An excerpt from Diane Sawyer's interview with Jaycee Dugard that was included in last Thursday night's World News with Diane Sawyer not only gave the ABC newscast a rare win for the night over NBC Nightly News with Brian Williams , but helped narrow the gap between the rival newscasts to a minuscule 4 percent for the week. The Sawyer-anchored newscast averaged 7.43 million viewers, versus 7.76 million for the Williams newscast. The CBS Evening News with Scott Peley remained out of the running with 5.63 million viewers. Sawyer's two-hour interview with Dugard shook up the weekly ratings, however, as it landed at No. 1 on the Nielsen list in overall households, beating out three editions of NBC's America's Got Talent. NBC, however, took first place among 18-49-year-old viewers thanks to the AGT results and also scored strongly with its telecast of the Macy's 4th of July Fireworks special on Monday, while its Friday edition of Dateline tied for 16th place. Nevertheless, despite airing mostly reruns, CBS remained the top-rated network among overall adults with an average 3.8 rating and a 7 share. NBC was close behind with a 3.5/6, edging out ABC with a 3.2/6. Fox remained a distant fourth with a 2.1/4.

The top ten shows of the week according to Nielsen Research 1. Primetime Special Edition Jaycee Dugard Interview, ABC, 9.5/16; 2. America's Got Talent (Tuesday), NBC, 8.8/14; 3. America's Got Talent (Wednesday), NBC, 7.3/12; 4. America's Got Talent (Tuesday Special), NBC, 7.2/12; 5. NCIS, CBS, 5.8/10; 6. 60 Minutes, CBS, 5.5/11; 7. Macy's 4th July Fireworks, NBC, 5/10; 8. Big Brother 13 , CBS, 4.7/8; 8. Csi Crime Scene Investigation, CBS, 4.7/8; 10. NCIS Los Angeles, CBS, 4.5/7.

13/07/2011