PRIME-TIME TV RANKINGS

In addition to being an optimist, Michael J. Fox is still a television star.

His special “Adventures of an Incurable Optimist” was watched by 10.2 million viewers, enough to put it on Nielsen Media Research’s list of the 20 most popular prime-time shows for last week. The Parkinson’s patient and former sitcom star (“Family Ties,” “Spin City”) explored the nature of positive thinking.

It helped ABC run neck-and-neck for second place with Fox for the weekly ratings released Tuesday. CBS remained dominant, as home to 11 of the 14 most-watched scripted shows in prime time last week.

Viewership for Sunday’s three-hour season finale of NBC’s “The Celebrity Apprentice” fell 27% from last season’s finale. It averaged 8.81 million viewers, finishing 33rd for the week. Despite the decline, the audience was NBC’s largest in the 8-11 p.m. Sunday time period since the Super Bowl.

The finale for the 14th season of CBS’ “The Amazing Race,” which ran opposite the first hour of “The Celebrity Apprentice,” won its 8-9 p.m. time slot with 10.49 million viewers, placing 19th for the week.

CBS had a dozen of the week’s 19 most-watched programs, making it the most-watched network for the 10th consecutive week and the 27th time in the season’s 33 weeks.

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Here are the rankings for national prime-time network television last week (May 4-10) 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 Net- work View- ers *--*

*--* 1 American Idol (Wed.) FOX 23.57 2 American Idol (Tue.) FOX 23.41 3 Dancing With the Stars ABC 20.28 4 NCIS CBS 16.72 5 The Mentalist CBS 16.68 *--*

*--* 6 Grey’s Anatomy (Thu., 9 p.m.) ABC 15.55 7 CSI CBS 14.91 8 Dancing With the Stars (results) ABC 14.56 9 Two and a Half Men CBS 14.17 10 Criminal Minds CBS 14.13 *--*

*--* 11 CSI: Miami CBS 13.72 12 CSI: NY CBS 13.40 13 Desperate Housewives ABC 12.29 14 House FOX 12.05 15 Survivor: Tocantins CBS 11.99 *--*

*--* 16 Cold Case CBS 11.84 17 Without a Trace CBS 11.83 18 Rules of Engagement CBS 11.33 19 The Amazing Race CBS 10.49 20 Michael J. Fox Special (Thu.) ABC 10.23 *--*

*--* 21 24 FOX 10.11 22 60 Minutes CBS 10.09 23 Castle ABC 9.97 24 Law & Order: SVU NBC 9.82 25 The Unit CBS 9.64 *--*

*--* 26 CSI (10 p.m.) CBS 9.58 27 Numb3rs CBS 9.57 28 Ghost Whisperer CBS 9.50 29 The Big Bang Theory CBS 9.25 30 Fringe FOX 9.24 *--*

*--* 31 The Biggest Loser NBC 9.13 32 How I Met Your Mother CBS 8.89 33 Celebrity Apprentice NBC 8.81 34 Bones FOX 8.75 Brothers & Sisters ABC 8.75 *--*

*--* 36 Lost ABC 8.70 37 Lie to Me FOX 8.67 38 Flashpoint CBS 8.62 39 Extreme Makeover: Home Edition (8 p.m.) ABC 8.16 40 Law & Order NBC 8.14 *--*

*--* 41 The Office NBC 7.84 42 Ugly Betty ABC 7.38 43 Medium NBC 7.24 44 America’s Funniest Home Videos ABC 7.00 45 NASCAR Sprint Cup FOX 6.67 *--*

*--* 46 Gary Unmarried CBS 6.66 47 Southland NBC 6.61 48 48 Hours Mystery CBS 6.55 49 Hell’s Kitchen FOX 6.50 50 The New Adventures of Old Christine CBS 6.45 *--*

*--* 51 Family Guy FOX 6.36 52 30 Rock NBC 6.13 53 Law & Order: Criminal Intent (Wed.) NBC 5.71 54 Manana Para Siempre (Tue.) UNI 5.44 55 Manana Para Siempre (Wed.) UNI 5.43 *--*

