Reruns are having a hot summer

The TV dog days of summer continued last week as reruns of “CSI: Crime Scene Investigation” and the “Law & Order” franchise dominated viewer interest, according to national ratings released Tuesday by Nielsen Media.

In addition to “CSI” on CBS once again topping the ratings charts in terms of total viewers, the network’s “Without a Trace” also continued its momentum against repeats of “ER,” coming out ahead of the medical drama by its widest margin yet in viewers, households and the key demographics of adults 18-49 and 18-54.

The three “Law & Order” series -- “Law & Order,” “Law & Order: Criminal Intent” and “Law & Order: Special Victims Unit” continued a streak of top 10 finishes among total viewers.

While some unscripted shows such as “Fear Factor,” “For Love or Money 2,” “Big Brother 4” and “The Restaurant” are performing reasonably well -- though not making major waves -- others, such as “American Juniors” and “Cupid,” are struggling. “Cupid” in particular is performing far below expectations considering that it comes from “American Idol” judge Simon Cowell.

Despite the doldrums, Jim Belushi has cause for celebration. His “According to Jim” sitcom was the top rated ABC non-news show among total viewers, landing at No. 17. “Less Than Perfect” was the only other non-news or reality ABC series in the top 30 among total viewers.

Over on cable, Lifetime scored again with a reunion from an ‘80s vintage sitcom. Monday night’s special featuring the cast of “Designing Women” drew 3.3 million viewers, the second largest audience for any special in the history of the channel.

The record was set June 2 by a reunion special featuring the cast of “The Golden Girls.”

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National Prime-Time TV Rankings

Here are the rankings for national prime-time network television last week (July 21-27) 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 13.34 2 Law & Order NBC 12.76 3 Law & Order: Criminal Intent NBC 11.69 4 Without a Trace CBS 11.35 5 Law & Order (9 p.m.) NBC 11.05

6 Everybody Loves Raymond CBS 10.45 7 CSI: Miami CBS 10.13 8 60 Minutes CBS 10.01 9 King of Queens CBS 9.95 10 Law & Order: SVU NBC 9.32

11 Fear Factor NBC 9.05 12 Big Brother 4 (Wed.) CBS 8.97 13 Who Wants to Marry My Dad? NBC 8.64 14 Amazing Race: 4 CBS 8.60 15 Primetime Special Edition (Tue.) CBS 8.53

16 For Love or Money 2 NBC 8.39 17 According to Jim (9 p.m.) ABC 8.35 18 Restaurant NBC 8.28 19 Friends NBC 8.21 20 The Simpsons FOX 8.11

21 Dateline NBC (Sun.) NBC 8.03 22 Will & Grace NBC 7.92 23 America’s Funniest Home Videos ABC 7.90 24 Big Brother 4 (Tue.) CBS 7.78 25 Less Than Perfect ABC 7.69

26 60 Minutes II CBS 7.68 Dateline NBC (Tue.) NBC 7.68 28 Primetime Thursday ABC 7.63 29 Dateline NBC (Fri.) NBC 7.48 30 Still Standing CBS 7.44

31 Dog Eat Dog NBC 7.41 32 8 Simples Rules ABC 7.34 33 Yes, Dear CBS 7.23 “Funniest Wedding Outtakes” FOX 7.23 35 American Juniors (Tue.) FOX 7.21

36 Paradise Hotel (Tue.) FOX 7.16 37 Last Comic Standing NBC 7.13 38 American Juniors (Wed.) FOX 7.02 39 “Queer Eye/Straight Guy” NBC 6.94 40 George Lopez ABC 6.90

The Simpsons (9:30 p.m.) FOX 6.90 42 America’s Most Wanted FOX 6.84 43 Cupid CBS 6.80 44 Primetime Special Edition (Mon.) ABC 6.79 45 The Drew Carey Show (9:30 p.m.) ABC 6.74

46 Becker CBS 6.71 47 That ‘70s Show FOX 6.56 48 Paradise Hotel (Wed.) FOX 6.51 49 Cops (8:30 p.m.) FOX 6.48 50 Scrubs NBC 6.43

51 20/20 (Fri.) ABC 6.35 52 “Picnic” CBS 6.33 53 My Wife and Kids ABC 6.32 54 Malcolm in the Middle FOX 6.24 55 King of Queens (Sun.) CBS 6.22

48 Hours Investigates CBS 6.22 57 Life With Bonnie ABC 6.17 58 Big Brother 4 (Fri.) CBS 6.09 59 “Favorite Stars: Then and Now’ ABC 5.98 60 The Drew Carey Show ABC 5.94

61 Whose Line Is It Anyway? (9:30 p.m.) ABC 5.89 62 Whose Line Is It Anyway? ABC 5.88 63 Fame NBC 5.83 64 King of the Hill FOX 5.68 65 Banzai FOX 5.66

66 Judging Amy CBS 5.43 67 Dragnet ABC 5.37 The District CBS 5.37 “Road Trip” ABC 5.37 70 Cops FOX 5.16

71 WWE Smackdown! UPN 5.15 72 ER NBC 5.11 73 Hack CBS 4.87 74 “Stupid Behavior Special” FOX 4.84 75 Dog Eat Dog (Sat., 10 p.m.) NBC 4.82

76 Anything for Love FOX 4.74 77 “The Pennsylvania Miners’ Story” ABC 4.64 “Mighty Joe Young” ABC 4.64 79 48 Hours Investigates (Fri.) CBS 4.63 80 The Practice ABC 4.61

81 Futurama FOX 4.57 82 JAG CBS 4.54 83 Less Than Perfect (Mon., 8 p.m.) ABC 4.52 84 Cupid (Tue.) CBS 4.32 85 Less Than Perfect (Mon., 9:30 p.m.) ABC 4.28

86 Dog Eat Dog (Sat., 9 p.m.) NBC 4.24 Less Than Perfect (Mon., 9 p.m.) ABC 4.24 88 Less Than Perfect (Mon., 8:30 p.m.) ABC 4.16 89 Girlfriends UPN 3.85 90 Bernie Mac Show (8:30 p.m.) FOX 3.79

91 One on One UPN 3.77 92 Half and Half UPN 3.67 93 The Parkers UPN 3.62 94 Bernie Mac Show (8 p.m.) FOX 3.55 95 Keen Eddie FOX 3.41

96 Reba (9 p.m.) WB 3.38 97 Alias ABC 3.32 98 7th Heaven WB 3.17 99 Grounded for Life WB 2.90 100 Pulse FOX 2.88

Smallville WB 2.88 102 “Fear” WB 2.76 103 Boston Public (Fri.) FOX 2.64 104 What I Like About You WB 2.54 105 Reba (8 p.m.) WB 2.50

106 Charmed WB 2.26 107 Restaurant (Sat.) NBC 2.18 108 Gilmore Girls WB 2.07 109 One on One (Tue.) UPN 2.06 110 Gilmore Girls: Beginnings WB 1.98

111 The Twilight Zone UPN 1.93 112 Abby UPN 1.92 Boarding House WB 1.92 114 Enterprise UPN 1.83 Pepsi Smash WB 1.83

116 “The Accidental Spy” UPN 1.78 117 Boarding House (Sun.) WB 1.64 118 Pepsi Smash (Mon.) WB 1.36 119 Buffy the Vampire Slayer UPN 1.22

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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 7.70 10.85

CBS 7.40 11.58

ABC 5.82 9.10

FOX 5.57 9.12

UPN 2.83 3.41

WB 2.33 3.76

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Los Angeles Times