PRIME-TIME TV RANKINGS

At a time when new broadcast series have struggled to find viewers, the ABC relationship series “Dating in the Dark” drew the most viewers for a premiere this summer.

“Dating in the Dark” was second in its 10-11 p.m. time slot July 20 among all programs broadcast on the five major broadcast networks between July 20 and Sunday, with 6.15 million viewers, according to figures released Tuesday by Nielsen Media Research.

“Dating in the Dark” retained 76% of the 8.04 million viewers who watched the two-hour “The Bachelorette: The Men Tell All” that preceded it. “The Bachelorette: The Men Tell All” was ABC’s most-watched program of the week, finishing 10th overall.

CBS was the most-watched network for the seventh time in the nine weeks of television’s summer season, averaging 6.22 million viewers for its prime-time programming. NBC was second and Fox was third.

An episode of USA Network’s “Burn Notice” was the week’s most-watched cable program with 6.8 million viewers, which would have placed it 17th among the programs on the five major broadcast networks.

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Here are the rankings for national prime-time network television last week (July 20-26) 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 America’s Got Talent (Tue.) NBC 13.75 2 America’s Got Talent (Wed., 9 p.m.) NBC 11.26 3 NCIS CBS 9.72 4 The Mentalist CBS 9.61 5 Two and a Half Men CBS 9.31 *--*

*--* 6 The Big Bang Theory CBS 8.79 7 CSI: Miami CBS 8.52 8 So You Think You Can Dance (Thu.) FOX 8.42 9 America’s Got Talent (Tue., 8 p.m.) NBC 8.27 10 The Bachelorette ABC 8.04 *--*

*--* 11 CSI CBS 7.81 12 Law & Order: SVU NBC 7.49 13 So You Think You Can Dance (Wed.) FOX 7.36 14 60 Minutes CBS 7.34 15 CSI: NY CBS 7.29 *--*

*--* 16 Hell’s Kitchen (Tue., 9 p.m.) FOX 6.95 17 Criminal Minds CBS 6.53 18 Wipeout ABC 6.43 19 Big Brother (Thu.) CBS 6.39 20 Dating in the Dark ABC 6.15 *--*

*--* 21 Hell’s Kitchen FOX 6.09 22 Big Brother (Sun.) CBS 6.08 23 Without a Trace CBS 5.96 24 Big Brother (Tue.) CBS 5.72 25 Bones FOX 5.60 *--*

*--* 26 Dateline (Sun., 7 p.m.) NBC 5.42 Cold Case CBS 5.42 28 America’s Funniest Home Videos ABC 5.41 29 Numb3rs CBS 5.29 30 Copa Oro 2009: Costa Rica vs. Mexico UNI 5.28 *--*

*--* 31 How I Met Your Mother CBS 5.14 32 Extreme Makeover: Home Edition (8 p.m.) ABC 5.13 33 Rules of Engagement CBS 5.04 34 Movie: “The Storm” (Sun.) NBC 4.90 35 Primetime: Family Secrets ABC 4.85 *--*

*--* 36 48 Hours Mystery CBS 4.83 37 Are You Smarter Than a Fifth Grader? FOX 4.78 38 Dateline (Fri.) NBC 4.76 39 The Philanthropist NBC 4.64 40 Manana es Para Siempre (Wed.) UNI 4.63 *--*

*--* 41 Cops 2 FOX 4.59 America’s Most Wanted: America Fights Back FOX 4.59 43 Flashpoint CBS 4.55 44 Law & Order: SVU (Sat.) NBC 4.50 45 House FOX 4.48 *--*

*--* 46 Manana es Para Siempre (Tue.) UNI 4.39 Manana es Para Siempre (Mon.) UNI 4.39 48 Merlin NBC 4.29 49 Law & Order: Criminal Intent NBC 4.28 50 Ghost Whisperer CBS 4.23 *--*

*--* 51 20/20 (Fri.) ABC 4.10 52 Manana es Para Siempre (Fri.) UNI 4.00 Medium CBS 4.00 54 Manana es Para Siempre (Thu.) UNI 3.91 55 I Survived a Japanese Game Show ABC 3.76 *--*

*--* 56 Cops FOX 3.72 57 Lie to Me (Mon., 9 p.m.) FOX 3.71 58 Mental (Fri., 9 p.m.) FOX 3.68 59 Wipeout (Sat., 8 p.m.) ABC 3.50 60 Great American Road Trip NBC 3.46 *--*

*--* 61 Listener NBC 3.44 62 Samantha Who? ABC 3.43 63 En Nombre del Amor (Tue.) UNI 3.39 64 Aqui y Ahora (Tue.) UNI 3.36 65 Cristina (Mon.) UNI 3.30 *--*

*--* 66 En Nombre del Amor (Thu.) UNI 3.30 67 En Nombre del Amor (Mon.) UNI 3.27 68 30 Rock (8 p.m.) NBC 3.21 69 Samantha Who? (Thu.) ABC 3.19 70 En Nombre del Amor (Wed.) UNI 3.17 *--*

*--* 71 The Superstars ABC 3.15 72 Law & Order: CI (Sat.) NBC 3.13 73 En Nombre del Amor (Fri.) UNI 3.12 74 The Office NBC 2.98 75 Wanted (Mon.) NBC 2.97 *--*

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 CBS 6.21 10.19

NBC 5.06 6.87

Fox 4.96 8.3

ABC 7.02 7.65

UNI 2.95 3.77 *--*