Producer’s top three shows help CBS to win

NEW YORK — Three different shows produced by the same man -- Jerry Bruckheimer -- were the three most-watched programs on prime-time television last week.

All three shows, “CSI: Crime Scene Investigation,” “Without a Trace” and “CSI: Miami,” were on CBS, which easily won the rankings race in a week dominated by reruns.

A fourth Bruckheimer show, “Cold Case,” was ranked ninth. “CSI” is television’s most popular show and the other two chart leaders are usually in or around the top 10. “Without a Trace” moved up last week because it aired an original episode against a repeat of “ER” on NBC.

“The Simple Life” with Paris Hilton and Nicole Richie has quickly become Fox’s most popular show. It was seen by just under 12 million people last week, meaning it had more viewers than an interview with President Bush that aired at the same time on ABC, according to Nielsen Media Research.

A special prime-time showing of CBS’ venerable game show “The Price Is Right” drew more than 12 million viewers.

CBS averaged 12.4 million viewers for the week. But since nearly two-thirds of CBS’ audience was outside of the 18-to-49-year-old demographic, that key measurement was won by NBC.

NBC averaged 9.8 million people overall, ABC had 8.8 million, Fox 7.4 million, UPN 3.4 million and the WB 3 million.

NBC’s “Nightly News” with Tom Brokaw won the evening news race, averaging 11.8 million viewers. ABC’s “World News Tonight” with Peter Jennings had 10.5 million and the “CBS Evening News” with Dan Rather had 8.5 million.

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Here are the rankings for national prime-time network television last week (Dec. 15-21) as compiled by Nielsen Media Research. They are based on the average number of people who watched a program from start to finish. Nielsen estimates there are 272.04 million potential viewers in the U.S. age 2 and older. Viewership is listed in millions.

*--* 1 CSI CBS 24.70 2 Without a Trace CBS 19.35 3 CSI: Miami CBS 19.21 4 Monday Night Football ABC 18.76 5 Everybody Loves Raymond CBS 18.05

6 Two and a Half Men CBS 14.77 7 Law & Order NBC 14.50 8 NFL Monday Night Showcase ABC 14.28 9 Cold Case CBS 13.95 10 Primetime Special Edition ABC 13.89

11 60 Minutes CBS 13.74 12 Still Standing CBS 13.55 13 “The Christmas Shoes” CBS 13.47 Friends NBC 13.47 15 “Barbara Walters Presents” ABC 13.07

16 Fear Factor NBC 12.85 17 Fox NFL Sunday Post-Game FOX 12.76 18 Judging Amy CBS’ 12.46 19 Law & Order NBC 12.36 “Price Is Right Special” CBS 12.36

21 60 Minutes II CBS 12.31 22 Navy NCIS CBS 12.02 23 The Simple Life (Tue.) FOX 11.86 24 Yes, Dear CBS 11.56 25 Las Vegas NBC 11.38

26 King of Queens CBS 11.24 27 ER NBC 11.23 28 “Titanic” NBC 11.15 29 Law & Order: SVU NBC 11.13 30 “Primetime Special Event” ABC 11.01

31 The Simpsons FOX 10.65 32 Will & Grace NBC 10.41 33 The Guardian CBS 10.33 34 The Simple Life (Wed.) FOX 10.18 35 Good Morning Miami NBC 10.03

According to Jim ABC 10.03 37 JAG CBS 9.76 38 20/20 (Fri.) ABC 9.63 39 The District CBS 9.31 40 Becker CBS 9.23

41 My Wife and Kids ABC 9.19 42 Frasier NBC 9.08 43 24 FOX 8.97 44 Dateline NBC (Fri.) NBC 8.96 45 Less Than Perfect ABC 8.89

46 Scrubs NBC 8.78 47 That ‘70s Show FOX 8.75 48 “National Lampoon’s Christmas Vacation” NBC 8.56 49 King of the Hill FOX 8.33 50 It’s All Relative ABC 8.20

51 Malcolm in the Middle FOX 8.18 52 O.C. FOX 7.99 53 Ed NBC 7.93 54 The Tracy Morgan Show NBC 7.89 55 “The Santa Clause” ABC 7.88

56 Happy Family NBC 7.85 57 That ‘70s Show (Tue.) FOX 7.81 58 Joan of Arcadia CBS 7.72 59 Bernie Mac Show FOX 7.66 60 Primetime Thursday ABC 7.53

61 Hack CBS 7.51 62 “National Lampoon’s Christmas Vacation 2” NBC 7.48 63 Hope & Faith ABC 7.46 64 Line of Fire ABC 7.44 65 Whoopi NBC 7.34

66 48 Hours Investigates CBS 7.10 67 Cops (8:30 p.m.) FOX 6.91 68 America’s Funniest Home Videos ABC 6.87 Life With Bonnie ABC 6.87 70 The Handler CBS 6.80

71 George Lopez ABC 6.58 72 10-8 ABC 6.55 73 Threat Matrix ABC 6.47 74 Arrested Development FOX 6.42 75 America’s Most Wanted FOX 6.28

76 Miss Match NBC 6.05 77 The Practice ABC 6.03 78 Extreme Makeover ABC 6.00 79 Married to the Kellys ABC 5.86 80 Cops FOX 5.85

81 “The Grinch Who Stole Christmas” WB 5.79 82 “TV’s Naughtiest Blunders 3” FOX 5.70 83 Threat Matrix (Mon.) ABC 5.48 84 WWE Smackdown! UPN 5.28 85 “Robbie the Reindeer” CBS 5.26

86 “Scooby-Doo Christmas” WB 5.15 87 “Jingle Ball Rock ‘03” FOX 5.11 88 The Simple Life (Thu., 9:30 p.m.) FOX 5.03 89 The Simple Life (Thu., 9 p.m.) FOX 4.82 90 Fear Factor (Sat.) NBC 4.77

91 Alias ABC 4.69 92 “Merry Mickey Celebration” ABC 4.32 93 Tru Calling FOX 4.31 94 Boston Public FOX 4.29 95 All of Us UPN 3.98

96 Girlfriends UPN 3.94 97 Half and Half UPN 3.92 98 7th Heaven WB 3.89 99 Eve UPN 3.85 100 “Married With Children Special” FOX 3.74

101 “Victoria’s Secret Fashion Show” UPN 3.61 102 One on One UPN 3.55 103 Smallville WB 3.42 104 Reba WB 3.40 105 The Parkers UPN 3.34

106 Grounded for Life WB 2.93 107 Charmed WB 2.79 108 Everwood WB 2.77 109 Smallville: Beginnings WB 2.74 Jamie Kennedy WB 2.74

111 Jake 2.0 UPN 2.67 112 Like Family WB 2.59 113 Gilmore Girls WB 2.50 114 Enterprise UPN 2.44 115 What I Like About You WB 2.30

116 “Goldfinger” UPN 2.23 117 Angel WB 2.19 118 One Tree Hill WB 2.07 119 Run of the House WB 1.76

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*--* Network averages Here is the number of viewers (in millions) that each network averaged per hour of prime time, for last week and for the season. Network Last week Season to date CBS 12.38 13.38

NBC 9.78 10.92

ABC 8.84 9.68

FOX 7.35 9.69

UPN 3.44 3.54

WB 2.96 3.95

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Los Angeles Times