NEW YORK (AP) – Several generations of comic talent helped NBC win the prime-time ratings crown last week in a lull before television’s important May “sweeps” period.

“Friends” was the week’s most popular comedy, and third overall in the Nielsen Media Research viewership rankings.

A 100th birthday celebration for Bob Hope was seen by 12.6 million people Sunday on NBC, ranked No. 18 by Nielsen. Another clip job, focusing on female comedians, was seen by 10 million people.

Season finales, specials and other ratings stunts are due in a one-month period that begins Thursday. During sweeps, ratings are used to set local advertising rates.

NBC and Fox finished in a virtual dead heat last week among the 18-to-49-year-old demographic craved by advertisers. Tuesday’s “American Idol” edition was the week’s most popular show.

The two shows that immediately follow “American Idol” each week on Fox’s schedule – the highly acclaimed drama “24” and comedy “Bernie Mac” are seeing ratings spikes because of that placement. They were Fox’s two most popular shows after “American Idol” last week.

For the week, NBC averaged 11.2 million viewers (7.5 rating, 13 share), CBS had 9.9 million viewers (6.7, 11), Fox 8.5 million (5.2, 9), ABC 7.6 million (5.0, 9), the WB 3.3 million (2.2, 4), UPN 3.2 million (2.0, 3) and Pax 1 million (0.7, 1).

NBC’s “Nightly News” handily won the evening news ratings race, averaging 9.8 million viewers (7.1 rating, 15 share). ABC’s “World News Tonight” was second, averaging 8.6 million viewers (6.4, 13) and the “CBS Evening News’ had 7.1 million (5.2, 11).

A ratings point represents 1,067,000 households, or 1 percent of the nation’s estimated 106.7 million TV homes. The share is the percentage of in-use televisions tuned to a given show.

For the week of April 14-20, the top 10 shows, their networks and viewerships:

“American Idol-Tuesday,” Fox, 20 million; “CSI: Crime Scene Investigation,” CBS, 19.1 million; “Friends,” NBC, 18.2 million; “American Idol-Wednesday,” Fox, 18.1 million; “Everybody Loves Raymond,” CBS, 17.7 million; “Law & Order,” NBC, 15.5 million; “CSI: Miami,” CBS, 14.9 million; “Law & Order: SVU,” NBC, 14.8 million; “Will & Grace,” NBC, 14.7 million; “Scrubs,” NBC, 14.7 million.

—

On the Net:

Nielsen Media Research Web site:

http://www.nielsenmedia.com.

AP-ES-04-22-03 1700EDT