The Los Angeles Times from Los Angeles, California • Page 64

E12 CALENDAR LOSANGELESTIMES TELEVISION RADIO Here are the rankings for national prime-time network television last week (July 31-Aug. 6) 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 277.93 million potential viewers in the U.S. ages 2 and older.

Viewership is listed in millions. Program Network View- ersProgram Network Viewers 1 CSI: MiamiCBS11.21 2 Without a Trace 3 Pre-Season NBC10.56 4 Got Talent (Wed.) NBC10.53 5 Two and a Half MenCBS10.08 --------------------------------------------6 Pre-Season NBC9.88 7 CSICBS9.79 8 So You Think You Can Dance (Wed.) FOX9.39 9 Without a Trace 10 60 MinutesCBS8.98 --------------------------------------------11 Law Order: SVUNBC8.92 12 Cold CaseCBS8.73 13 So You Think You Can Dance (Thu.) FOX8.35 14 Criminal MindsCBS8.07 15 How I Met Your Mother (9:30 p.m.) CBS8.01 --------------------------------------------16 Got Talent (Thu.) NBC7.94 17 CSI: NYCBS7.85 18 Kitchen (9 p.m.)FOX7.84 19 Law Order 20 48 Hours Mystery --------------------------------------------21 House 22 Last Comic Standing 4NBC7.59 23 Big Brother 7 24 Primetime: Medical Mysteries ABC7.23 25 PrimetimeABC7.04 --------------------------------------------26 Big Brother 7 27 BonesFOX6.92 28 Dateline: NBC 29 Anatomy 30 King of QueensCBS6.76 --------------------------------------------31 Big Brother 7 32 How I Met Your Mother (8:30 p.m.) CBS6.50 33 Extreme Makeover: Home Edition ABC6.44 34 House 35 NCISCBS6.40 --------------------------------------------36 Wife SwapABC6.33 37 Rockstar: Supernova (Tue.) CBS6.28 38 Numb3rsCBS6.14 39 Anatomy 9 p.m.) ABC6.10 40 Dateline: NBC --------------------------------------------41 Fea Mas Bella 42 Funniest Home Videos (Sun.) ABC5.86 Dateline: NBC 44 Anatomy 8 p.m.) ABC5.79 SupernannyABC5.79 --------------------------------------------46 Rock Star: Supernova (Wed.) CBS5.76 47 My Name Is EarlNBC5.52 48 48 Hours Mystery 49 The UnitCBS5.45 50 According to Jim (9 p.m.)ABC5.43 --------------------------------------------Desperate HousewivesABC5.43 52 Fea Mas Bella 53 The SimpsonsFOX5.34 55 According to Jim (8:30 p.m.) ABC5.32 --------------------------------------------56 Law Order 57 According to Jim (9:30 p.m.) ABC5.20 Funniest Home Videos (Fri.) ABC5.20 59 Family GuyFOX5.17 According to Jim (8 p.m.)ABC5.17 --------------------------------------------61 Treasure HuntersNBC5.13 62 Fear FactorNBC5.03 63 MediumNBC4.72 64 Most WantedFOX4.64 65 American DadFOX4.57 --------------------------------------------66 Las VegasNBC4.48 67 George Lopez (9:30 p.m.)ABC4.43 Cops (8:30 p.m.)FOX4.43 69 The OfficeNBC4.42 --------------------------------------------Fea Mas Bella 72 That Show (8:30 p.m.) FOX4.33 73 George Lopez (8 p.m.)ABC4.30 74 George Lopez (9 p.m.)ABC4.28 Fea Mas Bella --------------------------------------------76 Fea Mas Bella 77 George Lopez (8:30 p.m.)ABC4.17 78 WindfallNBC4.07 79 Down the FOX4.04 80 War at HomeFOX3.93 --------------------------------------------81 Kitchen (8 p.m.)FOX3.92 Crossing JordanNBC3.92 83 Barrera de Amor 84 Barrera de Amor 85 Boston LegalABC3.79 --------------------------------------------86 50th Anniversary Blooper ABC3.74 87 Cops (8 p.m.)FOX3.70 88 Don Francisco PresentaUNI3.64 89 Crimetime Saturday CBS3.53 90 Barrera de Amor --------------------------------------------91 One Ocean ViewABC3.48 92 Barrera de Amor 93 94 That Show (8 p.m.)FOX3.25 95 Aqui AhoraUNI3.23 --------------------------------------------96 Kyle XyABC3.19 97 Heridas de Amor 98 WWE 99 CristinaUNI3.08 King of the HillFOX3.08 --------------------------------------------101 Barrera de Amor 102 Heridas de Amor 103 Heridas de Amor Heridas de Amor 105 Cantando por un Sueno UNI2.66 --------------------------------------------106 Malcolm in the MiddleFOX2.56 107 RebaWB2.47 Heridas de Amor 109 Que Madre Tan PadreUNI2.46 110 Everybody Hates ChrisUPN2.42 --------------------------------------------111 Casos VidaUNI2.31 112 Blue Collar TV (8 p.m.)WB2.22 113 Blue Collar TV 2 (8:30 p.m.) WB2.14 114 Half and Half 115 Sabado GiganteUNI2.07 --------------------------------------------116 GirlfriendsUPN2.06 All of Us 118 Gilmore Girls WB1.99 VecinosUNI1.99 Living With FranWB1.99 --------------------------------------------121 Gilmore GirlsWB1.95 SmallvilleWB1.95 123 One on OneUPN1.94 124 7th Heaven (8 p.m.)WB1.91 125 7th Heaven (9 p.m.)WB1.85 --------------------------------------------126 Next Top Model 6 UPN1.81 127 Hora PicoUNI1.69 128 Charmed (9 p.m.)WB1.68 129 Twins WB1.58 What I Like About YouWB1.58 --------------------------------------------131 Charmed (8 p.m.)WB1.52 132 Love Inc.UPN1.48 133 SupernaturalWB1.44 134 Casos Familia UNI1.41 135 Half and Half --------------------------------------------136 All of Us 137 Veronica Mars (9 p.m.)UPN1.12 Veronica Mars (8 p.m.)UPN1.12 139 CutsUPN1.11 140 Tierra de Pasiones EveUPN1.07 142 Tierra de Pasiones 143 One Tree HillWB1.01 144 Decisiones 145 Decisiones --------------------------------------------Tierra de Pasiones 147 Just LegalWB0.96 148 Viuda de Blanco 149 Decisiones Decisiones --------------------------------------------151 Cinemundo PremierTEL0.88 152 Tierra de Pasiones Amores de Mercado (Wed.) TEL0.86 Tierra de Pasiones 155 Viuda de Blanco --------------------------------------------Amores de Mercado (Thu.) TEL0.84 157 Viuda de Blanco Viuda de Blanco 159 Amores de Mercado (Mon.) TEL0.82 160 Viuda de Blanco --------------------------------------------161 Amores de Mercado Decisiones 163 Amores de Mercado (Thu.) TEL0.63 --------------------------------------------164 165 Cinemundo del SabadoTEL0.53 166 Con 167 LoteriaTEL0.24 Network averages Here is the number of viewers (in millions) that each network averaged per hour of prime time, for last week and for the season. Network Last week Season to date CBS7.4311.39 NBC6.858.90 FOX5.569.12 ABC5.259.51 UNI3.303.57 UPN1.872.86 WB1.712.82 TEL0.810.89 From Times wire services Network television is in a summer snooze, with six reruns, two talent competitions and an exhibition football game filling up Nielsen Media Top 10 last week. Nothing has truly caught the attention this summer. While Got and You Think You Can have consistently made the Top 10, as they did again last week, they generally reach about a third of the audience of their obvious model, The most impressive success story has been Spanish-language telenovela, Fea The Thursday edition last week had a larger audience than any scripted entertainment program on ABC all week, with the exception of two reruns.

The series also dominated the L.A. market, capturing four of the top five spots. The return of the National Football League provided a bright spot for NBC. The coverage of the Oakland 16-10 victory over the Philadelphia Eagles on Sunday, its first NFL telecast since Super Bowl XXXII on Jan. 25, 1998, attracted 10.56 million viewers.

