NBC’s “America’s Got Talent” claimed the top spot in Nielsen’s ranking of primetime broadcast TV programs for Tuesday, September 2.
The telecast drew an average audience of almost 10.8 million viewers, while CBS’s “NCIS” and FOX’s “House” were ranked second and third, respectively, with just under 8.2 million and almost 7.8 million average viewers each.
Coverage of the second night of the Republican National Convention on NBC also made the top ten.

RANK
NAME
NETWORK
VIEWERS (P2+)

1
AMERICA’S GOT TALENT
NBC
10,772,000

2
NCIS
CBS
8,168,000

3
HOUSE
FOX
7,753,000

4
BIG BROTHER 10-TUE
CBS
6,456,000

5
WIPEOUT
ABC
5,839,000

6
AL DIABLO CON GUAPOS TUE
UNI
5,834,000

7
FUEGO EN LA SANGRE TUE
UNI
5,468,000

8
HOUSE-TUE 8P
FOX
4,964,000

9
90210
CW
4,651,000

10
DECISION ‘08 REP CONV TUE(S)-09/02/2008
NBC
4,509,000

Source: The Nielsen …

 NBC’s “Deal or No Deal” and “America’s Toughest Jobs” were the number one- and number three-ranked primetime telecasts on broadcast TV for Monday, September 1, 2008.
CBS’s special edition of “Two and a Half Men” was sandwiched between the two, in second place.
CBS’s coverage of Hurricane Gustav also made the top ten.

RANK
NAME
NETWORK
VIEWERS (P2+)

1
DEAL OR NO DEAL-MON
NBC
10,964,000

2
TWO AND A HALF MEN-SPC(S)-09/01/2008
CBS
7,834,000

3
AMERICA’S TOUGHEST JOBS
NBC
7,139,000

4
PRISON BREAK
FOX
6,531,000

5
OLD CHRISTINE-SPC(S)-09/01/2008
CBS
5,950,000

6
AL DIABLO CON GUAPOS MON
UNI
5,531,000

7
FUEGO EN LA SANGRE MON
UNI
5,163,000

8
HOW I MET YOUR MOTHER-SPC(S)-09/01/2008
CBS
4,748,000

9
BIG BANG THEORY, THE-SPCL(S)-09/01/2008
CBS
4,737,000

10
CBS NEWS SP:GUSTAV-R.CONV(S)-09/01/2008
CBS
4,019,000

Source: The Nielsen Company (September 1, 2008)

Overall, NBC won the night …

Back-to-back special episodes of FOX’s “Are You Smarter Than a Fifth Grader?” were the number one- and number three-ranked primetime telecasts on broadcast TV for Friday, August 29, 2008.
CBS’s “Numbers” was sandwiched between the two, in second place.

RANK
NAME
NETWORK
VIEWERS (P2+)

1
SMARTER THAN 5TH 8/29-9P(S)-08/29/2008
FOX
5,602,000

2
NUMB3RS 9PM
CBS
5,231,000

3
SMARTER THAN 5TH 8/29-8P(S)-08/29/2008
FOX
4,823,000

4
AL DIABLO CON GUAPOS FRI
UNI
4,654,000

5
20/20-FRI
ABC
4,579,000

6
GHOST WHISPERER
CBS
4,427,000

7
DATELINE FRI
NBC
4,397,000

8
FUEGO EN LA SANGRE FRI
UNI
4,301,000

9
FRIDAY NIGHT SMACKDOWN
CW
3,703,000

10
SWINGTOWN
CBS
3,650,000

Source: The Nielsen Company (August 29, 2008)

Overall, FOX won the night with an average audience of just over 5.2 million viewers, while CBS took second place with almost 4.5 million average viewers. Univision …

NBC’s broadcast of the 2008 Beijing Olympics again claimed the top slot in Nielsen’s ranking of primetime telecasts for Friday, August 22, 2008.
CBS’s “NFL Pre-Season Special” and FOX’s “Are You Smarter Than A Fifth Grader?” rounded out the top three.

RANK
NAME
NETWORK
VIEWERS (P2+)

1
SUM OLYM FRI PRIME 2(S)-08/22/2008
NBC
17,876,000

2
NFL PRE-SEASON(S)-08/22/2008
CBS
4,825,000

3
SMARTER THAN 5TH 8/22-9P(S)-08/22/2008
FOX
4,120,000

4
FUEGO EN LA SANGRE FRI
UNI
4,094,000

5
AL DIABLO CON GUAPOS FRI
UNI
4,006,000

6
20/20-FRI
ABC
3,844,000

7
SMARTER THAN 5TH 8/22-8P(S)-08/22/2008
FOX
3,843,000

8
ABC FRI MOVIE OF THE WK
ABC
3,790,000

9
FRIDAY NIGHT SMACKDOWN
CW
3,617,000

10
ROSA DE GUADALUPE FRI
UNI
2,700,000

Source: The Nielsen Company (August 22, 2008)

Overall, NBC won the night with an average audience of almost 17.9 million viewers, while …

NBC’s broadcast of the 2008 Beijing Olympics again claimed the top slot in Nielsen’s ranking of primetime telecasts for Friday, August 15, 2008.
ABC’s “20-20” and CBS’s “Ghost Whisperer” rounded out the top three.

