TV Ratings: 'NCIS" Is At The Top

 The Nielsen company’s latest rankings of popular television and streaming shows have one thing in common — “NCIS” at the top, reports The Associated Press.

The CBS drama starring Mark Harmon as a Naval Criminal Investigative Service special agent has been on the air since 2003 and defines unhip. Yet the 8.7 million people who watched last Tuesday’s episode was a bigger audience than anything else in prime-time television last week, Nielsen said.

The company also measures streaming audiences, although its reports lag behind the television ratings. Its most recent week available was April 19-25, and an estimated 890 million minutes of “NCIS” reruns were streamed on Netflix that week. Streamers could choose from among a staggering 353 episodes.

The Disney+ Marvel miniseries, “The Falcon and the Winter Soldier,” was the second most-streamed show that week. Six episodes were available, and 796 million minutes of the show were streamed.

All of the other programs in Nielsen’s top 10 that week were on Netflix. They included the young adult fantasy series “Shadow and Bone,” the game show “The Circle,” the science fiction movie “Stowaway” starring Anna Kendrick, the old Nickelodeon comedy “Nicky, Ricky, Dicky and Dawn” and broadcast reruns “Grey’s Anatomy” and “Criminal Minds.”

CBS was the most popular broadcast network last week, averaging 4.6 million viewers in prime time. NBC had 3.7 million, ABC had 3.5 million, Fox had 2.6 million, Univision had 1.3 million and Telemundo had 1 million.

➤Top 20 Prime Times Shows (Total Viewers):

1. “NCIS,” CBS, 8.73 million.

2. “60 Minutes,” CBS, 8.26 million.

3. “FBI,” CBS, 7.59 million.

4. “The Equalizer,” CBS, 7.13 million.

5. “Chicago Fire,” NBC, 6.84 million.

6. “Chicago Med,” NBC, 6.62 million.

7. “American Idol,” ABC, 6.5 million.

8. “The Voice” (Monday), NBC, 6.19 million.

9. “NCIS: Los Angeles,” CBS, 6.18 million.

10. “911,” Fox, 5.93 million.

11. “Chicago PD,” NBC, 5.64 million.

12. NBA Playoffs: Golden State vs. L.A. Lakers, ESPN, 5.62 million.

13. “The Neighborhood,” CBS, 5.56 million.

14. “FBI: Most Wanted,” CBS, 5.48 million.

15. “The Voice” (Tuesday), NBC, 5.45 million.

16. “Bob Hearts Abishola,” CBS, 5.39 million.

17. “The Masked Singer,” Fox,, 5.23 million.

18. “911: Lone Star,” Fox, 5.2 million.

19. “NCIS: New Orleans,” CBS, 5.18 million.

20. “Bull,” CBS, 5.08 million.

ABC’s “World News Tonight” won the evening news ratings race, averaging 7.6 million viewers. NBC’s “Nightly News” had 6.2 million and the “CBS Evening News” had 4.7 million.

Fox News Channel was the most popular cable network with a 2.04 million average in prime time. MSNBC had 1.43 million, TNT had 1.39 million, ESPN had 1.38 million and HGTV had 1.12 million.

➤Basic Cable TV (Total Viewers)

➤Basic Cable TV (Viewers 25-54):

TV Newser reports Tucker Carlson Tonight drew the largest audience on cable news, an average of 2.9 million total viewers to go with 460,000 adults 25-54. TCT drew 3.2 million total viewers and 516,000 adults 25-54 the previous week.

Hannity finished in second, as has become the norm in recent months, followed by The Rachel Maddow Show, The Five, and The Ingraham Angle rounding out the top five.

Despite the victories, when compared with the previous week (May 10), Fox News slipped by -11% in average total prime time viewers, and fell -7% in the prime time demo. In total day, Fox News dropped -11% in total viewers, and -11% in adults 25-54.

CNN struggled in the ratings department even more. Cuomo Prime Time  and Don Lemon Tonight both saw their lowest-rated weeks of the year.