NBC and ABC also did well in sweeps

CBS may have won the November sweeps crown in total viewers, but NBC and ABC also had huge ratings to celebrate during the last full week of sweeps, according to national ratings from Nielsen Media Research, which were released Tuesday.

An explosive episode of NBC’s “ER” was the second-highest rated series behind CBS’ unstoppable “CSI: Crime Scene Investigation,” while NBC’s “Friends” barely beat out CBS’ “Survivor: Pearl Islands.”

Meanwhile, the series finale of ABC’s “The Bachelor” scored an impressive 18.6 million viewers, more than 3 million above the previous series’ finale.

News specials and series also enjoyed success. Peter Jennings’ special looking back at the Kennedy assassination performed well, particularly against the competition of “CSI” and NBC’s comedies.

And a special 90-minute edition of “60 Minutes,” which featured an extensive report on the pornography industry, landed the newsmagazine its best ratings since January 2002.

CBS’ Sunday movie franchise’s winning streak continued with “Fallen Angel,” a Hallmark Hall of Fame presentation starring Gary Sinise. The emotional drama attracted 17.3 million viewers.

Other specials that scored lackluster ratings were CBS’ “Victoria’s Secret Fashion Show” and ABC’s Britney Spears special.

Although Fox’s new drama “Tru Calling” continues to struggle, the network on Tuesday ordered seven additional episodes, assuring the series of a full season.

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Here are the rankings for national prime-time network television last week (Nov. 17-23) 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. ages 2 and older. Viewership is listed in millions.

*--* 1 CSI CBS 26.64 2 ER NBC 23.41 3 Friends NBC 20.66 4 Friends (8:30 p.m.) NBC 19.93 5 Survivor: Pearl Islands CBS 19.90

6 Everybody Loves Raymond CBS 19.44 7 CSI: Miami CBS 18.87 8 The Bachelor ABC 18.62 9 60 Minutes CBS 17.96 10 Law & Order NBC 17.52

11 “Fallen Angel” CBS 17.39 12 Will & Grace NBC 16.38 13 Monday Night Football ABC 16.06 14 Two and a Half Men CBS 15.98 15 Without a Trace CBS 15.74

16 Law & Order: Criminal Intent NBC 14.21 17 Law & Order: SVU NBC 13.94 18 Still Standing CBS 13.60 19 The West Wing NBC 13.49 20 JAG CBS 13.26

21 Navy NCIS CBS 13.21 22 NFL Monday Showcase ABC 13.20 23 Scrubs NBC 12.83 24 My Wife and Kids ABC 12.57 25 Yes, Dear CBS 12.53

26 The Simpsons FOX 12.17 27 The Simpsons (Sun., 8:30 p.m.) FOX 12.11 28 Fear Factor NBC 11.96 29 King of Queens CBS 11.92 30 Without a Trace CBS 11.80

31 “Peter Jennings Reporting” ABC 11.70 32 Frasier NBC 11.60 33 Dateline: NBC (Fri.) NBC 11.23 34 Las Vegas NBC 11.19 35 Becker CBS 11.10

36 Joan of Arcadia CBS 11.01 37 8 Simple Rules ABC 10.99 38 CSI: Miami CBS 10.75 39 20/20 (Fri.) ABC 10.67 40 The District CBS 10.47

41 60 Minutes II CBS 10.30 42 Malcolm in the Middle FOX 10.21 It’s All Relative ABC 10.21 44 Dateline NBC (Sun.) NBC 10.03 45 Third Watch NBC 10.02

46 According to Jim ABC 10.00 47 Average Joe NBC 9.99 48 NYPD Blue ABC 9.88 49 That ‘70s Show (Wed., 8:30 p.m.) FOX 9.85 50 Law & Order (Sun.) NBC 9.84

51 Ed NBC 9.52 52 Hope & Faith ABC 9.48 53 “Victoria’s Secret Fashion Show” CBS 9.44 Hack CBS 9.44 55 “Bachelor: After Final Rose” ABC 9.27

56 Less Than Perfect ABC 9.13 57 Whoopi! NBC 9.05 58 O.C. FOX 9.03 59 “Charlie Brown Thanksgiving” ABC 8.98 60 “Winnie Pooh Thanksgiving” ABC 8.96

61 “Eloise at Christmastime” ABC 8.89 I’m With Her ABC 8.89 63 American Dreams NBC 8.75 Good Morning Miami NBC 8.75 65 Alias ABC 8.48

66 That ‘70s Show (Wed., 8 p.m.) FOX 8.47 67 24 FOX 8.35 68 Happy Family NBC 8.34 69 Life With Bonnie ABC 8.33 70 Law & Order: SVU (Sat.) NBC 8.32

71 48 Hours Investigates CBS 8.03 72 7th Heaven WB 7.85 Cops (8:30 p.m.) FOX 7.85 74 The Practice ABC 7.72 75 The Handler CBS 7.70

76 George Lopez ABC 7.49 77 America’s Funniest Home Videos ABC 7.44 78 King of the Hill (7:30 p.m.) FOX 7.39 79 10-8 FOX 7.26 80 America’s Most Wanted FOX 7.15

81 That ‘70s Show (Tue.) FOX 7.01 82 Joe Millionaire (9 p.m.) FOX 6.88 83 The Simpsons (Tue.) FOX 6.48 84 Cops FOX 6.43 85 Married to the Kellys ABC 6.42

86 Law & Order: Criminal Intent (Sat.) NBC 6.40 87 Smallville WB 6.36 88 Everwood WB 6.32 89 Miss Match NBC 6.28 90 Arrested Development FOX 6.26

91 Charmed WB 6.03 92 “Britney Spears: In the Zone” ABC 5.79 93 WWE Smackdown! UPN 5.46 94 King of the Kill (7:20 p.m.) FOX 5.39 95 Las Vegas (Sat.) NBC 5.37

96 Gilmore Girls WB 5.07 97 All of Us UPN 4.98 98 Joe Millionaire (8 p.m.) FOX 4.88 99 “Dude Where’s My Car,” FOX 4.86 100 Eve (Tue.) UPN 4.76

101 Girlfriends UPN 4.76 Enterprise UPN 4.59 103 Reba WB 4.55 104 Half and Half UPN 4.49 105 Eve (Mon.) UPN 4.47

106 “Vibe Awards” UPN 4.27 107 Angel WB 3.96 108 One on One UPN 3.94 109 King of the Hill (7 p.m.) FOX 3.89 110 The Parkers UPN 3.83

111 Tru Calling FOX 3.81 112 Rock Me Baby WB 3.80 113 One Tree Hill WB 3.75 114 Steve Harvey’s Big Time WB 3.41 115 Smallville: Beginnings WB 3.09

116 O.C. (Thu.) FOX 2.88 117 Jamie Kennedy WB 2.78 118 Tarzan WB 2.77 119 Like Family WB 2.76 120 Grounded For Life WB 2.60

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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 14.24 13.52

NBC 11.61 11.17

ABC 10.65 9.85

FOX 6.80 10.56

UPN 4.38 3.63

WB 4.35 4.25

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