“NCIS,” “Bang” Season Finales Propel CBS To Ratings Victory; Nielsen Week In Review
This image released by CBS shows, from left, Kaley Cuoco, Mayim Bialik, Mark Hamill, Jim Parsons and Johnny Galecki in a scene from “The Big Bang Theory.” The Nielsen company said Tuesday that both “NCIS,” and “The Big Bang Theory” reached more than 15 million viewers last week, far above any other shows on the air last week. (Michael Yarish/CBS via AP)
  • NEW YORK (AP)
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CBS soared in the ratings with major plot moves on the season finales of its two most popular shows.

On the comedy “The Big Bang Theory,” Sheldon and Amy’s characters tied the knot, while Pauley Perrette’s character, Abby, signed off from “NCIS” after a decade and a half with the drama. Both programs reached more than 15 million viewers last week, well above any other show on the air, the Nielsen company said.

With the television season coming to an end — and networks presenting next season’s schedules to advertisers in New York this week — broadcasters ran almost exclusively original programs last week.

Of the 20 most-watched shows, 13 were on CBS and four were on ABC. NBC had three, with two of them editions of “The Voice.”

That led CBS to an easy victory in the primetime ratings, as the network averaged 7.1 million viewers. NBC (4.46 million) and ABC (4.44 million) ran neck-and-neck for second. Fox had 2.6 million, Univision had 1.4 million, ION Television had 1.2 million, Telemundo had 1.1 million and the CW had 1 million.

TNT was the most popular cable network, taking advantage of the NBA playoffs to average 2.74 million viewers in primetime. Fox News Channel had 2.43 million, MSNBC had 1.62 million, HGTV had 1.24 million and USA was at 1.19 million.

ABC’s “World News Tonight” topped the evening newscasts with an average of 7.6 million viewers. The “NBC Nightly News” had 7.4 million and the “CBS Evening News” had 5.6 million.

Below are primetime viewership numbers compiled by Nielsen for May 7-13. Listings include the week’s ranking and viewership.

1. “The Big Bang Theory,” CBS, 15.51 million.
2. “NCIS,” CBS, 15.09 million.
3. “Young Sheldon,” CBS, 12.45 million.
4. “Bull,” CBS, 11.78 million.
5. “Roseanne,” ABC, 10.3 million.
6. “Mom,” CBS, 9.08 million.
7. “Blue Bloods,” CBS, 8.88 million.
8. “60 Minutes,” CBS, 8.65 million.
9. “American Idol” (Sunday), ABC, 8.53 million.
10. “The Voice” (Monday), NBC, 8.38 million.
11. “NCIS: New Orleans,” CBS, 8.14 million.
12. “Mom” (Thursday, 9:30 p.m.), CBS, 7.99 million.
13. “Survivor,” CBS, 7.75 million.
14. “Dancing With the Stars: Athletes,” ABC, 7.73 million.
15. “60 Minutes” (Sunday, 8 p.m.), CBS, 7.43 million.
16. “Grey’s Anatomy,” ABC, 7.35 million.
17. “NCIS: Los Angeles,” CBS, 7.32 million.
18. “The Voice” (Tuesday), NBC, 7.26 million.
19. “Hawaii Five-0,” CBS, 7.09 million.
20. “Chicago P.D.,” NBC, 6.35 million.

ABC is owned by The Walt Disney Co.; CBS is a division of CBS Corp.; Fox is owned by 21st Century Fox; NBC is owned by NBC Universal.

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