Networks greet fall on a high note

All four major broadcast networks had ratings highlights a week before the official start of the fall season, according to national Nielsen figures released Tuesday.

CBS regained its spot as the top-rated network, overtaking ABC’s one-week reign. It also scored with “60 Minutes,” which nabbed its best ratings since March with its profile of Johnny Cash, who died Friday.

ABC had the top-rated show with its “Monday Night Football” game between Tampa Bay and Philadelphia.

The premieres of NBC’s “Whoopi” and “Happy Family” landed in the top 10.

“The O.C.” continues to build momentum for Fox, scoring its highest ratings ever in the key demographic group of adults 18-49.

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Here are the rankings for national prime-time network television last week (Sept. 8-14) 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 ABC 19.44 2 CSI CBS 15.83 3 NFL Monday Showcase ABC 15.30 4 Whoopi NBC 15.14 5 Happy Family NBC 14.67

6 60 Minutes CBS 13.34 7 For Love or Money 2 NBC 12.27 8 Without a Trace CBS 11.99 9 Dateline NBC (Fri.) NBC 11.68 10 Everybody Loves Raymond CBS 11.43

11 CSI (8 p.m.) CBS 11.07 12 Friends NBC 10.99 13 Law & Order NBC 10.89 14 60 Minutes II CBS 10.47 15 King of Queens CBS 10.35

16 Big Brother 4 (Wed.) CBS 10.21 17 Will & Grace NBC 10.12 18 Law & Order: SVU (Tue.) NBC 10.04 19 Without a Trace (Sun.) CBS 9.83 20 Whoopi (Thu.) NBC 9.54

21 20/20 (Fri.) ABC 9.43 22 Still Standing CBS 9.41 23 CSI: Miami CBS 9.38 24 Fear Factor NBC 9.33 25 The O.C FOX 9.09

26 Frasier NBC 8.98 27 CSI: Miami (Fri.) CBS 8.84 28 Big Brother 4 (Tue.) CBS 8.70 29 ER NBC 8.61 30 George Lopez (9 p.m.) ABC 8.60

31 America’s Funniest Home Videos ABC 8.25 32 Yes, Dear CBS 8.16 33 America’s Most Wanted FOX 8.11 34 College Football (Sat.) ABC 8.01 35 My Wife and Kids ABC 7.97

36 “Out of Sight” CBS 7.81 37 According to Jim (9 p.m.) ABC 7.71 38 “Women of TV Comedy” NBC 7.68 39 Dateline NBC (Sun.) NBC 7.65 40 Primetime Thursday ABC 7.50

41 America’s Funniest Home Videos (Sun.) ABC 7.49 42 CSI (Fri.) CBS 7.40 43 48 Hours Investigates CBS 7.39 44 Extreme Makeover (9 p.m.) ABC 7.32 The West Wing NBC 7.32

46 George Lopez ABC 7.12 47 “Conan O’Brien’s 10th Anniversary” NBC 7.11 48 Paradise Hotel (Wed.) FOX 6.99 49 JAG CBS 6.96 50 Cupid CBS 6.88

51 Less Than Perfect ABC 6.83 52 “Lost World: Jurassic Park 2” FOX 6.78 53 8 Simple Rules ABC 6.71 54 The Drew Carey Show ABC 6.67 55 “ESPN Blunderful World of Sports” ABC 6.60

56 According to Jim (8:30 p.m.) ABC 6.51 57 Extreme Makeover (8 p.m.) ABC 6.27 58 The District CBS 6.24 59 The Simpsons FOX 6.09 60 Good Morning Miami NBC 5.94 sh> 61 Cops (8:30 p.m.) FOX 5.90 62 That ‘70s Show FOX 5.77 63 48 Hours Investigates (Sat.) CBS 5.69 64 Boomtown NBC 5.58 65 Judging Amy CBS 5.53

66 WWE Smackdown! UPN 5.49 67 “Most Outrageous Game Show Moments 3” NBC 5.48 68 Whose Line Is It Anyway (9 p.m.) ABC 5.47 69 Paradise Hotel (Mon.) FOX 5.45 70 NYPD Blue ABC 5.36

71 Whose Line Is It Anyway? (9:30 p.m.) ABC 5.33 72 Cops FOX 5.10 73 Ed NBC 5.08 The Practice ABC 5.08 75 “Performing As ...” FOX 4.98

76 Hack CBS 4.96 77 The Family ABC 4.63 78 The O.C. (Mon.) FOX 4.60 79 Reba WB 4.32 80 “Play for a Billion” WB 4.31

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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 9.29 11.15

NBC 8.71 10.43

ABC 8.09 8.78

FOX 5.61 8.68

UPN 3.35 3.32

WB 3.29 3.60

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