Nicole Beats Paris

Nicole Richie didn't just get a briefer jail term than Paris Hilton, she got bigger ratings, too.

Friday's 20/20, featuring a Diane Sawyer grilling of the cell-bound Simple Life star (that would be Richie not Hilton), averaged 5.9 million people who just couldn't help themselves, per Nielsen Media Research stats.

Back in June, Hilton's postjail sitdown on Larry King Live averaged 3.2 million.

In truth, though, there is no comparing the Richie and Hilton numbers. The Richie interview aired on free TV (ABC); the Hilton one on basic cable (CNN).

Hilton reportedly could have had access to the broadcast airwaves, too, but deals with ABC and NBC broke down, leaving her to discuss her spiritual life with Larry King.

On 20/20, Richie confirmed her pregnancy by Good Charlotte boyfriend Joel Madden and expressed a commitment to eating. She also spoke of her pending four-day stint behind bars for a DUI conviction. "This is something that I have to do," Richie told Sawyer. "And I really feel like I'm doing the right thing."

Compared to other damage-control celebrity interviews, Richie's was hardly a blockbuster. Even against weak summer competition, 20/20 ranked 34th for the week ended Sunday.

Richie, 25, is scheduled to serve out her jail sentence in the same Los Angeles County cell where Simple Life costar Hilton, dinged for probation violations stemming from her own DUI conviction, pulled a 23-day stint in June.

As of now, a jail cell may be the only venue that Richie and Hilton share. The pair's reality-TV vehicle was garaged last week by E! (E! Online is a division of E! Networks.)

Sunday's Simple Life fifth-season finale averaged 650,000, a long way from the 13 million the series premiered before back in 2003 when it aired on, yes, free TV.

Other ratings highlights:

• NBC's America's Got Talent (10.8 million viewers), renewed for a third season, was the most watched broadcast show. TNT's The Closer (7.7 million), renewed for a fourth season, was the most watched cable show.   
• TNT, which assembled a big-name cast and crew (Michael Keaton, Chris O'Donnell, Ridley Scott, etc.) for the CIA miniseries The Company, averaged just 2.9 million viewers for Sunday's premiere installment. The Disney Channel, which walked to the tape library and hauled out High School Musical (again), scored 4.6 million for a Wednesday-night showing, and another 3.7 million for a Thursday-afternoon outing.
• For once, High School Musical didn't produce cable's biggest TV movie audience (in a single sitting). The honor went to Nickelodeon's Drake & Josh extended adventure, Drake & Josh: Really Big Shrimp, which averaged a network-best 5.8 million.
• Disney Channel's Hannah Montana (4.7 million for a Saturday night episode) was cable's most watched comedy show; the premiere of A&E's The Two Coreys (1.2 million) wasn't.
• On ABC, Shaq's Big Challenge (42nd place, 5.5 million) went out with its biggest audience of the season.
• The ABC special Six Degrees of Martina McBride (62nd place, 4.3 million) just went out.  
• At NBC, additional renewals notices went out to Last Comic Standing (22nd place, 6.8 million) and Carson Daly, who got a new two-year deal to stay up for Last Call (averaging 1.3 million viewers this season) and New Year's Eve.
• ABC gets credit for trying a nonreality, nonrepeat, sci-fi anthology series on Saturday night. It did not, however, get much of anything else for the premiere of Masters of Science Fiction (92nd place, 2.7 million).

Overall, CBS's crime-show reruns led it to another weekly win. The network averaged 6.5 million viewers to Fox's 5.6 million and NBC's 5.3 million. ABC, which failed to develop a show about people dancing and/or trying to remember lyrics, and would be even most lost were it not for the hidden-camera show Just for Laughs (16th place, 7.4 million), pulled up the caboose with 4.3 million. The CW registered with 1.9 million.

In cable, Nickelodeon (2.5 million), Disney Channel (2 million) and Nick's prime-time self, Nick-at-Nite (1.6 million), were the most watched networks.

Here's a look at the 10 most watched prime-time shows for the week ended Sunday, according to Nielsen Media Research:

1. America's Got Talent, NBC, 10.8 million viewers
2. The Singing Bee, NBC, 9.8 million
3. So You Think You Can Dance (Thurs.), Fox, 9.6 million
4. Two and a Half Men, CBS, 9.2 million
5. Without a Trace, CBS, 9.1 million
6. CSI, CBS, 9.05 million
7. 60 Minutes, CBS, 8.9 million
8. CSI: Miami, CBS, 8.8 million
9. Hell's Kitchen, Fox, 8.6 million
10. So You Think You Can Dance (Wed.), Fox, 8.3 million viewers