Prime Time

Regarding Lisa de Moraes's Feb. 6 Style column, " Obama's Preemptive Strike ": Perhaps the television executives who are complaining about losing their precious airtime to news conferences and speeches by President Obama need to be reminded that the airwaves are for the benefit of the public. The first priority is not the financial gain of the networks but our public interest in having information about national affairs. SCOTT KUHAGEN Philadelphia

Prime-time viewership numbers compiled by the Nielsen Co. for May 6-12. Listings include the week's ranking and viewership. 1. "NCIS," CBS, 17.56 million. 2. "The Big Bang Theory," CBS, 16.30 million. 3. "NCIS: Los Angeles," CBS, 13.18 million. 4. "Person of Interest," CBS, 13.16 million. 5. "Dancing With the Stars," ABC, 13.12 million. 6. "Two and a Half Men," CBS, 12.83 million. 7. "The Voice" (Monday), NBC, 12.15 million. 8. "American Idol" (Thursday)

"30 Rock" is NBC's critically acclaimed prime-time comedy starring Tina Fey, who plays the head writer for a fictionalized NBC late-night comedy show, and Alec Baldwin, the vice president for East Coast television and microwave programming, sent in from corporate headquarters to boost ratings by pandering to viewers' worst instincts. At its heart, "30 Rock" is a satire on corporate culture and the conventions of American business. But as self-parody, it can't hold a candle to the tragicomedy now playing out at the real-life NBC. ...

PASADENA, CALIF. -- NBC finally confirmed it is going to scuttle Jay Leno's 10 o'clock comedy program and shift the host back to late night after NBC TV stations threatened to drop the prime-time weeknight series, the network's entertainment chief said Sunday. "The Jay Leno Show" will be pulled from prime time when the network starts its coverage of the Winter Olympics in Vancouver, B.C., on Feb. 12. Leno has been offered his old 11:35 p.m. start time, Monday through Friday.

Regarding Michael Wilbon's July 28 Sports column, "A Carefully-Controlled Return": Mr. Wilbon usually gets it right. Not this time. By serving time for his role in a dogfighting operation in Virginia, Michael Vick earned his freedom, not a pass back onto an NFL team and a multimillion-dollar paycheck. What has Mr. Vick done to rehabilitate his good name (assuming he ever had one)? Gone to prison? Let Mr. Vick spend a year or two with former Indianapolis Colts coach Tony Dungy, who has agreed to work with Mr. Vick as...

CORRECTION: An earlier version of this article incorrectly stated that, "In Feburary 2004, 2.9 children ages 2 to 11 watched those four broadcast networks that PTC whomped on in this study. " The number of children is actually 2.9 million. The number of violent crimes against women shown in prime time on broadcast television is extremely small, relative to the number of overall violent crimes shown in prime time on broadcast TV, according to a new study by the ever-vigilant Parents Television Council.

BEVERLY HILLS, Calif. — The first three days of NBC's London Games coverage clocked about 36 million viewers on average — the biggest crowd through the first weekend of any Summer Olympics in history. And by "in history," we mean since the 1960 Games in Rome, which was the first televised Olympics. Obviously, the Games have gone on a lot longer than that. An average of about 41 million viewers in the United States watched the Opening Ceremonies. And Sunday's NBC audience of 36 million is higher than any night from...

There was much rejoicing by NBC suits Tuesday morning. Their long "When is Comcast gonna toss these NBC bums out?" ratings nightmare was over. "The Voice" and "Revolution" — two of the three franchises that stunningly pulled NBC out of the cellar it had settled into many seasons ago and into first place in the fall — were back. Armed with the two programs — two hours of the singing show and one hour of J.J. Abrams's serialized kudzu-covered saga — NBC finished Monday...

NEW YORK — With broadcast networks unveiling their new schedules, the television industry is focused on potential ratings hits next season. But TV programming remained largely status quo last week with CBS maintaining its decisive lead, Nielsen Co. figures showed Tuesday. CBS' decade-old smash, "NCIS," held onto the No. 1 position, drawing more than 17 million viewers. Right behind was the network's sitcom hit, "The Big Bang Theory," seen by 16 million viewers, followed by spinoff...

Fox's prime-time schedule for the fall: Monday 8 p.m. — "Bones" 9 p.m. — "Sleepy Hollow" Tuesday 8 p.m. — "Dads" 8:30 p.m. — "Brooklyn Nine-Nine" 9 p.m. — "New Girl" 9:30 p.m. — "The Mindy Project" Wednesday 8 p.m. — "The X Factor" Thursday 8 p.m. — "The X Factor Results" 9 p.m. — "Glee" Friday 8 p.m. — "Junior Masterchef" 9 p.m. — "Sleepy Hollow" reruns Saturday...

There was much rejoicing by NBC suits Tuesday morning. Their long "When is Comcast gonna toss these NBC bums out?" ratings nightmare was over. "The Voice" and "Revolution" — two of the three franchises that stunningly pulled NBC out of the cellar it had settled into many seasons ago and into first place in the fall — were back. Armed with the two programs — two hours of the singing show and one hour of J.J. Abrams's serialized kudzu-covered saga — NBC finished Monday...

The guy who led the first charge to dump late-night ratings king Jay Leno from NBC's "Tonight Show" now runs a ratings-starved cable-news network. And Thursday, that cable network's new star looked to improve his own disappointing early ratings by interviewing The Man Most Likely to Dance on Leno's Grave (a.k.a. Jimmy Kimmel) about the inevitability that Leno will get dumped a second time. "It makes perfect sense," Kimmel told Jake Tapper, who was recently hired to star in "The Lead" by CNN chief Jeff Zucker.

Fox has been trying to cash in on the O.J. Simpson murder-case story for years. On Wednesday, the broadcast network announced its latest attempt. The network is developing a "tentpole event series" called "The Run of His Life: The People V. O.J. Simpson," based on Jeffrey Toobin's book of the same name. "Everybody remembers where they were when O.J. Simpson, riding in a white Bronco, led the police on a low-speed chase all over Los Angeles," Fox noted in its announcement, crediting the event with the emergence of...

Fox News executives knew it would be a long, uphill battle to challenge CNBC when they launched a new business channel last October -- and new ratings confirm that they are right. For the first three weeks of July, according to Nielsen figures obtained yesterday that have not been publicly released, Fox Business Network is averaging just 8,000 viewers during daytime hours, and 20,000 in prime time. CNBC, by contrast, is drawing an average of 284,000 viewers during the day and 191,000 in prime time.

One night last month, Roger Ailes stood before a crowd of Fox News employees gathered at Chelsea Piers in Manhattan for a celebration marking the channel's 15th anniversary. "Our prime time is just unbeatable," he told them. "Our competition has collectively changed their prime-time lineup in this period of time," he continued. "We've done it a few times. They have collectively changed it 63 times. Shows, stars — I mean, it's sad, you know? I called and asked them all to move to the second floor wherever they were...