CBS's telecast of the Grammy Awards may have fallen steeply from a year ago when it aired one day following the death of Whitney Houston, but it was Nevertheless the highest rated program of last week. Final Nielsen figures showed that the Sunday-night telecast drew 28.38 million viewers, well off the 39.91 million that tune in last year but up from the 26.67 million who did in 2011. Meanwhile, Fox's American Idol continued to slide in the ratings. Wednesday's edition of the talent contest dropped to seventh place on the Nielsen list with 14.27 million total viewers, while Thursday's dropped to eighth with 13.28 million. CBS once again dominated the Nielsen list. Of the top 20 shows, it accounted for 16. Besides Fox's two Idol episodes, ABC's Grey's Anatomy and Modern Family also made the list (barely), tying for 19th place. NBC's highest-rated show was its Wednesday night drama Chicago Fire, which came in at No. 33 on the Nielsen list with 6.60 million viewers. NBC could draw some degree of solace from the performance of its evening newscast, however. NBC Nightly News with Brian Williams averaged 9.64 million viewers for the week, easily beating ABC World News with Diane Sawyer with 8.63 million. The CBS Evening News with Scott Pelley continued to make strong inroads on the leadership, winding up with 7.48 million viewers.

The top ten shows of the week according to Nielsen Research:
1. Grammy Awards, CBS, 15.9/25; 2. NCIS, CBS, 13.3/21; 3. The Big Bang Theory, CBS, 11.3/18; 4. NCIS: Los Angeles, CBS, 10.2/16; 5. Person of Interest, CBS, 9.1/14; 6. Two and a Half Men, CBS, 8.6/13; 7. American Idol (Wednesday), Fox, 8.4/13; 8. American Idol (Thursday), Fox, 7.8/12; 9. Criminal Minds, CBS, 7.6/12; 10. 60 Minutes, CBS, 7.2/12.