PRIME-TIME TV RANKINGS

The ABC comedy “Surviving Suburbia” was the most-watched of last week’s five network premieres, thanks in large measure to following “Dancing With the Stars,” while the NBC police drama “Southland” did the best job of retaining viewers from the program preceding it.

“Surviving Suburbia” drew 11.25 million viewers for its premiere last Monday, the most for a comedy debut since “Samantha Who?” on Oct. 15, 2007, and 15th among all programs broadcast between April 6 and Sunday, according to figures released Tuesday by Nielsen Media Research. “Surviving Suburbia” retained 56.5% of the 19.88 million viewers who watched the 92-minute “Dancing With the Stars” competition program that preceded it.

The premiere of the CBS murder-mystery “Harper’s Island” won its Thursday 10-11 p.m. time slot with 10.21 million viewers, putting it 20th for the week. “Southland,” which ran opposite it, drew 9.86 million viewers, finishing 23rd.

But “Southland” actually increased its audience by 44% over the show that preceded it, the comedy “30 Rock,” while “Harper’s Island” lost 38% of the 16.63 million viewers who watched “CSI: Crime Scene Investigation” preceding it. The percentage of viewers a program retains is a key factor in determining whether it will be renewed.

NBC’s other Thursday premiere, “Parks and Recreation,” was third in its 8:30-9 p.m. time slot and 42nd for the week with 6.88 million viewers. The week’s other premiere, ABC’s “The Unusuals,” was second in its Wednesday 10-11 p.m. time slot and 43rd for the week with 6.83 million viewers.

CBS was the most-watched network for the sixth consecutive week and 23rd time in the season’s 29 weeks, averaging 11.43 million viewers for its prime-time programming.

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Here are the rankings for national prime-time network television last week (April 6-12) 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.

Nielsen

*--* Program Network Viewers 1 American Idol (results) FOX 22.98 2 American Idol FOX 22.81 3 Dancing With the Stars ABC 19.88 4 NCIS CBS 17.81 5 NCAA basketball: Michigan State vs. North CBS 17.65 Carolina *--*

*--* 6 The Mentalist CBS 16.92 7 CSI CBS 16.62 8 Dancing With the Stars (results) ABC 14.56 9 Criminal Minds CBS 13.61 10 House FOX 13.29 *--*

*--* 11 60 Minutes CBS 12.82 12 CSI: NY CBS 12.50 13 Without a Trace CBS 12.15 Prelude to a Championship CBS 12.15 15 Surviving Suburbia ABC 11.25 *--*

*--* 16 Survivor: Tocantins CBS 11.24 17 24 FOX 10.96 18 Amazing Race 14 CBS 10.57 19 Cold Case CBS 10.56 20 Harper’s Island CBS 10.21 *--*

*--* 21 Ghost Whisperer CBS 10.08 22 Fringe FOX 9.88 23 Southland NBC 9.86 24 Numb3rs CBS 9.80 25 Flashpoint CBS 9.77 *--*

*--* 26 Extreme Makeover: Home Edition ABC 9.55 27 Law & Order: SVU NBC 9.26 28 The Unit CBS 9.05 29 Castle ABC 9.03 30 Bones FOX 9.01 *--*

*--* 31 Lost ABC 8.56 Lie to Me FOX 8.56 33 Biggest Loser NBC 8.10 34 The Celebrity Apprentice NBC 8.07 35 The Office NBC 8.02 *--*

*--* 36 Hell’s Kitchen FOX 7.54 37 The Office (8 p.m.) NBC 7.32 38 Gary Unmarried CBS 7.24 39 Medium NBC 7.17 The New Adventures of Old Christine CBS 7.17 *--*

*--* 41 The Big Bang Theory CBS 6.94 42 Parks and Recreation NBC 6.88 43 The Unusuals ABC 6.82 44 30 Rock NBC 6.81 45 Movie: “The Ten Commandments” ABC 6.62 *--*

*--* 46 Dateline (Sun.) NBC 6.45 47 America’s Funniest Home Videos ABC 6.19 48 Heroes NBC 6.11 49 How I Met Your Mother CBS 6.10 Chuck NBC 6.10 *--*

*--* 51 Manana Para Siempre (Tue.) UNI 5.91 52 20/20 (Fri.) ABC 5.90 53 Manana Para Siempre (Mon.) UNI 5.72 54 Cupid ABC 5.71 55 Manana Para Siempre (Wed.) UNI 5.62 *--*

*--* 56 Manana Para Siempre (Thu.) UNI 5.44 Law & Order (8 p.m.) NBC 5.44 58 Family Guy FOX 5.32 59 Supernanny ABC 5.28 60 Law & Order (Sat.) NBC 5.21 *--*

*--* 61 Cuidado con el Angel (Tue.) UNI 5.19 62 Crimetime Saturday CBS 5.16 Cuidado con el Angel (Mon.) UNI 5.16 64 Grey’s Anatomy ABC 5.12 65 48 Hours Mystery CBS 5.11 *--*

*--* 66 Cuidado con el Angel (Wed.) UNI 5.06 67 America’s Most Wanted: America Fights Back FOX 4.94 68 Cops (8:30 p.m.) FOX 4.91 69 Dateline (Fri.) NBC 4.84 70 Samantha Who? ABC 4.83 *--*

*--* 71 The Simpsons FOX 4.75 72 Law & Order NBC 4.64 73 Cuidado con el Angel (Thu.) UNI 4.63 74 Life NBC 4.60 75 Scrubs ABC 4.56 *--*

*--* 76 In the Motherhood ABC 4.51 77 American Dad FOX 4.50 78 Wife Swap ABC 4.42 79 Desperate Housewives ABC 4.36 It’s the Easter Beagle, Charlie Brown ABC 4.36 *--*

*--* 81 Manana Para Siempre (Fri.) UNI 4.30 82 Private Practice ABC 4.22 Don Francisco Presenta UNI 4.22 84 King of the Hill FOX 4.21 85 Cops FOX 4.09 *--*

*--* 86 Friday Night Lights NBC 4.08 87 Better Off Ted ABC 4.04 88 Crimetime Saturday (8 p.m.) CBS 3.92 89 Howie Do It NBC 3.77 90 Howie Do It (8:30 p.m.) NBC 3.72 *--*

*--* 91 America’s Next Top Model CW 3.69 92 Las Tontas No Van al Cielo (Tue.) UNI 3.62 93 Cristina (Mon.) UNI 3.61 *--*

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 11.4 11.25

FOX 9.03 9.15

ABC 7.72 8.45

NBC 6.23 7.58

UNI 3.91 3.94 *--*