Political programming dominates the week in television

In entertainment, “The Voice” returned for a new season on NBC, instantly eclipsing “American Idol” on ABC.

CBS led the way with an average of 6.1 million viewers in prime time last week. NBC had 4.7 million viewers, ABC had 4.2 million, Fox had 2.6 million, Univision had 1.4 million, ION Television had 1.3 million, Telemundo had 1.1 million and the CW had 580,000.

Fox News Channel averaged 3.03 million viewers in prime time, with MSNBC second with 1.8 million. CNN had 1.161 million, ESPN had 1.158 million and HGTV had 1.08 million.

ABC’s “World News Tonight” won the evening news ratings race, averaging 9.1 million viewers. NBC’s “Nightly News” had 7.8 million and the “CBS Evening News” had 5.7 million.

For the week of Feb. 24-March 1, Nielsen’s top 20 programs, their networks and viewerships:

— Democratic Presidential Debate, CBS, 15.34 million.

— “60 Minutes,” CBS, 9.18 million.

— “The Voice” (Monday), NBC, 8.99 million.

— “Chicago Fire,” NBC, 8.66 million.

— “Chicago Med,” NBC, 8.61 million.

— “The Voice” (Tuesday), NBC, 8.57 million.

— “Chicago PD,” NBC, 8.12 million.

— “Survivor,” CBS, 7.15 million.

— “American Idol,” ABC, 6.99 million.

— “This is Us,” NBC, 6.98 million.

— “Hawaii Five-0,” CBS, 6.86 million.

— “The Bachelor,” ABC, 6.82 million.

— “The Masked Singer,” Fox, 6.74 million.

— “Station 19,” ABC, 6.59 million.

— “NCIS: Los Angeles,” CBS, 6.49 million.

— “Young Sheldon,” CBS, 6.03 million.

— “Grey’s Anatomy,” ABC, 6.006 million.

— “God Friended Me,” CBS, 6.005 million.

— “911: Lone Star,” Fox, 5.65 million.

— “The Good Doctor,” ABC, 5.63 million.