Three 'Law & Orders' in Nielsen top 10
'Idol' No. 1, but NBC wins week behind crime series
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"Law & Order," with Jerry Orbach and Jesse L. Martin, was one of three "L&O" shows in the top 10.
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NIELSENS | Prime-time ratings compiled by Nielsen Media Research for March 24-30.
1. "American Idol-Tuesday," Fox, 19.8 million homes
2. "American Idol-Wednesday," Fox, 19 million homes
3. "Survivor: Amazon," CBS, 16.7 million homes
4. "Law & Order," NBC, 16.5 million homes
5. "Law & Order: Special Victims Unit," NBC, 15.8 million homes
6. "Friends, (tied)", NBC, 15.6 million homes
6. "Fear Factor, (tied)" NBC, 15.6 million homes
8. "Everybody Loves Raymond," CBS, 15 million homes
9. "Law & Order: Criminal Intent," NBC, 14.5 million homes
10. "Wanda at Large," Fox, 14.3 million homes.
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NEW YORK (AP) -- Television viewers seeking relief from war news made Fox's "American Idol" last week's most popular program.
Both episodes of the contest were seen by more than 19 million people, Nielsen Media Research said Tuesday. The new Fox comedy, "Wanda at Large," had a strong debut largely because it was shown directly after Wednesday's "American Idol."
NBC won the week's prime-time ratings crown, however, on the strength of the "Law & Order" franchise. Three separate "Law & Order" shows finished among the week's 10 most popular programs, Nielsen said.
Viewers seemed to be looking for more escapist fare, as no news shows cracked the top 10. CBS' "60 Minutes" and "60 Minutes II" were 13th and 14th, respectively.
Koppel beats Leno, Letterman
Meanwhile, some late-night ratings gave folks at ABC and CBS reasons to smile.
With host Ted Koppel embedded with the military in Iraq, "Nightline" was television's most popular late-night program for the week of March 17 (ratings information for late-night lags behind prime-time shows). It was a rare instance where the news program beat both Jay Leno and David Letterman's talk shows.
A preliminary estimate also showed that Letterman drew his second biggest audience of the year Monday for his return after being out five weeks because of shingles. His most popular show of the year was his visit with nemesis Dr. Phil.
For the week in prime time, NBC averaged 11.2 million viewers (7.5 rating, 12 share), CBS averaged 10.5 million (7.0, 11), Fox had 9.6 million (5.7, 9), and won among the 18- to 49-year-old demographic advertisers crave. ABC had 8.4 million (5.5, 9); the WB, 3.4 million (2.2, 3); UPN, 3.3 million (2.1, 3); and Pax TV, 1.1 million (0.8, 1).
NBC's "Nightly News" won the evening news ratings race, averaging 11.2 million viewers (8.0 rating, 15 share). ABC's "World News Tonight" was second, averaging 10.3 million viewers (7.3, 14) and the "CBS Evening News" had 8 million (5.9, 11).
A ratings point represents 1,067,000 households, or 1 percent of the nation's estimated 106.7 million TV homes. The share is the percentage of in-use televisions tuned to a given show.
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