{alltv} CBS back on top in Nielsen ratings

NEW YORK (AP) — NBC may have talent, but CBS has virtually everything else that prime-time viewers are interested in these days.

The Nielsen Co.'s list of last week's top programs was led by the two showings of the NBC's "America's Got Talent" contest, as it has for much of the time it has been on the air this summer.

Sixteen of the next 18 shows on Nielsen's list were televised by CBS last week. They included three prime-time visits to the "Big Brother" household, version 13, and several reruns of crime dramas.

NBC did have an edge in reality show premieres last week, with "It's Worth What?" finishing just out of the top 10 at No. 11. CBS' "Same Name," with regular folks that have the same monikers as celebrities, was No. 33 in its first episode.

HBO's "Curb Your Enthusiasm" is showing strength, with Sunday's episode the most-watched edition of the comedy in more than seven years. "True Blood" also had a season high with 6.6 million viewers combined for its two Sunday showings, Nielsen said.

For the week, CBS averaged 6.3 million viewers in prime-time (4.1 rating, 7 share). NBC was second with 5 million (3.1, 6), ABC had 4.7 million (2.9, 5), Fox had 4 million (2.4, 4), ION Television had 1.1 million (0.7, 1) and the CW had 760,000 (0.5, 1).

Among the Spanish-language networks, Univision led with an average of 3.3 million viewers last week. Telemundo had 900,000 (0.5, 1), TeleFutura had 590,000 (0.3, 1), Estrella had 110,000 and Azteca 90,000 (both 0.1, 0).

NBC's "Nightly News" topped the evening newscasts with an average of 7.9 million viewers (5.1, 11). ABC's "World News" was second with 7.4 million (4.9, 10) and the "CBS Evening News" had 5.6 million viewers (3.7, 8).

A ratings point represents 1,147,000 households, or 1 percent of the nation's estimated 114.7 million TV homes. The share is the percentage of in-use televisions tuned to a given show.

For the week of July 18-24, the top 10 shows, their networks and viewerships: "America's Got Talent" (Tuesday), NBC, 13.04 million; "America's Got Talent" (Wednesday), NBC, 10.318 million; "NCIS," CBS, 10.318 million; "60 Minutes," CBS, 8.43 million; "NCIS: Los Angeles," CBS, 8.08 million; "The Bachelorette," ABC, 8 million; "CSI: Crime Scene Investigation," CBS, 7.34 million; "Big Brother 13" (Wednesday), CBS, 7.16 million; "Big Brother 13" (Sunday), CBS, 7.03 million; "Big Brother 13" (Thursday), CBS," 6.9 million.