RANK
NAME
NETWORK
VIEWERS (P2+)

1
SUM OLYM FRI PRIME 1(S)-08/15/2008
NBC
26,071,000

2
20/20-FRI
ABC
5,523,000

3
GHOST WHISPERER
CBS
4,911,000

4
NUMB3RS 9PM
CBS
4,671,000

5
AL DIABLO CON GUAPOS FRI
UNI
4,246,000

6
FRIDAY NIGHT SMACKDOWN
CW
4,237,000

7
FUEGO EN LA SANGRE FRI
UNI
3,998,000

8
ABC FRI MOVIE OF THE WK
ABC
3,892,000

9
NFL ON FOX PRESEASON 2(S)-08/15/2008
FOX
3,534,000

10
SWINGTOWN
CBS
3,240,000

Source: The Nielsen Company (August 15, 2008)

Overall, NBC won the night with an average audience of just under 26.1 million viewers, while ABC took second place with 4.4 million average viewers.  CBS …

NBC’s broadcast of the 2008 Beijing Olympics claimed the top slot in Nielsen’s ranking of primetime telecasts for Monday, August 11, 2008.
CBS’s “Two and a Half Men” and “CSI: Miami” rounded out the top three.

RANK
NAME
NETWORK
VIEWERS (P2+)

1
SUM OLYM MON PRIME 1(S)-08/11/2008
NBC
30,173,000

2
TWO AND A HALF MEN
CBS
8,068,000

3
CSI: MIAMI
CBS
6,305,000

4
OLD CHRISTINE
CBS
5,628,000

5
AL DIABLO CON GUAPOS MON
UNI
5,112,000

6
FUEGO EN LA SANGRE MON
UNI
4,849,000

7
HOW I MET YOUR MOTHER
CBS
4,819,000

8
BIG BANG THEORY, THE
CBS
4,623,000

9
TERMINATOR:SCC SP-8/11 9P(S)-08/11/2008
FOX
2,767,000

10
CRISTINA MON
UNI
2,573,000

Source: The Nielsen Company (August 11, 2008)

Overall, NBC won the night with an average audience of 30.1 million viewers, while CBS took second place with 5.9 million …

NBC’s broadcast of the 2008 Beijing Olympics Opening Ceremony claimed the top slot in Nielsen’s ranking of primetime telecasts for Friday, August 8, 2008.
The Games’ Opening Ceremony drew 34.9 million viewers — the largest U.S. television audience of any Summer Games Opening Ceremony in more than a decade.  Only the 1996 Atlanta Summer Games (39.8 million viewers) attracted a larger number of U.S. viewers.

RANK
NAME
NETWORK
VIEWERS (P2+)

1
SUM OLYM OPEN CEREM(S)-08/08/2008
NBC
34,891,000

2
AL DIABLO CON GUAPOS FRI
UNI
4,319,000

3
FUEGO EN LA SANGRE FRI
UNI
4,091,000

4
GHOST WHISPERER
CBS
3,773,000

5
NUMB3RS 9PM
CBS
3,728,000

6
FRIDAY NIGHT SMACKDOWN
CW
3,642,000

7
ABC FRI MOVIE OF THE WK
ABC
2,977,000

8
SWINGTOWN
CBS
2,825,000

9
ROSA DE GUADALUPE FRI
UNI
2,681,000

10
FOX MOVIE-FRIDAY
FOX
2,247,000

Source: The …

For the second Friday in a row, CBS’s “Numbers” and “Ghost Whisperer” were, respectively, the number one- and number three-ranked primetime telecasts on broadcast TV.
NBC’s “Dateline” was again sandwiched between the two, in second place.  The network’s back-to-back telecasts of “Most Outrageous Moments,” which claimed the 5th and 10th spots, also made the top ten.

RANK
NAME
NETWORK
VIEWERS (P2+)

1
NUMB3RS 9PM
CBS
6,107,000

2
DATELINE FRI
NBC
5,550,000

3
GHOST WHISPERER
CBS
4,986,000

4
20/20-FRI
ABC
4,169,000

5
MOST OUTRG MOMENTS 830P
NBC
4,155,000

6
SWINGTOWN
CBS
4,062,000

7
FRIDAY NIGHT SMACKDOWN
CW
4,020,000

8
AL DIABLO CON GUAPOS FRI
UNI
3,839,000

9
FUEGO EN LA SANGRE FRI
UNI
3,530,000

10
MOST OUTRG MOMENTS 8P
NBC
3,519,000

Source: The Nielsen Company (August 1, 2008)

Overall, CBS won the night with an average audience of …