CBS Laughs All the Way to the Head of the Class

Strong Monday comedies and a dominating Thursday performance against reruns of “ER,” “Friends” and “Will & Grace” helped CBS easily win a second straight week, based on viewing estimates issued Tuesday by Nielsen Media Research.

NBC’s stunt repeating first episodes of its Thursday hits proved no match for CBS’ combination of “Survivor” and “CSI: Crime Scene Investigation,” featuring Marg Helgenberger, with an extra episode of the latter replacing the crime drama “Big Apple.”

Easter Sunday, meanwhile, was a night for asteroids, not religious-themed programming, as CBS scored with the movie “Deep Impact” while repeats of ABC’s “The Miracle Maker” and NBC’s “Mary, Mother of Jesus” generated dismal tune-in. The former also appeared to depress “Who Wants to Be a Millionaire,” which posted its lowest Sunday rating since facing the Super Bowl in January despite anointing the show’s eighth million-dollar winner.

ABC’s boy-band documentary “Making the Band” hit a dull note in its return Friday despite facing reruns on all five competing broadcast networks, and CBS’ “Walker, Texas Ranger”--moved to a new time slot--delivered a record-low rating for an original episode as the series heads toward its finale. The XFL football league also continued to limp toward the finish line with weekend playoff coverage, which doesn’t bode well for this Saturday’s championship game.

Network Averages

Here is the number of viewers that each network averaged per hour of prime time, for last week and for the season.

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Last Season week to date CBS 12.37 million 12.57 ABC 9.84 12.86 NBC 8.06 11.54 FOX 7.55 9.74 UPN 2.90 3.74 WB 2.65 3.74

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