Overall, NBC had two of the top five and four of the top 10 programs of the week in primetime's key demographic of adults 18-49. In addition to "Bee," Tuesday's "America's Got Talent" ranked #3 and "Last Comic Standing" and Tuesday's "Law & Order: SVU" were tied at #8. In overall total viewers, "Singing Bee" was #1, "America's Got Talent" ranked #3 and "SVU" ranked #10.

Tuesday's debut of "The Singing Bee" delivered the highest 18-49 rating for any new summer series premiere on any network in nearly five years. For NBC, it marks the top-rated debut in 18-49 for any unscripted series, in or out of the regular season, since the January 2004 premiere of "The Apprentice." Despite competing with Major League Baseball's All-Star Game, "Singing Bee" delivered the highest 18-49 rating for any telecast on any network since the season finale of "House" in May.

Primetime averages for the week of July 9-15 in adults 18-49 were Fox (2.4/8), NBC (1.9/6), CBS (1.7/6), ABC and Univision (1.5/5), CW (0.7/2) and Telemundo (0.5/1). In overall total viewers the weekly averages were Fox (6.7 million), CBS (6.3 million), NBC (5.8 million), ABC (4.4 million), Univision (3.3 million), CW (1.8 million) and Telemundo (1.2 million).

In regular program averages through 43 weeks of the 2006-07 broadcast year, NBC is running within a tenth of a point of last year's average in adult 18-49 rating (3.0 vs. 3.1). While Fox is flat versus last year in regular-program averages (at a 4.0), ABC is down 6 percent (from a 3.5 at this point last year to a 3.3 this year) and CBS is down 8 percent (from a 3.6 to a 3.3).