CBS survives some tough competition to win week

Sunday’s finale of “Survivor: The Amazon” trounced its competition and “CSI: Crime Scene Investigation” continued its dominance as television’s top-rated series, according to rankings released Tuesday by Nielsen Media Research.

CBS’ “Survivor” climax beat ABC’s premiere of director Steven Spielberg’s “new” version of “E.T.,” featuring never-before-seen footage; part one of the season-ending episode of “Malcolm in the Middle” and a reunion of the cast of “Beverly Hills, 90210,” both on Fox.

But even though more than 22 million viewers tuned in to the two-hour installment of “Survivor,” it was still the least watched of all the “Survivor” finales. Network officials attributed the drop-off to the celebration of Mother’s Day.

A reunion of the previous “Survivor” casts fell off from the main show but still landed in the Top 10.

In the meantime, “American Idol” on Fox continues its juggernaut toward next week’s highly anticipated finale, which will face considerable competition on Wednesday from a three-hour “Law & Order” night on NBC.

Thursday’s 200th episode of “ER” performed well for NBC, and ABC’s “The Bachelor” continued to hold its own.

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Here are the rankings for national prime-time network television last week (May 5-11) 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 25.10 2 American Idol (Wed.) FOX 22.69 3 “Survivor: Amazon Finale” CBS 22.29 4 American Idol (Tue.) FOX 22.24 5 ER NBC 21.90

6 Everybody Loves Raymond CBS 19.59 7 Friends NBC 19.55 8 Survivor: Amazon CBS 19.00 9 Friends (8:30 p.m.) NBC 18.98 10 “Survivor: Amazon Reunion” CBS 17.65

11 Law & Order NBC 17.46 12 Will & Grace NBC 17.10 13 Still Standing CBS 15.50 14 Without a Trace CBS 14.92 15 CSI: Miami CBS 14.46

16 Bernie Mac Show FOX 13.73 17 The Bachelor ABC 13.51 18 24 FOX 13.49 19 The West Wing NBC 13.37 20 Law & Order: Criminal Intent (10 p.m.) NBC 13.30

21 Judging Amy CBS 13.29 22 Law & Order: SVU NBC 13.28 23 Law & Order: Criminal Intent NBC 13.01 24 JAG CBS 12.75 25 Fear Factor NBC 12.62

Yes, Dear CBS 12.62 27 King of Queens CBS 11.93 28 60 Minutes CBS 11.89 29 That ‘70s Show FOX 11.72 30 The Guardian CBS 11.66

31 NYPD Blue ABC 11.56 32 Bernie Mac Show (9:30 p.m.) FOX 11.51 33 The District CBS 11.05 34 Frasier NBC 10.89 35 “Murder She Wrote: Celtic Riddle” CBS 10.69

36 The Simpsons FOX 10.56 37 Extreme Makeover (Wed.) ABC 10.34 38 The Practice ABC 10.07 39 Crossing Jordan NBC 9.86 40 Malcolm in the Middle FOX 9.82

41 My Wife and Kids ABC 9.56 42 60 Minutes II CBS 9.52 43 Star Search (Wed.) CBS 9.51 44 America’s Funniest Home Videos ABC 9.25 45 George Lopez ABC 9.24

46 “ABC’s 50th Anniversary Bloopers” ABC 9.18 47 Dateline NBC (Wed.) NBC 9.13 48 “The Green Mile” ABC 9.08 49 According to Jim (9 p.m.) ABC 9.07 50 48 Hours Investigates CBS 8.96

51 Law & Order: SVU (Sat.) NBC 8.88 52 “Price Is Right: Million 5” CBS 8.69 53 Star Search (Fri.) CBS 8.61 54 Primetime Thursday ABC 8.50 55 Less Than Perfect ABC 8.39

56 Watching Ellie NBC 8.29 57 American Dreams NBC 8.12 58 Dateline NBC (Fri.) NBC 8.11 59 Boston Public FOX 8.03 60 “The Matrix” FOX 7.87

61 Dateline NBC (Tue.) NBC 7.81 62 20/20 (Fri.) ABC 7.74 63 King of the Hill FOX 7.68 64 8 Simple Rules ABC 7.63 65 The Agency CBS 7.57

66 America’s Most Wanted FOX 7.48 67 “E.T. The Extra-Terrestrial” ABC 7.47 68 According to Jim ABC 7.46 69 Dragnet ABC 7.10 70 Smallville WB 7.03

71 “90210 Ten Year High School Reunion” FOX 7.01 72 Cops (8:30 p.m.) FOX 6.79 73 7th Heaven WB 6.77 74 The Simpsons (7 p.m.) FOX 6.38 75 “Most Outrageous Game Show Moments 4” NBC 6.33

76 Mr. Personality FOX 5.99 77 Dateline NBC (Sun.) NBC 5.87 78 Cops FOX 5.85 79 Law & Order (Sat.) NBC 5.70 80 “Miss Dog Beauty Pageant” FOX 5.48

81 Gilmore Girls WB 5.17 82 Everwood WB 5.05 83 Charmed WB 4.90 84 WWE Smackdown! UPN 4.88 Dawson’s Creek WB 4.88

86 “Favorite Stars: Then and Now” ABC 4.62 87 “Most Outrageous Game Show Moments 4” (Sat.) NBC 4.45 88 Reba WB 4.30 89 Pulse FOX 4.24 90 Enterprise UPN 4.12

91 Buffy the Vampire Slayer UPN 4.02 92 Angel WB 3.95 93 Girlfriends UPN 3.88 94 Half and Half UPN 3.67 95 Grounded for Life WB 3.52

96 One on One UPN 3.49 97 The Parkers UPN 3.20 98 The Twilight Zone UPN 2.61 99 Greetings From Tucson WB 2.52 100 What I Like About You WB 2.40

101 Gilmore Girls: Beginnings WB 2.35 102 “Pitch Black” WB 2.34 103 Platinum UPN 2.16 104 “Eraser” UPN 1.89

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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 13.69 12.54

NBC 11.21 11.64

FOX 9.50 9.81

ABC 8.82 10.00

WB 4.31 4.08

UPN 3.29 3.52

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