

Another ABC competition series, “Here Come the Newlyweds,” which follows “Oprah’s Big Give,” dropped 13% to 8.76 million, but still won its 10-11 p.m. time period.

The ABC newsmagazine “Primetime: What Would You Do?” plunged 23% to 5.89 million, finishing second in the Tuesday 10-11 p.m. time period behind a rerun of NBC’s “Law & Order: Special Victims Unit,” which drew 9.07 million viewers, but ahead of “Jericho” on CBS, which drew 5.67 million.

The Fox comedy “Unhitched” fell 11% to 5.14 million, finishing fourth in its time slot for the second consecutive week.

ESPN’s coverage of the Duke-North Carolina men’s basketball game was the week’s most watched program on cable, drawing 5.61 million viewers, which would have placed it 63rd on the broadcast networks’ list.--

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Here are the rankings for national prime-time network television last week (March 3-9) 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 28.46 2 American Idol (Wed.) FOX 28.32 3 American Idol (Thu.) FOX 26.50 4 Moment of Truth FOX 14.72 5 “20/20: The Royal Family” ABC 14.14 *--*

*--* 6 New Amsterdam (Tue.) FOX 13.49 7 Lost (9 p.m.) ABC 13.01 8 Survivor: Micronesia CBS 12.64 9 Extreme Makeover: Home Edition ABC 12.41 10 Oprah’s Big Give ABC 11.88 *--*

*--* 11 60 Minutes CBS 11.74 12 Deal or No Deal (Mon.) NBC 10.82 13 The Price Is Right Primetime CBS 10.30 14 NCIS CBS 10.25 15 New Amsterdam (Thu.) FOX 10.12 *--*

*--* 16 Two and a Half Men CBS 9.96 17 CSI CBS 9.71 18 Law & Order (Wed.) NBC 9.63 19 Without a Trace CBS 9.57 20 CSI: Miami CBS 9.35 *--*

*--* 21 Medium NBC 9.08 22 Law & Order: SVU (Tue.) NBC 9.06 23 Criminal Minds CBS 9.03 24 Deal or No Deal (Wed.) NBC 8.95 25 Apprentice 7 NBC 8.84 *--*

*--* 26 Here Come the Newlyweds ABC 8.76 27 Biggest Loser 5 NBC 8.62 Law & Order: SVU (Sun.) NBC 8.62 29 Dateline: NBC (Fri.) NBC 8.55 30 CSI: NY CBS 8.50 *--*

*--* 31 Old Christine CBS 8.35 32 Terminator: Sarah Connor Chronicles (9 p.m.) FOX 8.29 33 “Most Outrageous Moments” NBC 7.91 34 Cold Case CBS 7.84 35 Terminator: Sarah Connor Chronicles (8 p.m.) FOX 7.75 *--*

*--* 36 Family Guy FOX 7.49 37 Cops (8:30 p.m.) FOX 7.35 38 The Simpsons FOX 7.31 39 48 Hours Mystery CBS 7.27 40 My Dad Is Better Than Your Dad NBC 7.24 *--*

*--* 41 House FOX 7.22 42 Eli Stone ABC 7.14 43 Supernanny ABC 7.08 44 Numb3rs CBS 6.89 45 Ghost Whisperer CBS 6.74 *--*

*--* Law & Order: Criminal Intent NBC 6.74 (Wed.) 47 America’s Most FOX 6.69 Wanted 48 Bones FOX 6.66 49 Law & Order NBC 6.65 (Sun.) America’s Funniest Home Videos ABC 6.65 *--*

*--* 51 Dexter CBS 6.63 52 20/20 (8 p.m.) ABC 6.62 53 How I Met Your Mother CBS 6.56 54 Cops (8 p.m.) FOX 6.52 55 Big Brother 9 (Sun.) CBS 6.37 *--*

*--* 56 Law & Order (Sat.) NBC 6.33 57 Big Brother 9 (Tue.) CBS 6.25 King of the Hill (8:30 p.m.) FOX 6.25 59 Primetime: What Would You Do? ABC 5.89 60 Lipstick Jungle NBC 5.82 *--*

*--* 61 Men in Trees ABC 5.77 62 Jericho CBS 5.67 63 Big Brother 9 (Wed.) CBS 5.58 64 Law & Order: SVU (Sat.) NBC 5.57 65 According to Jim ABC 5.49 *--*

*--* 66 Welcome to the Captain CBS 5.47 67 Lost (8 p.m.) ABC 5.46 68 20/20 (9 p.m.) ABC 5.34 69 October Road ABC 5.30 70 Wife Swap ABC 5.16 *--*

*--* 71 Unhitched FOX 5.14 72 Crimetime Saturday CBS 5.13 73 Al Diablo con los Guapos UNI 5.03 (Mon.) 74 Al Diablo con los Guapos UNI 4.86 (Wed.) Al Diablo con los Guapos UNI 4.86 (Fri.) *--*

*--* 76 Friday Night Smackdown! CW 4.82 77 Al Diablo con los Guapos (Tue.) UNI 4.80 78 Al Diablo con los Guapos (Thu.) UNI 4.79 79 Just for Laughs (8 p.m.) ABC 4.71 80 Amnesia NBC 4.59 *--*

*--* 81 Just for Laughs (8:30 p.m.) ABC 4.54 82 “Premios Musical 08” UNI 4.25 83 “Road to Perdition” ABC 4.24 84 The Office NBC 4.19 85 Carpoolers ABC 4.00 *--*

*--* 86 Pasion (Fri.) UNI 3.74 87 Pasion (Wed.) UNI 3.73 88 Pasion (Tue.) UNI 3.60 Grey’s Anatomy ABC 3.60 90 Law & Order: Criminal Intent (Sat.) NBC 3.54 *--*

*--* 91 America’s Top Model 4 (Wed.) CW 3.52 Pasion (Mon.) UNI 3.52 93 Don Francisco Presenta UNI 3.51 94 American Dad FOX 3.22 95 Yo Amo Juan Querendon (Wed.) UNI 3.20 *--*

*--* 96 Yo Amo Juan Querendon (Tue.) UNI 3.09 97 Yo Amo Juan Querendon (Mon.) UNI 3.08 Yo Amo Juan Querendon (Thu.) UNI 3.08 99 Sabado Gigante UNI 3.02 100 Nuestra Belleza UNI 3.00 *--*

*--* 101 Cristina UNI 2.97 102 Noche de Estrellas UNI 2.95 103 One Tree Hill CW 2.93 104 Yo Amo Juan Querendon (Fri.) UNI 2.91 105 King of the Hill (7 p.m.) FOX 2.72 *--*

*--* 106 Amas de Casa Desesperadas UNI 2.64 *--*

Network averages

Here 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 12.12 11.50

CBS 8.09 10.65

NBC 7.54 8.58

ABC 7.32 9.36

UNI 3.69 3.53

CW 2.32 2.61 *--*