‘Survivor’ finale boosts CBS

For the fifth straight week, CBS pulled out a ratings victory in total viewers and among young adults, thanks in part to the final two installments of the reality hit “Survivor: Vanuatu.” NBC, which in recent seasons has dominated the youth-oriented category, slipped to third place, behind CBS and ABC, in season-to-date ratings among adults ages 18 to 49, the rankings most closely watched by advertisers.

Led by prime time’s most-watched show, the crime drama “CSI: Crime Scene Investigation” (29.8 million), CBS easily dominated the week ending Dec. 12 among all viewers (averaging 13.1 million per hour), trailed by ABC (10.3 million), NBC (9.6 million) and Fox (7 million), according to figures released Tuesday by Nielsen Media Research.

But CBS also had six of the top 10 programs among young adults, helping the network triumph in that category too.

ABC did well with its new hit dramas, No. 2 “Desperate Housewives” (21.6 million viewers) and No. 6 “Lost” (18.9 million), while Wednesday’s “Barbara Walters Presents: The 10 Most Fascinating People of 2004” was the most-watched incarnation of that special (16.3 million) in seven years.

NBC saw strong performances from Thursday’s “Apprentice 2” and “ER.” But the Thursday sitcom “Joey” hit a new low in viewers (10.2 million) and young adults.

Fox struggled through another tough week, with only one show making the top 20 among young adults, Sunday’s “The Simpsons” (10.3 million total viewers). The animated “Family Guy” returned to the lineup Friday with a new episode that performed well among young adults (4.9 million viewers overall).

*

(BEGIN TEXT OF INFOBOX)

Here are the rankings for national prime-time network television last week (Dec. 6-12) 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 277.93 million potential viewers in the U.S. ages 2 and older. Viewership is listed in millions.

*--* 1 CSI CBS 29.83 2 Desperate Housewives ABC 21.56 3 Survivor: Vanuatu CBS 20.04 4 Survivor: Vanuatu Finale CBS 19.72 5 Without a Trace CBS 19.49

6 Lost ABC 18.88 7 ER NBC 18.21 8 Monday Night Football ABC 16.63 9 “Barbara Walters Presents” ABC 16.33 10 Apprentice 2 NBC 15.99

11 CSI: Miami CBS 15.89 12 Law & Order: NBC 15.69 13 “Survivor: Vanuatu Reunion” CBS 15.23 14 Everybody Loves Raymond CBS 14.93 15 NCIS CBS 14.59

16 Extreme Makeover: Home Edition ABC 14.54 17 Two and a Half Men CBS 13.65 18 “Charlie Brown Christmas” ABC 13.58 19 Law & Order: SVU NBC 13.50 20 60 Minutes CBS 13.38

21 “NFL Sunday Post-Game” FOX 13.11 22 NFL Monday Showcase ABC 12.50 23 The West Wing NBC 12.33 24 Las Vegas NBC 12.24 25 CSI: NY CBS 11.98

26 Fear Factor NBC 11.80 27 Boston Legal ABC 11.72 Amazing Race: 6 CBS 11.72 29 Wife Swap ABC 11.51 30 Judging Amy CBS 11.48

31 According to Jim ABC 11.41 32 JAG CBS 10.67 33 The Simpsons FOX 10.31 34 Joey NBC 10.20 35 Will & Grace NBC 10.14

36 King of Queens CBS 10.04 37 Rodney ABC 9.94 38 20/20 (Fri.) ABC 9.86 39 NYPD Blue ABC 9.81 40 Cold Case CBS 9.64

41 Still Standing CBS 9.27 42 Biggest Loser NBC 9.21 43 Dateline: NBC (Fri.)_ NBC 8.98 44 Listen Up CBS 8.96 45 America’s Funniest Home Videos ABC 8.93

46 “National Lampoon’s Christmas Vacation” NBC 8.87 47 Center of the Universe CBS 8.70 48 Cops (8:30 p.m.) FOX 8.53 49 Crossing Jordan NBC 8.43 50 Dateline: NBC (Mon.) NBC 8.10

51 Joan of Arcadia CBS 8.08 52 “Clay Aiken Christmas” NBC 8.04 53 America’s Most Wanted FOX 7.75 54 The Swan 2 FOX 7.49 Trading Spouses FOX 7.49

56 Cops FOX 7.32 57 48 Hours Mystery CBS 7.17 60 Minutes (Wed.) CBS 7.17 59 Scrubs NBC 6.97 60 Law & Order: Criminal Intent (Sat.) NBC 6.94

61 “Billboard Music Awards” FOX 6.87 62 Third Watch NBC 6.80 63 House FOX 6.74 64 Dateline: NBC (Sun.) NBC 6.68 65 Medical Investigation NBC 6.38

66 The O.C. FOX 6.36 67 Extreme Makeover ABC 6.30 68 Arrested Development FOX 6.28 69 Less Than Perfect ABC 5.92 70 8 Simple Rules ABC 5.88

71 Hope & Faith ABC 5.68 72 Life of Luxury ABC 5.49 73 Complete Savages ABC 5.31 74 Family Guy FOX 5.23 75 Crimetime Saturday CBS 5.22

76 America’s Next Top Model 3 UPN 5.20 77 WWE Smackdown! UPN 5.19 78 “Scooby-Doo Christmas” WB 5.17 79 Primetime Live ABC 5.08 80 Family Guy (9:30 p.m.) FOX 4.88

81 Reba WB 4.80 82 Wonderful World of Disney ABC 4.79 “How the Grinch Stole Christmas” WB 4.79 84 The Simpsons (Fri.) FOX 4.54 85 King of the Hill FOX 4.32

86 Wife Swap (Sat.) ABC 4.09 87 North Shore FOX 3.80 88 7th Heaven WB 3.78 89 Blue-Collar TV WB 3.72 90 Rebel Billionaire FOX 3.71

91 Gilmore Girls WB 3.60 92 “Grandma Got Run Over” WB 3.50 93 Smallville WB 3.46 94 Big Fat Obnoxious Boss FOX 3.43 95 High School Reunion WB 3.30

Life As We Know It ABC 3.20 97 “The Last Ride” NBC 3.18 98 “Robbie the Reindeer” CBS 3.11 99 Kevin Hill UPN 3.05 100 Eve UPN 2.96

101 Girlfriends UPN 2.92 102 All of Us UPN 2.87 103 Charmed WB 2.73 104 Everwood WB 2.63 105 Half and Half UPN 2.61

Second Time Around UPN 2.61 107 One on One UPN 2.58 108 Steve Harvey’s Big Time WB 2.18 109 Enterprise UPN 2.12 110 America’s Next Top Model (Fri.) UPN 1.97

111 Veronica Mars UPN 1.90 112 “Family TV Awards” WB 1.57 113 Mountain WB 1.29

*--*

*

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 13.09 13.24

ABC 10.28 10.27

NBC 9.62 10.22

FOX 7.03 9.17

UPN 3.29 3.59

WB 3.13 3.84

*--*