Ratings Chart Attack!

CBS’ presentation of the Academy of Country Music Awards reigned supreme over NBC’s “Kings” and the Donald.

“The 44th Annual ACM Awards” scored a 3.8 rating/10 share among adults 18-49 and 14.8 million viewers from 8-11 p.m., according to preliminary Nielsen figures. This year’s telecast was up 31% from last year’s May airing. Last night’s show also scored its best delivery in the demo since May 2002 and among total viewers since May 1999. At 7 p.m., “60 Minutes” posted a 1.8/6 (12 million).

NBC’s “Kings” continued to perform on the low side, drawing a 1.1/3 (3.6 million) in the 8 p.m. hour. Last night’s episode dropped 15% from last week. “The Celebrity Apprentice” (2.7/7, 7 million) fell 18% from the previous week. Against competition from the ACM Awards, both NBC series hit new season lows. “Apprentice,” however, has boosted the network’s non-sports average in the 9-11 p.m. time period by 17% for the season to date. At 7 p.m., “Dateline” pulled a 1.3/4 (5 million).

A new episode of “The Simpsons” on Fox drew a 3.1/9 (6.4 million) at 8 p.m., flat with its performance last week. The network aired encores of “American Dad,” “King of the Hill,” “The Simpsons” and “Family Guy” throughout the night.

ABC was in repeats with “America’s Funniest Home Videos,” “Extreme Makeover: Home Edition,” “Desperate Housewives” and “Brothers & Sisters.”

The CW aired a repeat of “Jericho,” followed by a presentation of “Rocky III.”

For the night: CBS was first (3.3/9, 14.1 million), followed by Fox (2.4/7, 4.9 million), NBC (2.0/5, 5.7 million), ABC (1.8/5, 5.9 million) and The CW (0.4/1, 1 million).