ABC scores with NFL’s return

Struggling ABC finally had some ratings news to celebrate, as the network’s broadcast of the first NFL game of the season landed in the top spot among total viewers, according to Nielsen ratings released Tuesday.

Thursday’s clash of the New York Jets versus the Washington Redskins drew more than 19.1 million viewers, but NBC still won the week in total viewership, breaking CBS’ five-week sweep.

And the football victory didn’t help ABC’s regular shows; it had no non-sports programming in the top 20 shows among total viewers. Its top-ranked series was “George Lopez” at No. 22.

CBS’ “CSI” remained the most popular drama, and the network’s “Everybody Loves Raymond” was the top-rated comedy.

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Here are the rankings for national prime-time network television last week (Sept. 1-7) 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 Monday Night Football (Thu.) ABC 19.15 2 “NFL Showcase” ABC 17.33 3 CSI CBS 14.54 4 Law & Order NBC 12.99 5 Law & Order (Sun.) NBC 12.31

6 Fox NFL Post-Game FOX 12.26 7 Everybody Loves Raymond CBS 11.67 8 King of Queens CBS 11.37 9 Law & Order: Criminal Intent NBC 11.23 10 CSI: Miami (Mon.) CBS 11.22

11 Fear Factor NBC 10.80 12 CSI (Mon.) CBS 10.68 13 Without a Trace CBS 10.51 14 Big Brother 4 (Wed.) CBS 9.99 15 Friends NBC 9.77

16 Big Brother 4 (Tue.) CBS 9.70 60 Minutes CBS 9.70 18 Dateline: NBC (Fri.) NBC 9.67 19 Law & Order: SVU NBC 9.37 20 “NFL Kickoff Live” ABC 9.27

21 The O.C FOX 9.13 22 George Lopez (9 p.m.) ABC 9.03 23 Dateline NBC (Wed.) NBC 8.81 24 Will & Grace NBC 8.65 The West Wing NBC 8.65

26 For Love or Money 2 NBC 8.64 27 Still Standing CBS 8.53 28 8 Simple Rules ABC 8.38 29 America’s Funniest Home Videos ABC 8.23 30 CSI: Miami (Fri.) CBS 8.15

31 20/20 (Fri.) ABC 8.10 Yes, Dear CBS 8.10 33 America’s Most Wanted FOX 7.98 34 Paradise Hotel (Wed.) FOX 7.91 35 Big Brother 4 (Fri.) CBS 7.86

36 My Wife and Kids ABC 7.73 37 Without a Trace (Sun.) CBS 7.65 38 ABC College Football ABC 7.59 39 Who Wants to Marry My Dad? NBC 7.46 40 “Breakdown” CBS 7.38

41 Dateline NBC (Sun.) NBC 7.30 42 George Lopez ABC 7.28 43 The Drew Carey Show (9:30 p.m.) ABC 7.20 44 Less Than Perfect ABC 7.00 45 Cupid CBS 6.98

46 Frasier (9 p.m.) NBC 6.94 47 According to Jim (9 p.m.) ABC 6.91 48 “Any Given Sunday” ABC 6.67 49 “Performing As ...” FOX 6.65 50 Scrubs NBC 6.56

51 Frasier NBC 6.37 52 Law & Order (Sat.) NBC 6.31 53 ER NBC 6.30 54 Whose Line Is It Anyway? (9:30 p.m.) ABC 6.29 55 Boomtown NBC 6.24

56 Paradise Hotel (Mon.) FOX 6.12 57 Life With Bonnie ABC 6.11 58 Whose Line Is It Anyway? ABC 6.05 59 That ‘70s Show FOX 5.89 60 “Most Outrageous Game Show Moments 4” NBC 5.88

61 The Simpsons FOX 5.79 62 Cops (8:30 p.m.) FOX 5.77 63 The Family ABC 5.62 64 NYPD Blue ABC 5.56 65 JAG CBS 5.47

66 “Crouching Tiger Hidden Dragon” FOX 5.37 67 “City Slickers” ABC 5.19 68 The O.C. (Mon.) FOX 5.11 69 Judging Amy CBS 5.09 70 Frasier (8:30 p.m.) NBC 5.07

Cops FOX 5.07 72 WWE Smackdown! UPN 5.02 73 “Latin Grammy Awards” CBS 4.96 74 “Stupid Behavior Special” FOX 4.93 75 Temptation Island 3 FOX 4.81

76 Stupid Behavior: Caught on Tape FOX 4.60 77 Good Morning Miami NBC 4.53 78 Race to Altar NBC 4.34 79 Bernie Mac FOX 3.97 80 Reba (8:30 p.m.) WB 3.95

81 Grounded for Life WB 3.82 82 The District CBS 3.72 83 U.S. Open Tennis CBS 3.70 84 The Practice ABC 3.66 85 Alias ABC 3.53

86 Wanda at Large FOX 3.41 87 Reba WB 3.38 88 Charmed WB 3.36 89 Boston Public FOX 3.18 90 Smallville (Wed.) WB 3.06

91 7th Heaven WB 3.03 92 Gilmore Girls WB 2.95 93 Smallville (Tue.) WB 2.94 94 Enterprise (9 p.m.) UPN 2.88 95 Girlfriends (9 p.m.) UPN 2.83

96 One on One (8:30 p.m.) UPN 2.81 97 Jamie Kennedy WB 2.77 98 Girlfriends (8:30 p.m.) UPN 2.72 99 U.S. Open Tennis Postgame CBS 2.70 100 Half and Half UPN 2.65

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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 8.28 10.46

CBS 7.83 11.19

ABC 7.80 8.80

FOX 6.26 8.74

UPN 2.98 3.32

WB 2.88 3.61

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