The reality of summer: Reruns rule

For all the talk about so-called reality programming offering an alternative to summer repeats, reruns -- particularly of procedural crime shows -- dominated last week’s ratings and occupied all Top 10 slots, based on viewing estimates issued Tuesday by Nielsen Media Research.

Last week’s results underscored why the networks have soured a bit on serialized dramas, which don’t repeat well, as opposed to the “CSI” and “Law & Order” franchises, which viewers can watch at any time. Similarly, CBS’ “Without a Trace” is thriving this summer, attracting almost twice the audience last week of time-period competitor “ER.”

Although many of the unscripted programs are drawing respectable ratings (and several more aren’t), this summer has yet to produce the sort of clear-cut hit that past summer premieres “American Idol,” “Survivor” and “Fear Factor” ultimately became.

Still, the networks are managing to hold serve, despite the competitors yapping at their heels. Last week’s aggregate audience of 26.8 million viewers in prime time for ABC, CBS, NBC and Fox mirrored their total from the corresponding week a year ago, and overall viewing is up 3% since the traditional rerun season began in late May.

Among last week’s cable fare, the BET Awards averaged an impressive 5.5 million viewers -- almost double those who tuned in for the AFI Awards tribute on USA -- while TNT’s miniseries “Caesar” didn’t exactly reign on Sunday, registering a so-so 3.6 million viewers.

Brian Lowry

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Here are the rankings for national prime-time network television last week (June 23-29) 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.

*--* Program Net- work View- ers Program Net- work View- ers

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*--* 1 CSI CBS 13.80 2 Without a Trace CBS 12.37 3 CSI: Miami CBS 11.97 4 Law & Order NBC 11.49 5 Law & Order: SVU NBC 10.45

6 Law & Order: Criminal Intent NBC 10.43 7 Everybody Loves Raymond CBS 10.38 8 Law & Order (9 p.m.) NBC 9.97 9 King of Queens CBS 9.96 10 Friends NBC 9.12

11 60 Minutes CBS 8.92 12 For Love or Money NBC 8.70 13 Primetime Thursday ABC 8.63 14 Dateline: NBC (Tue.) NBC 8.56 15 American Juniors (Tue.) FOX 8.16

16 60 Minutes II CBS 8.13 17 Dateline: NBC (Sun.) NBC 8.06 18 Last Comic Standing NBC 8.02 19 According to Jim (Tue., 9 p.m.) ABC 7.92 20 Amazing Race: 4 CBS 7.86

21 Crime and Punishment NBC 7.81 22 Meet My Folks NBC 7.80 23 Scrubs NBC 7.75 24 George Lopez ABC 7.74 25 Dateline: NBC (Fri.) NBC 7.62

26 Dog Eat Dog NBC 7.60 27 “Guilty Hearts,” Part 2 CBS 7.55 28 “Perfect Murder, Perfect Town,” Part 1 CBS 7.41 29 My Wife and Kids ABC 7.39 America’s Funniest Home Videos ABC 7.39

31 Will & Grace NBC 7.38 32 Fear Factor NBC 7.25 33 NYPD Blue ABC 7.24 34 Drew Carey Show (9:30 p.m.) ABC 7.13 35 Drew Carey Show ABC 7.08

36 8 Simple Rules (8:30 p.m.) ABC 6.96 37 Yes, Dear CBS 6.90 38 Less Than Perfect ABC 6.85 39 American Juniors (Wed.) FOX 6.72 40 Still Standing CBS 6.70

41 CSI: Miami (Sun.) CBS 6.64 20/20 (Fri.) ABC 6.64 43 America’s Most Wanted FOX 6.58 Fame NBC 6.58 45 “One Fine Day” ABC 6.55

Frasier NBC 6.55 47 ER NBC 6.49 48 Judging Amy CBS 6.46 49 JAG CBS 6.45 50 “Price Is Right: Million 6” CBS 6.45

51 8 Simple Rules ABC 6.34 52 Paradise Hotel (Wed.) FOX 6.32 53 “True Lies” FOX 6.19 54 That ‘70s Show FOX 6.16 55 30 Seconds to Fame FOX 6.01

56 The Guardian CBS 5.92 57 According to Jim (Mon., 9:30 p.m.) ABC 5.88 58 Paradise Hotel (Mon.) FOX 5.71 59 Stupid Behavior: Caught on Tape FOX 5.66 60 WWE Smackdown! UPN 5.65

61 The District CBS 5.64 62 “Price Is Right: U..S. Marines” CBS 5.59 63 According to Jim (Mon., 9 p.m.) ABC 5.41 64 Anything for Love (8:30 p.m.) FOX 5.36 65 48 Hours Investigates CBS 5.32

66 Whose Line Is It Anyway? ABC 5.32 67 “...First to Die” NBC 5.28 68 “America Celebrates: Ford’s Theatre” ABC 5.25 69 According to Jim (Mon., 8:30 p.m.) ABC 5.24 70 Anything For Love FOX 5.17

71 Hack CBS 5.12 72 Whose Line Is It Anyway? (9:30 p.m.) ABC 5.07 73 Keen Eddie FOX 4.97 74 Pulse FOX 4.96 75 Crossing Jordan NBC 4.84

76 According to Jim (Mon., 8 p.m.) ABC 4.82 77 “World’s Craziest Police Chases” FOX 4.77 78 The Dating Experiment ABC 4.76 79 The Agency CBS 4.57 80 2003 Essence Awards FOX 4.47

81 Dragnet ABC 4.31 82 “The 6th Day” ABC 4.27 83 The Practice ABC 4.04 84 “Inside the Osmonds” ABC 3.57 85 Smallville WB 3.47

86 America’s Next Top Model UPN 3.40 87 Reba (9 p.m.) WB 3.32 88 Girlfriends UPN 3.15 89 Half and Half UPN 3.12 90 7th Heaven WB 2.98

91 Jamie Kennedy (9:30 p.m.) WB 2.93 92 Reba (8 p.m.) WB 2.86 93 Grounded for Life WB 2.79 94 One on One UPN 2.77 95 Jamie Kennedy (9 p.m.) WB 2.62

96 Gilmore Girls WB 2.56 97 What I Like About You WB 2.53 98 Alias ABC 2.35 99 Boarding House WB 2.30 100 The Parkers UPN 2.25

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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 NBC 7.78 11.17

CBS 7.65 11.98

FOX 5.77 9.46

ABC 5.64 9.46

UPN 2.93 3.45

WB 2.34 3.89

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