That put it in the No. 3 spot for the week overall; it was No. 1 among viewers ages 18 to 49, the group targeted by NBC, ABC and Fox. That helped NBC tie CBS for the lead for the week in that category, ending six- week winning streak. won the evening news ratings race, averaging 8.4 million viewers.

had 7.7 million viewers and the Evening 7.2 million. Prime-Time TV Rankings Spanish-language telenovela dominates L.A. viewership just like this long before they were crowned the next American Idol by 63 million home voters. Singers of all races, though not all ages, as window is 16 to28, stand (or sleep) in a thick line half a mile long on a surprisingly crisp L.A. morning.

They wrap themselves in SpongeBob SquarePants blankets, rifle through folders that hold their registration paperwork and lyric sheets, and clutch hand-drawn banners and signs that read IDOL HEAR ME and WILL ROCK AMERICAN Ken Fitzgerald is a good-looking 27-year-old from Cupertino who managed to snag the first place in line (which he admits gains him no advantage in the competition, just pole position for being the subject of articles like this one). auditioned in San Francisco, Hawaiiand L.A. for previous seasons, and even made it onto the Season 3 show. Though he owns his own home-restoration company, he spends most of his free time singing in the car, trying to form a bandand going to concerts. see a lead singer of a band and I go, definitely could be he says.

think I got the look, I think I got the Today mulling whether to sing Jimmy Eat by the Josh Joplin Group. Like many of the auditioners, Fitzgerald is a karaoke fanatic, and he actually met his German wife in a San Jose bar when she was Luftbal- her native language. (Fitzgerald had opted for Emi- Their wedding in Germany last year was the only reason he missed Season 5 auditions, though his wife nearly kept him home this yeartoo. wants me to be more adult and responsible and not chase my childhood dream of being a Fitzgerald says with ashrug. Tracy Johnson, 21, from San Bernardinois a pretty, slight woman in a red dress who jumped on the freeway at 1:30 a.m.to drive here and sing Known for her first audition.

A church choir soloist since age 3, Johnson sings at San Manuel Indian Bingo Casinoevery Monday night in front of hundreds of listeners. already in the process of recording an album but thinks got a pretty good shot at winning and its grand-prize recording contract. get the opportunity to be in front of someone been through what been through, as far as music she says about if I make it, it gives me an opportunity to get noticed on Afriend who came just to support Johnson says, believe in her enough to get up at 5:30 in the morning and stand outside. She is the next American darkness going to last Johnson says, sounding like a gospel song. soon the gonna shine and gonna blossom and And sure enough it does.

Amid the nervous buoyancy of thousands of brimming wannabe stars willing to sing for anybody or nobody a kind of manic beauty emerges in the gathering sunlight. As TV cameras filming for the actual show sweep the crowd along with those of various news organiza- tions, one contestant after another steps forward to seize a minute in the spotlight and show his or her stuff. One girl does a shaky version of Aretha A moment later, a guy steps out of line and does a sweet version of the while accompanying himself on ukulele. Whitney Will Always Love makes a few appearances. remarkable is the sense of camaraderie among the competitors.

Whenever someone finishes a performance, everyone within hearing distance bursts into applause, encouraging the glowing contender. Diane Jones, 23, who lives in Playa del Rey, is a second lieutenant in the Air Force who does personnel readiness at Los Angeles Air Force Base in El Segundo. She often performs at weddings, funeralsand base events such as promotion and retirement ceremonies. A friend with her producesa Pentagon Channel show that is profiling her. Jones has decided to sing Faith the Lights Go for the audition panel.Al- thoughshe may be nervous about herperformance, as she stands cloaked in a Department of the Air Force blanket her stepmother made, she has no trepidation about potentially facing one of most insufferable obstacles.

always think going to say something very Jones says of the blunt curmudgeon, Simon Cowell. been through boot camp, so Ithink I can handle a little Every few seconds a new voice will float up out of the crowd, and almost all of them prove that these singers are talented enough to deserve this audience. Solo renditions of or No Mountain High end with a dozen others joining in. One middle- aged bald man points at his daughter and yells, is my retirement Over against the the Arroyo Seco, agirl sits alone on a rock, swaying as she bellows a ballad to the hills above her. Swarmed in the middle of the line, Lucas Smith, 23, from Orange Countyjokes around with his friend Sal Alaimo, 22, from Northridge.

