Tuning In

Billed as a revealing special that “delves into Victoria’s larger-than-life world to reveal, among other things, her wicked sense of humor and style,” the show — which aired Monday night — failed to impress the mainstream media. The New York Post slammed the pop-star turned fashion figure as “relentlessly self-promoting” and described the show as “an orgy of self-indulgence.”

NBC’s ‘Bee’-utiful news

Finally, beleaguered NBC has something to sing about. Its premiere of “The Singing Bee” was last week’s most popular television show, with the biggest audience among young viewers of any new summer series in five years, according to Nielsen Media Research.

Former ‘N Sync member Joey Fatone earned strong reviews for his work as host of the game, which tests contestants’ memories of song lyrics. Fox’s version of the same show, “Don’t Forget the Lyrics!” did well last week but didn’t come close to NBC. Eager for any good news, NBC moved swiftly to announce the series would return in September.

Fox claimed the week’s ratings crown, however, due largely to the 12.5 million people who watched baseball’s All-Star game. It was the second-smallest audience on record for the game, which was seen by 12.3 million in 2005.

Fox averaged 6.7 million people for the week, CBS had 6.3 million and NBC averaged 5.8 million. Following were ABC with 4.4 million, the CW with 1.8 million, My Network TV with 1 million and ION Television with 670,000.

For the week of July 9 through 15, the top five shows, their networks and viewerships were: 1) “The Singing Bee,” NBC, 13.3 million; 2) Major League Baseball All-Star Game: National vs. American, Fox, 12.5 million; 3) “America’s Got Talent,” NBC, 11.3 million; 4) “So You Think You Can Dance” (Thursday), Fox, 9.69 million; and 5) “NCIS,” CBS, 9.68 million.

Compiled by Robyn-Denise Yourse and Kelly Jane Torrance from Web and wire reports