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‘CSI: Miami’ Attracts a Lot of Bodies, Helps CBS Win Night

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“CSI: Miami” looked as hot as the show’s namesake in its debut Monday--the first night of the new TV season--to pace CBS to a clear-cut victory, according to viewing estimates released Tuesday by Nielsen Media Research.

The “CSI” spinoff attracted more than 23 million viewers nationally, the largest audience for a September dramatic premiere since “ER” eight years ago. The show had more than twice as many viewers as NBC’s own forensic crime-solving series, “Crossing Jordan,” in the 10 p.m. slot.

CBS also controlled the preceding hour with back-to-back new episodes of “Everybody Loves Raymond,” which averaged 23.7 million viewers one night after three of its stars won Emmy Awards.

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The new “CSI” was strong locally as well. The show was watched in roughly 665,000 homes--or 12.5% of those in the Los Angeles-Orange County viewing area--from 10:30 to 11 p.m., compared with 180,000 tuned to “Whose Line Is It Anyway?” on KABC-TV, helping KCBS-TV’s late news more than double the rating for KABC’s “Eyewitness News” at 11 p.m. while finishing just behind KNBC-TV’s newscast.

KCBS’ good news didn’t extend into late night: NBC’s “Tonight Show With Jay Leno” dominated with an L.A.-area audience of roughly 270,000 homes, compared with just over 100,000 for “Late Show With David Letterman,” like “Raymond” an Emmy winner on Sunday.

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