And Nielsens winner is . . . the Academy Awards

Sunday's "82nd Academy Awards" broadcast was the most-watched program last week and drew the largest audience for that event in five years, another sign that big-event, water-cooler programming (Olympics, Super Bowl, awards shows) can still draw viewers. Here are the top 10 prime-time network programs for the week ending Sunday, according to Nielsen Media Research. Programs are ranked by millions of viewers.

1. ACADEMY AWARDS, ABC, 41.7

2. OSCAR'S RED CARPET 2010, ABC, 25.3

3. AMERICAN IDOL WEDNESDAY, Fox, 23.6

4. AMERICAN IDOL TUESDAY, Fox, 23.5

5. NCIS, CBS, 19.6

6. AMERICAN IDOL THURSDAY, Fox, 19.4

7. TWO AND A HALF MEN, CBS, 16.9

8. THE BIG BANG THEORY, CBS, 15.7

9. CSI, CBS, 15.6

10. THE BACHELOR, ABC, 15.2