Smith, who has spina bifida and sits in a sleek black wheelchair, wears a blue Dodgers cap and has a relaxed, go-along-for-the-crazy-ride smile on his face. think I have a fairly good voice, and if nothing else, got a gimmick Smith says and laughs. going to sing Billy doo-wop throwback, Longest Alaimo, who has a muscle dis- orderandis ina sporty-looking red electric wheelchair with detailing on the side, frequents the karaoke nights at the Matador Bowl, a Northridge bowling alley. Smith had to talk him into coming today, but Alaimo claims to give Frankie a try. trying to make a Alaimo says thoughtfully.

physically disabled and not many people in our situation who are in the entertainment industry, so just trying to create a ripple in the Suddenly, a section of the crowd nearby cheers. Yeaaaaa Smith yells back. see me but you will hear Nearby, Joe Weidenbach, 26, of Las Vegas; Justin Waggoner, 21, of Jackson, Katie Quigley, 21, of Buena Park; and Josh Goodman, 19, of Yorba Linda lead a sing-along of Me Quigley is a manager who impressed her boss enough with her constant singing to herself at work that he gave her the day off to audition. She complains that people always ask to hear her voice at the worst times, but the life of a she says. gotta be ready for Goodman just returned from amonth in Jerusalem doing charity work for Israelis displaced by the war with Lebanon.

When asked how things are over there, Goodman replies, actually really nice. cooler there than it is Waggoner plans to dip into classic country for his audition. belief is, if trying to stand out, you want to come in trying to be the next Garth Brooks or the next Dixie he says. wanna be Weidenbach, a tall guy with a friendly face beneath a black cowboy hat, clearly relishes all this energy. Though never auditioned for before, the video game designer has taken runs at and In preparation for today, been taking voice lessons three hours a week for the last six months to knock out Gavin Want to out there and just wail on Weidenbach says of his technique for overcoming anxiety.

But visualization exercises hurt the last two weeks, every night been dreaming about being on and as good as I am and everyone else is as good as they are either I make it or I Goodmansays to a chorus of agreement from his friends. I can hope is that what I am is good it Quigley says quickly. of Goodman says. I am the next American Idol, thank you very Weidenbach says. am Photographs by Annie Wells Los Angeles Times PUTTING ON A GOOD FACE: Lucy Hart, 22, of Montebelloapplies makeup to Sacha White, also 22, of Bakersfield.

in L.A. EARLY BIRD: Ken Fitzgerald, a 27-year-old home restorer from Cupertino tried out for before, managed to snag the first spot in line at the Rose Bowl in Pasadena. NAP TIME: Lindsay Grimes, 21, of Sacramentocatches up on her rest while standing in line early Tuesday morning. from Page E1 The Lifetime cable channel on Tuesday unveiled a slate of original programming for the fall, including a TV movie starring Academy Award-winning actress Kim Basinger. Mermaid based on a novel by Sue Monk Kidd, will feature Basinger as what the network described as restless wife and mother consumed with forbidden love for a Benedictine It is scheduled to premiere Sept.

9. Also due on Lifetime is a detective story set in suburbia and starring Danica McKellar, former costar of Wonder and more recently of West It will air as a TV movie in October, followed by a monthly series of online-only episodes and then a second TV movie in March. Lifetime, which aims its programming primarily at women, also has scheduled a 20-episode serial drama for October, about a woman who is starting life again after being wrongly imprisoned for murder. It will star Virginia Williams, Rachel Ward and Shirley Jones. From a Times staff writer Lifetime slate includes Basinger movie See a video report and photo gallery from auditionsat latimes.com/idol On the Web.