Jeter, Bauer give Fox a strong week in TV ratings

NEW YORK (AP) — Fox can thank Derek Jeter and Jack Bauer for a strong week in the television ratings.

Last week’s telecast of the Major League Baseball All-Star Game was seen by 11.3 million viewers, a bigger audience than any of the last three editions of the midsummer classic. The game turned into a tribute to Jeter, the New York Yankees shortstop who is retiring after this season.

Action hero Bauer, portrayed by Kiefer Sutherland, led the final episode of the “24: Live Another Day” miniseries into the Nielsen company’s list of top 10 programs. An estimated 6.5 million people watched it last Monday.

Fox executive Peter Rice said over the weekend that he hasn’t talked to producers yet about another season of the franchise but sounds open to the idea, saying he thought “Live Another Day” was fantastic.

“I’ve always been a fan, and it just twisted and turned, and I could never guess where it was going,” Rice said.

Fox, which has been struggling over the past year, finished second in the ratings last week and won among the 18-to-49-year-old viewers it most actively seeks.

CBS’ lineup of limited-run shows “Extant” and “Under the Dome,” and the return of “Big Brother” for another season, gave the network the ratings win for week with an average of 5.4 million viewers in prime time.

Fox averaged 4.52 million, NBC had 4.5 million, ABC had 4.1 million, Univision had 3 million, Telemundo had 1.3 million and ION Television had 1.2 million.

TNT was the week’s most popular cable network, averaging 2.04 million viewers in prime time. USA had 1.98 million, Fox News Channel had 1.93 million, the Disney Channel had 1.92 million and History had 1.65 million.

NBC’s “Nightly News” topped the evening newscasts with an average of 7.8 million viewers. ABC’s “World News” was second with 7.4 million and the “CBS Evening News” had 6.2 million viewers.

For the week of July 14-20, the top 10 shows, their networks and viewerships: Major League Baseball All-Star Game: National vs. American, Fox, 11.34 million; “America’s Got Talent” (Tuesday), NBC, 8.53 million; “Extant,” CBS, 7.96 million; “NCIS,” CBS, 7.93 million; “60 Minutes,’ CBS, 7.9 million; “Under the Dome,” CBS, 7.64 million; “The Big Bang Theory,” CBS, 7.1 million; “The Bachelorette,” ABC, 6.91 million; “24: Live Another Day,” Fox, 6.47 million; “Unforgettable,” CBS, 6.39 million.

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ABC is owned by The Walt Disney Co. CBS is owned by CBS Corp. CW is a joint venture of Warner Bros. Entertainment and CBS Corp. Fox is owned by 21st Century Fox. NBC and Telemundo are owned by Comcast Corp. ION Television is owned by ION Media Networks.

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Online:

http://www.nielsen.com

Copyright 2014 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

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