PRIME-TIME TV RANKINGS

The possibility of reviving variety shows suffered another setback last week with lackluster viewership for Fox’s “Osbournes: Reloaded,” while the premiere of the remake of “Cupid” on ABC could mean it is destined for a short run like the 1998-99 original.

“Osbournes: Reloaded,” the first of a series of intermittent specials starring the family, was fourth in its 9:26-10 p.m. time slot last Tuesday with 8.4 million viewers. The next best hope for the genre is John Mayer, who is developing a variety show for CBS.

The premiere of “Cupid” was third in its Tuesday 10-11 p.m. time slot with 7.22 million viewers.

But a special that succeeded in attracting viewers was CBS’ hidden-camera entry “I Get That a Lot,” which won its Wednesday 8-9 p.m. time slot with 10.35 million.

Viewers flocked back to NBC for “ER’s” finale, which drew television’s largest audience for a drama finale since 1996 and gave the network its most-watched non-sports Thursday in nearly three years. The two-hour farewell of the hospital drama averaged 16.38 million viewers.

Here are the rankings for national prime-time network television for the last week (March 30 to April 5) as compiled by Nielsen Media Research. They are based on the average number of people who watched a program from start to finish. Nielsen estimates there are 286 million potential viewers in the U.S. ages 2 and older. Viewership is listed in millions.

*--* Program Network Viewers 1 American Idol (Tue.) FOX 24.41 2 American Idol (Wed.) FOX 24.34 3 Dancing With the Stars ABC 20.48 4 NCIS CBS 17.23 5 The Mentalist CBS 16.96 *--*

*--* 6 ER NBC 16.38 7 Academy of Country Music Awards CBS 14.78 8 CSI CBS 14.62 9 Two and a Half Men CBS 14.56 10 NCAA Basketball: Villanova vs. North Carolina CBS 14.45 *--*

*--* 11 Dancing With the Stars (results) ABC 13.51 12 CSI: Miami CBS 13.46 13 NCAA Basketball Bridge CBS 12.95 14 Without a Trace CBS 12.53 15 House FOX 12.51 *--*

*--* 16 60 Minutes CBS 12.27 17 Survivor: Tocantins CBS 11.27 18 24 FOX 11.26 19 Rules of Engagement CBS 11.02 20 ER Retrospective NBC 10.63 *--*

*--* 21 Eleventh Hour CBS 10.37 22 I Get That a Lot CBS 10.35 23 CSI: NY CBS 10.06 24 Criminal Minds CBS 10.03 25 The Big Bang Theory CBS 9.73 *--*

*--* 26 Lost ABC 9.57 27 Law & Order: SVU NBC 9.37 28 Bones FOX 9.25 29 How I Met Your Mother CBS 9.20 30 Lie to Me FOX 9.18 *--*

*--* 31 Castle ABC 9.09 32 The Biggest Loser NBC 8.77 Flashpoint CBS 8.77 34 The Osbournes: Reloaded FOX 8.39 35 Numb3rs CBS 7.50 *--*

*--* 36 Medium NBC 7.27 37 Ghost Whisperer CBS 7.23 38 Cupid ABC 7.22 39 The Celebrity Apprentice NBC 7.20 40 America’s Funniest Home Videos ABC 7.15 *--*

*--* 41 Extreme Makeover: Home Edition ABC 6.96 42 Hell’s Kitchen FOX 6.95 43 20/20 (Fri.) ABC 6.75 44 The Simpsons FOX 6.50 45 Heroes NBC 6.42 *--*

*--* 46 Law & Order NBC 6.34 47 Family Guy FOX 6.18 48 Manana Para Siempre (Mon.) UNI 5.89 49 Family Guy (8:30 p.m.) FOX 5.87 Manana Para Siempre (Thu.) UNI 5.87 *--*

*--* 51 Chuck NBC 5.72 52 Life NBC 5.70 53 Manana Para Siempre (Tue.) UNI 5.64 Life on Mars ABC 5.64 55 The Simpsons (9:30 p.m.) FOX 5.54 *--*

*--* 56 Manana Para Siempre (Wed.) UNI 5.52 57 Desperate Housewives ABC 5.51 *--*

Network averagesHere is the number of viewers (in millions) that each network averaged per hour of prime time, for last week and for the season.

*--* Network Lastweek Seasonto date CBS 12.45 11.25

FOX 9.66 9.16

ABC 7.17 8.48

NBC 6.88 7.63

UNI 4.18 3.94 *--*