An hour long appearance by Sen. Barack Obama helped NBC's Meet the Press into another first place finish, in the Sunday morning show ratings last week.

Also performing strong was ABC's This Week with George Stephanopoulos, which finished second in Total Viewers, after a Sen. Hillary Clinton town hall.

In the A25-54 demo, NBC finished first, followed by CBS, ABC and FOX.

The Tim Russert-moderated Meet the Press tallied 4,346,000 Total Viewers, compared to This Week with 2,897,000, Face the Nation with 2,846,000 and Fox News Sunday with 1,453,000.

All programs, except Fox News Sunday, saw week-to-week gains (FNS had Obama on last week).

With Matt Lauer trekking around the world on Today, Charlie Gibson and Barbara Walters filling in on GMA and The Early Show setting up shop in Kansas, last week's morning show ratings were expected to be high. They were — all three networks saw gains in both Total Viewers and the A25-54 demo, although NBC's Today show say the biggest week-to-week gains.

NBC won the week in both categories, and NBC and ABC delivered the best Total Viewer figure since the week of March 3. Today topped GMA by more than 1.43M viewers.

This year's "Where in the World" series, however, was the second lowest-rated in its nine year history.

For the week of April 28:

Total Viewers: NBC: 6,070,000 / ABC: 4,640,000 / CBS: 2,740,000

Households: NBC: 4.7/16 / ABC: 3.8/13 / CBS: 2.1/7

A25-54 demo: NBC: 2,880,000 / ABC: 2,120,000 / CBS: 1,290,000

NBC's Today show again finished in first place last week, bringing the total up to 646 consecutive weeks in first. ABC's Good Morning America was the only program up week-to-week, however. All three networks saw drops week-to-week in the A25-54 demo.

For the week of April 21:

Total Viewers: NBC: 5,517,000 / ABC: 4,546,000 / CBS: 2,689,000

Households: NBC: 4.3/15 / ABC: 3.6/12 / CBS: 2.1/7

A25-54 demo rating: NBC: 2.1 / ABC: 1.6 / CBS: 0.9

Despite a stronger showing in some metered markets, Fox News Sunday remained firmly in fourth place last week out of the Sunday morning shows. Anchor Chris Wallace interviewed Sen. Barack Obama during the program.

NBC's Meet the Press finished in first place again in Total Viewers, ABC's This Week came in second and CBS's Face the Nation finished third.

In the A25-54 demo, NBC finished first, followed by CBS, ABC and FOX.

The Tim Russert-moderated Meet the Press tallied 3,903,000 Total Viewers, compared to This Week with 2,535,000, Face the Nation with 2,486,000 and Fox News Sunday with 1,638,000.

All four programs saw a gain in Total Viewers week-to-week.

Next week, first place MTP and last place FNS switch featured guests, with Russert interviewing Obama and Wallace interviewing Howard Dean. Dean will be on a Fox News program for the first time in 18 months.

> Update: Fox News Sunday was up 33% from last week, and 27% year-to-year. Meet the Press was up 15% year-to-year, with This Week down 4% and Face the Nation down 12%.

Sen. Barack Obama's interview with FOX News Sunday's Chris Wallace yesterday helped FNS to a 33% increase over last week in the metered markets (the 56 largest in the U.S.).

According to Nielsen, FNS (celebrating its 12th anniversary today) scored a 1.6, which still put it in fourth place. However, third place Face The Nation (1.7) was down 15%. Meet the Press finished first again with a 3.2 (up 7%) and This Week was flat with 2.3. The metered market figures are significantly lower than the actual figures from last week for each network.

FNS's best market yesterday was Detroit, where it finished in first place. In Washington, D.C., FNS finished second behind NBC's Meet the Press.

ABC's "This Week" with George Stephanopoulos finished in second place in Total Viewers last week — its first since moving to the Newseum.

NBC's Meet the Press finished in first place in Total Viewers last week and CBS's Face the Nation and FOX News Sunday finished third and fourth.

In the A25-54 demo, NBC finished first, ABC and CBS tied for second while FOX came in fourth place.

The Tim Russert-moderated Meet the Press tallied 3,492,000 Total Viewers, compared to This Week with 2,538,000, Face the Nation with 2,455,000 and Fox News Sunday with 1,372,000.

Face the Nation and Fox News Sunday saw a gain in total viewers week-to-week.

The Today show finished in first place again last week, and was the only morning broadcast up week-to-week. Third place The Early Show posted year-to-year gains: up 2% in Total Viewers and up 10% in the A25-54 demo.

For the week of April 14:

Total Viewers: NBC: 5,543,000 / ABC: 4,443,000 / CBS: 2,766,000

Households: NBC: 4.4/15 / ABC: 3.5/12 / CBS: 2.2/7

A25-54 demo rating: NBC: 2.2/15 / ABC: 1.7/12 / CBS: 1.1/7

• Of note, Today's 5.54M Total Viewers topped former co-anchor Katie Couric's draw of 5.39M on the CBS Evening News last week.

NBC's Meet the Press finished in first place in Total Viewers last week, with ABC's This Week in second place, CBS's Face the Nation in third and FOX News Sunday in fourth.

In the A25-54 demo, NBC finished first, ABC and CBS tied for second while FOX came in fourth place.

The Tim Russert-moderated Meet the Press tallied 4,016,000 Total Viewers, compared to This Week with 2,611,000, Face the Nation with 2,356,000 and Fox News Sunday with 1,316,000.

Meet the Press was the only Sunday morning show to gain in total viewers week-to-week.

The Today show topped its morning competition for the 644th week in a row. With 5.6M Total Viewers, Today had a 20% lead over Good Morning America. Week-to-week, second place GMA cut the gap with Today by 21% in Total Viewers and 12% in the A25-54 demo. Third place The Early Show posted year-to-year gains: up 8% in Total Viewers and up 22% in the demo.

For the week of April 7:

Total viewers: NBC: 5,580,000 / ABC: 4,640,000 / CBS: 2,880,000

Households: NBC: 4.3/15 / ABC: 3.6/13 / CBS: 2.2/8

A25-54 demo: NBC: 2,620,000 / ABC: 2,100,000 / CBS: 1,400,000

The Tim Russert moderated-Meet the Press finished first in Total Viewers last week, with ABC's This Week in second place, CBS's Face the Nation in third and FOX News Sunday in fourth.

In the A25-54 demo, NBC finished first, ABC and CBS tied for second while FOX came in third.

NBC's Meet the Press tallied 3,478,000 Total Viewers, compared to This Week with 2,801,000, Face the Nation with 2,777,000 and Fox News Sunday with 1,415,000.

Fox News Sunday was the only Sunday morning show to gain in total viewers week-to-week.