*--* 56 Manana Para Siempre (Mon.) UNI 5.23 57 Dateline (Fri.) NBC 5.23 58 Law & Order (Sat.) NBC 5.22 59 The Simpsons FOX 5.19 60 Cupid ABC 5.14 *--*

*--* 61 Scrubs (Wed., 8 p.m.) ABC 5.07 62 Manana Para Siempre (Thu.) UNI 5.06 63 20/20 (Fri.) ABC 5.02 64 Movie: “Happy Feet” ABC 5.01 65 Basketball playoffs (Sat.) ABC 4.96 *--*

*--* 66 American Dad FOX 4.88 67 Parks and Recreation NBC 4.72 68 The Unusuals ABC 4.63 69 Crimetime Saturday CBS 4.59 70 Law & Order: SVU (Wed., 9 p.m.) NBC 4.51 *--*

*--* 71 My Name Is Earl NBC 4.47 Gran Estreno (Sun.) UNI 4.47 73 Crimetime Saturday (8 p.m.) CBS 4.36 Deal or No Deal (Mon.) NBC 4.36 75 Manana Para Siempre (Fri.) UNI 4.35 *--*

*--* 76 Cuidado con el Angel (Wed.) UNI 4.30 77 Dateline (Sun., 7 p.m.) NBC 4.24 78 King of the Hill FOX 4.16 Cuidado con el Angel (Tue.) UNI 4.16 80 Cuidado con el Angel (Thu.) UNI 4.01 *--*

*--* 81 Cuidado con el Angel (Mon.) UNI 3.93 82 America’s Next Top Model CW 3.82 83 Southland (Sat.) NBC 3.75 84 Scrubs (Tue.) ABC 3.70 85 Mujeres Asesinas (Thu.) UNI 3.65 *--*

*--* 86 Law & Order: SVU (Sat.) NBC 3.51 87 Cuidado con el Angel (Fri.) UNI 3.40 88 Smallville CW 3.39 89 Tontas No Van Cielo (Wed.) UNI 3.20 90 Cristina (Mon.) UNI 3.17 *--*

*--* 91 Aqui Y Ahora (Tue.) UNI 3.07 Better Off Ted (Tue.) ABC 3.07 93 Don Francisco Presenta (Wed.) UNI 3.02 Tontas No Van Cielo (Thu.) UNI 3.02 95 Prison Break FOX 2.99 *--*

*--* 96 Rosa de Guadalupe (Fri.) UNI 2.98 97 Tontas No Van Cielo (Mon.) UNI 2.95 98 Tontas No Van Cielo (Tue.) UNI 2.94 99 Supernatural CW 2.79 100 Dollhouse FOX 2.70 *--*

*--* 101 Howie Do It (8 p.m.) NBC 2.67 102 Nuestra Belleza (Sun.) UNI 2.51 103 Tontas No Van Cielo (Fri.) UNI 2.35 104 Howie Do It (8:30 p.m.) NBC 2.31 105 American Dad (Sun., 7:30 p.m.) FOX 2.30 *--*

*--* 106 One Tree Hill (Mon.) CW 2.23 107 Gossip Girl (Mon.) CW 2.21 108 Basketball playoffs (Sat.) ABC 2.19 109 Sabado Gigante (Sat.) UNI 2.13 110 Reaper CW 1.89 *--*

*--* 111 90210 CW 1.84 112 The Game CW 1.82 113 Everybody Hates Chris CW 1.67 114 Sit Down, Shut Up FOX 1.55 115 Viva la Mama (Sat.) UNI 1.35 *--*

*--* 116 America’s Next Top Model (Encore) CW 1.14 117 90210 (Encore) CW 1.09 118 Movie: “The Spy Who Loved Me” CW 1.02 *--*

*--* 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 10.76 11.13 FOX 8.82 9.12 ABC 8.72 8.42 NBC 6.35 7.42 UNI 3.72 3.92 *--*