15 million watch former president interview on CBS

Only B-ball beat Bill in the TV ratings last week.

A much-hyped appearance by former President Bill Clinton carried CBS’ “60 Minutes” to its second-place finish. Clinton, interviewed by Dan Rather at the start of a TV blitz to publicize his memoirs, was seen by almost 15.8 million viewers.

But the top prime-time program belonged to ABC: the fifth and deciding game between the Los Angeles Lakers and the Detroit Pistons in the National Basketball Association finals. It was seen by 21.8 million viewers, according to Nielsen Media Research.

Among the new crop of summer shows introduced by Fox, the season premiere of “The Simple Life 2” was the most popular, ranking 13th. The hip-hop sitcom “Method and Red” took 24th place, the Andy Richter family comedy “Quints” was 29th, the tropical melodrama “North Shore” was 38th and “Casino,” the Las Vegas-set reality series, was 39th.

Overall for the week, CBS led decisively with an average 8.6 million viewers (5.8 rating, 11 share). NBC had 7.2 million viewers (4.9 rating, 9 share), ABC 6.4 million (4.4 rating, 8 share), Fox 4.7 million (3.1 rating, 6 share), The WB 2.3 million (1.6 rating, 3 share) and UPN 2.5 million (1.7 rating, 3 share).

A ratings point represents 1,084,000 households, or 1 percent of the nation’s estimated 108.4 million TV homes. The share is the percentage of in-use televisions tuned to a given show.

The top 10 shows for the week ending Sunday: NBA Finals: Detroit vs. L.A. Lakers, Game 5, ABC, 21.8 million viewers; “60 Minutes,” CBS, 15.8 million; “CSI: Crime Scene Investigation,” CBS, 14.1 million; “CSI: Miami,” CBS, 14 million; “Without a Trace,” CBS, 12.8 million; “Law & Order,” NBC, 11.8 million; “Cold Case,” CBS, 11.4 million; “Everybody Loves Raymond,” CBS, 13.4 million; “Two and a Half Men,” CBS, 11 million; “Last Comic Standing 2,” NBC, 10.4 million.