‘Bachelorette,’ Disney Movie Among TV Faves

LOS ANGELES (AP) — Summer love, or what passes for it in reality TV, paid off for ABC with the season finale of “The Bachelorette.”

The latest installment of the dating series, with Ashley Hebert picking J.P. Rosenbaum over Ben Flajnik and getting a marriage proposal from Rosenbaum in return, landed near the top of last week’s most-watched programs, according to Nielsen Co. on Tuesday.

So did the reunion special that followed, “Bachelorette: After the Final Rose.” Reality further dominated the schedule with top-rated “America’s Got Talent” and “Big Brother,” which also ranked among the highest-rated shows.

But families didn’t turn up their nose at the right scripted fare. The Disney Channel’s animated “Phineas and Ferb: Across the 2nd Dimension,” was the year’s most-watched cable movie, drawing 7.6 million viewers. It was also the year’s No. 1 scripted program among children 6 to 11.

Reruns of CBS'”NCIS” franchise crime dramas and its “The Big Bang Theory,” the week’s top-rated comedy with 6.3 million viewers, also scored.

For the week, CBS led with an average of 5.9 million viewers in prime-time (3.8 rating, 7 share). ABC had 5 million (3.1, 5), NBC had 4.6 million (2.8, 5), Fox had 4 million (2.4, 4), Ion Television had 1.2 million (0.8, 1) and the CW had 760,000 (0.5, 1).

Among the Spanish-language networks, Univision led with an average of 3.6 million viewers (1.9, 3), Telemundo had 970,000 (0.5, 1), TeleFutura had 430,000 (0.2, 0), Azteca and Estrella had 180,000 (both 0.1, 0).

NBC’s “Nightly News” topped the evening newscasts with an average of 7.9 million viewers (5.2, 11). ABC’s “World News” was second with 7.3 million (4.8, 10) and the “CBS Evening News” had 5.6 million viewers (3.7, 8).

A ratings point represents 1,147,000 households, or 1 percent of the nation’s estimated 114.7 million TV homes. The share is the percentage of in-use televisions tuned to a given show.

The Top 20

Primetime viewership numbers compiled by the Nielsen Co. for Aug. 1-7. Listings include the week’s ranking and viewership.

1. “America’s Got Talent” (Tuesday), NBC, 11.92 million.

2. “America’s Got Talent” (Wednesday), NBC, 9.96 million.

3. “The Bachelorette,” ABC, 9.75 million.

4. “NCIS,” CBS, 9.69 million.

5. “Bachelorette: After the Final Rose,” ABC, 9.31 million;

6. “60 Minutes,” CBS, 8.86 million.

7. “NCIS: Los Angeles,” CBS, 8.13 million.

8. “Big Brother 13” (Sunday), CBS, 7.84 million.

9. “Big Brother 13” (Thursday), CBS, 7.43 million.

10. “Big Brother 13” (Wednesday), CBS, 6.9 million.

11. “Wipeout” (Thursday), ABC, 6.64 million.

12. “Wipeout” (Tuesday), ABC, 6.60 million.

13. “Flashpoint,” CBS, 6.33 million.

14. “Hell’s Kitchen” (Tuesday), Fox, 6.32 million.

15. “The Big Bang Theory,” CBS, 6.30 million.

16. “Criminal Minds,” CBS, 6.02 million.

17. “Blue Bloods,” CBS, 6.01 million.

18. “CSI: NY,” CBS, 5.899 million

19. “The Mentalist,” CBS, 5.897 million.

20. “Masterchef,” Fox, 5.87 million.