Nielsens: Fireworks for 'Boston Pops,' 'Hannah'

By Gary Levin

Talent climbs.NBC's America's Got Talent, again poised to be summer's top show, averaged 13.1 million viewers Tuesday, its biggest audience since last July. Wednesday's episode drew 11.4 million; a Tuesday repeat hit 8.2 million. The rest of the top 10 consisted entirely of CBS reruns.

•Sparklers. CBS' Boston Pops Fireworks led Independence Day with 6.8 million viewers, up 15% from last year; NBC's Macy's Fourth of July Fireworks claimed 5.2 million, down slightly.

CHARTS: See how your favorite shows fared

•Pitching. The death of infomercial star Billy Mays boosted the season (and possibly series) finale of Discovery Channel's Pitchmen to 1.7 million viewers Wednesday, up from 1.2 million the previous week.

•Tiny hit. The time-slot opener of BET's Tiny and Toya claimed a big 3.1 million viewers Tuesday and was down — but not by too much — from the record 3.8 million premiere behind the BET Awards the week before.

•Hannah high. A special Hannah Montana Sunday, featuring the return of Cody Linley as boyfriend Jake, scored 6.9 million viewers, the show's highest in nearly two years.

•Slow going. In what's typically the year's least-watched week of TV, the return of two canceled series, ABC's Samantha Who? (3.4 million Thursday) and Fox's Are You Smarter Than a 5th Grader? (4.3 million Friday), tied or neared series lows. NBC's Kings (1.2 million) and ABC's Eli Stone (2.1 million) had their worst-yet outings Saturday.

•Hitched ditched. CW's Hitched or Ditched quietly wrapped up with a series-low

1 million viewers Tuesday.

•Dancing rears. The opener of Oxygen's Dance Your Ass Off claimed 1.3 million viewers Monday, marking the channel's biggest series premiere.

•Jackson Idol A repeat of last season's American Idol performance episode featuring Michael Jackson songs drew a low 4.2 million viewers Monday.

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