Viewers are watching ‘NCIS,’ ‘60 Minutes’ and NBA playoffs

“NCIS” joined “FBI” as the only scripted programs to top the ratings in the 33-week-old 2021-22 prime-time television season, and “60 Minutes” was last week’s only other prime-time program to average more than 7 million viewers.

CBS had each of the top four prime-time programs between May 2 and Sunday, led by “NCIS,” which averaged 7.269 million viewers, according to live-plus-same-day figures released by Nielsen Tuesday. “FBI,” the only other scripted program to finish first in the weekly ratings this season, did so the week of April 11-17.

“60 Minutes” was second, averaging 7.111 million viewers. “The Equalizer” averaged 6.456 million viewers in the timeslot after “60 Minutes.” The Season 12 finale of the police drama “Blue Bloods” finished fourth, averaging 6.227 million viewers, which was the most among programs beginning at 10 p.m.

ABC’s coverage of the Golden State Warriors’ 142-112 victory over the Memphis Grizzlies Saturday in Game 3 of their Western Conference semifinal series was fifth, averaging 6.095 million viewers, the most among prime-time sporting events.

It was the second time in 11 weeks that a program other than “American Idol” has been ABC’s weekly ratings leader. The other exception was the week ABC aired the Oscars.

The hourlong Monday “American Idol” episode was sixth for the week, averaging 5.821 million, while the two-hour Sunday episode was eighth, averaging 5.516 million.

CBS had seven of the week’s top 10 programs to finish first for the 11th time in the 11 weeks following the conclusion of NBC’s coverage of the Winter Olympics, and the 17th time in the season, averaging 4.19 million viewers.

ABC was second for the 10th time in 11 weeks, averaging 3.74 million viewers. NBC was third among the broadcast networks for the 10th time in 11 weeks, averaging 2.77 million viewers, and also trailed the most-watched cable network, TNT, which averaged 2.845 million, thanks to its coverage of the NBA playoffs.

With NBC airing reruns of its three “Chicago” series for the second consecutive week, its top-ranked program was “Law & Order: Special Victims Unit,” 16th for the week, averaging 4.903 million viewers.

Fox averaged 2.08 million viewers, topped by the procedural drama “9-1-1,” 14th for the week averaging 5.104 million viewers. The drama has been Fox’s ratings leader all six times an original episode has aired since March 21.

The CW averaged 400,000 viewers. The superhero drama “Superman & Lois” was The CW’s biggest draw for the seventh time among its 11 original episodes this season, averaging 730,000 viewers, 148th among broadcast programs.

The 20 most watched prime-time programs consisted of 11 programs that aired on CBS — nine scripted series episodes, “60 Minutes” and the unscripted series “Survivor”; three NBA playoff games, two on TNT and one on ABC; three ABC programs — two “American Idol” episodes and “America’s Funniest Home Videos”; NBC’s “Law & Order: Special Victims Unit” and “This Is Us”; and Fox’s “9-1-1.”

The top-ranked cable program was TNT’s coverage of Memphis’ 106-101 victory over Golden State in Game 2 of their series last Tuesday, which averaged 5.322 million viewers, 10th for the week.

NBA playoff coverage made TNT the top-rated cable network for the second time in three weeks, averaging 2.845 million viewers. Fox News Channel dropped one spot to second, averaging 2.25 million viewers.

ESPN was third for the fourth consecutive week, averaging 1.383 million; it was the only other cable network to average more than 1 million viewers for its prime-time programming.

The cable top 20 consisted of 10 Fox News Channel political talk shows — five broadcasts of “Tucker Carlson Tonight,” four of “Hannity” and one of “The Ingraham Angle”; nine NBA playoff games, seven on TNT and two on ESPN; and History’s long-running chronicle of a search for treasure on a Canadian island, “The Curse of Oak Island.”

The fourth and final season of the crime drama “Ozark” was Netflix’s most-streamed English-language program for the second consecutive week, with viewers spending 102.1 million hours watching the 14 episodes, 30.2% more than the 78.4 million hours watched the previous week when the final seven episodes were available for three days.

The erotic thriller ”365 Days: This Day” was the most-watched English-language film on Netflix for the second consecutive week with 27.53 million hours watched, 64.5% less than the 77.98 million hours watched the previous week when it was available for five days.