'American Idol' made up five of Fox's 15 hours last week, with its two-hour editions beating out the competition.
'Dancing With the Stars' two-hour finale swung ABC to a Sunday victory.
Fox's "American Idol" easily won its head-to-head ratings battles with the Olympic Games last week and helped carry the net to a victory for the frame in key demos.
Although the final week of the 2006 Winter Olympics lifted NBC to its third straight weekly triumph in total viewers, the Peacock became the first carrier of the Games to lose a full-week sesh in the key 18-49 demo.
Overall, according to Nielsen, Fox averaged a 6.6 rating/17 share in adults 18-49 to beat out NBC's 5.7/14, ABC's 4.0/10 and CBS' 3.0/8. Net also led in adults 25-54 (7.1/16, edging past NBC's 7.0/16) and persons 12-34 (5.7/17).
The Peacock did win in total viewers, with its average aud of 19.51 million the most for the net since the 2004 Athens Summer Olympics.
At Fox, "Idol" made up five of the net's 15 hours last week, with two-hour editions on Wednesday (13.5/33 in 18-49, 31.69m) and Tuesday (13.0/30, 30.16m) towering over its competish. The Wednesday score was the second best delivery ever on the night for "Idol," now in its fifth season.
Also, in Thursday's unprecedented 8 o'clock showdown pitting four unscripted competitions on the major nets (
Daily Variety, Feb. 27), a special "Idol" easily prevailed (9.9/24 in 18-49, 23.38m) -- giving Fox its best numbers in the timeslot since 1993.
Fox also got a strong tune-in Monday for a special firstrun "House" (5.3/13, 14.18m) and the hot "24" (5.7/12, 13.70m).
At NBC, the biggest night of the Olympics came Thursday with the women's figure skating final (8.1/20, 25.72m) although this repped a more than 40% decline from the same night four years ago in Salt Lake City.
Peacock, battling for every ratings scrap for an Olympics that established record-low scores, cooked the books some by eliminating 2½ hours of primetime from its ledgers. Net claimed the opening hour of Sunday as well as half-hour segs on three other nights as "non-sponsored network activity" because it purged national advertising from these lower-rated blocks.
Net maintains it met its ratings guarantee to advertisers, though, and as a result profited more than $60 million.
ABC enjoyed another huge Sunday by replacing "Extreme Makeover: Home Edition" and "Desperate Housewives" with a special two-hour finale of "Dancing With the Stars 2" (8.6/19, 27.23m). It ranked fifth among all programs for the week in 18-49 and 25-54, and No. 3 in total viewers.
It was a big finish to the week for "Dancing" host Tom Bergeron, who presided over Sunday's finale and Thursday's two-hour episode (4.9/12, 17.70m) as well as a special two-hour "America's Funniest Home Videos" on Friday (3.0/9, 9.4m). Add in the regular edition of "Videos" on Sunday and Bergeron fronted seven of the Alphabet's final 10 hours of the week.
Also, ABC's "Grey's Anatomy" was the week's No. 1 scripted program for a second straight week (10.8/25, 24.76m).
CBS placed fourth for a second straight sesh. While the net aired new segs of "Survivor," 14 of its 16 crime hours last week were repeats, including special episodes of "CSI" on Tuesday and Sunday.
Despite mega competition in its slot, "Survivor: Exile Island" (5.5/14 in 18-49, 14.84m) ranked 10th for the frame in 18-49.
It was a quiet week at the weblets, with the WB edging out UPN in adults 18-34 (1.2 to 1.1).
Both nets were soundly beaten by Spanish-language broadcaster Univision (2.2 in 18-34), which was crowing about edging out CBS (2.1) in the category -- the first time it has beaten one of the four major nets in any key adult demo since Nielsen began including it in its weekly tallies a couple of months ago.
Thursday's telecast of "Premio lo nuestro" (Latin Music Awards) averaged 6.1 million viewers overall to pace the net.
On the cable side, the biggest story of the week was the huge turnout on Monday for Nickelodeon's special "Lost in Time" episode of "SpongeBob SquarePants." Half-hour seg averaged 8.56 million viewers, including about 5.2 million in the kids 2-11 demo, making it the year's No. 2 program in that category behind only the Super Bowl on ABC.
TNT, getting a lift from weekend repeats of "Armageddon," led cablers in primetime in the 18-49 and 25-54 categories as well as total viewers.
Outside of USA's Monday wrestling program, the week's top primetime cable draw in 18-49 was VH1's "Flavor of Love" (1.7/5, 3.51m) -- the highest-rated regular program in net history. "Celebrity Fit Club 3" also did well (1.3/3, 2.62m), making for the most-watched night ever for VH1.
Contact Rick Kissell at
rick.kissell@variety.com