‘CSI: Miami’ rockets to ratings lead

The Fourth of July week provided ratings fireworks for CBS, thanks to the hot showing of “CSI: Miami,” which became the top-rated show for the first time since its premiere last fall, according to national Nielsen ratings released Tuesday.

The spinoff of “CSI: Crime Scene Investigation” was also the most popular series in households and among the 25-54 demographic. “CSI,” which regularly lands on top of the ratings charts, came in at No. 6 last week.

Fox was also enjoying its own celebration with impressive ratings for its broadcast of the 1996 blockbuster “Independence Day.” The action/science-fiction film was the 10th-most-watched show of the week and performed well in key demographics.

The season finale of NBC’s unscripted dating series “For Love or Money” scored well, proving to be one of the network’s most popular summer series. While other NBC unscripted shows such as “Dog Eat Dog” and “Fear Factor” were also attracting audiences, “Fame” continued to fall as it moved toward its finale.

Meanwhile, UPN has a true summer hit with “America’s Next Top Model,” which continued its winning streak for that network, coming on behind “WWE Smackdown!” as that network’s most popular show. The series ended Tuesday but has already been renewed for a second season.

Here are the rankings for national prime-time network television last week (June 30-July 6), 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 Network Viewers 1 CSI: Miami CBS 12.07 2 Everybody Loves Raymond CBS 11.54 3 Law & Order NBC 11.38 4 King of Queens CBS 10.98 5 60 Minutes CBS 10.96

6 CSI CBS 10.80 7 “Daytona 400” NBC 9.69 8 Law & Order: Criminal Intent NBC 9.32 9 Without a Trace CBS 9.31 10 “Independence Day” FOX 8.94

11 Law & Order (Wed.) NBC 8.91 12 For Love or Money NBC 8.67 13 Fear Factor NBC 8.63 14 Crime and Punishment NBC 8.10 15 Last Comic Standing NBC 7.87

16 American Juniors (Tue.) FOX 7.59 17 60 Minutes II CBS 7.55 18 Meet My Folks (Tue.) NBC 7.49 19 “Boston Pops Fireworks” CBS 7.43 20 Dog Eat Dog NBC 7.32

21 Without a Trace (Sun.) CBS 7.30 22 “Primetime Special Edition’ ABC 7.16 23 Still Standing CBS 7.14 24 According to Jim ABC 7.07 25 Meet My Folks (Mon.) NBC 7.00

26 “Wild, Wild West” CBS 6.97 27 American Juniors (Wed.) FOX 6.94 28 Amazing Race: 4 CBS 6.93 29 George Lopez ABC 6.92 30 Yes, Dear CBS 6.87

31 Friends NBC 6.86 32 My Wife and Kids ABC 6.85 33 8 Simples Rules (Tue.) ABC 6.78 34 “Macy’s 4th of July Fireworks” NBC 6.76 35 NYPD Blue ABC 6.76

36 Judging Amy CBS 6.72 37 8 Simple Rules (Mon., 8:30 p.m.) ABC 6.72 38 JAG CBS 6.45 39 “NASCAR Post Race” NBC 6.38 40 Paradise Hotel (Wed.) FOX 6.38

41 8 Simple Rules (Mon., 9:30 p.m.) ABC 6.37 42 That ‘70’s Show FOX 6.32 43 8 Simple Rules (Mon., 8:30 p.m.) ABC 6.32 44 The Guardian CBS 6.27 45 “Price Is Right: Air Force” CBS 6.18

46 8 Simple Rules (Mon., 8 p.m.) ABC 6.14 47 Less Than Perfect ABC 5.99 48 The District CBS 5.77 49 The Drew Carey Show ABC 5.68 50 The Drew Carey Show (9:30 p.m.) ABC 5.64 51 Fame NBC 5.61 52 Scrubs NBC 5.59 53 “Perfect Murder, Perfect Town,” Part 2 CBS 5.58 54 The Agency CBS 5.56 55 “Dinosaur” ABC 5.48

56 48 Hours Investigates CBS 5.42 57 Will & Grace NBC 5.42 58 Life With Bonnie ABC 5.09 59 ER NBC 5.06 60 Frasier NBC 4.96

61 The Practice ABC 4.88 62 “Price Is Right: U.S. Navy” CBS 4.84 63 Dateline: NBC (Fri.) NBC 4.64 64 WWE Smackdown! UPN 4.61 65 Dragnet ABC 4.61

66 Paradise Hotel (Mon.) FOX 4.56 67 America’s Funniest Home Videos ABC 4.47 68 Anything for Love FOX 4.43 69 America’s Next Top Model UPN 4.42 70 Keen Eddie FOX 4.30

71 “The Love Letter” ABC 4.26 72 20/20 (Fri.) ABC 4.11 73 “Scream 2” FOX 4.07 74 Anything for Love (8:30 p.m.) FOX 4.06 75 “Cher: Farewell Tour” NBC 4.05

76 “Hurricane” FOX 3.90 77 The Dating Experiment ABC 3.86 78 Primetime Thursday ABC 3.52 79 Half and Half UPN 3.47 80 One on One UPN 3.37

81 Girlfriends UPN 3.32 82 “Star Trek: First Contact” ABC 3.26 83 Alias ABC 3.21 84 Whose Line Is It Anyway? (9:30 p.m.) ABC 3.03 85 Whose Line Is It Anyway? ABC 2.90

86 Smallville WB 2.84 87 The Parkers WB 2.82 88 Jamie Kennedy (9:30 p.m.) WB 2.81 89 7th Heaven WB 2.80

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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 7.41 11.87

NBC 7.36 11.08

FOX 5.38 9.36

ABC 4.97 9.35

UPN 2.93 3.44

WB 2.04 3.85

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