Repeats of ‘CSI’ draw viewers

CBS’ “CSI” continued its summer ratings dominance last week as the Thursday night juggernaut easily topped the list of most-watched shows. It was followed by its Monday night spinoff, “CSI: Miami.”

Both were repeat episodes, which continue to be the most-watched shows this summer, despite several networks’ efforts to emphasize original episodes.

Still, two originals did make the most ratings noise in the week ending Sunday, according to results released Tuesday by Nielsen Media Research. CBS’ fifth installment of “The Amazing Race” returned to Tuesdays and attracted more than 10.2 million viewers, good enough for 10th place.

Perhaps even more notable is the 7.4 million who tuned in to Part 1 of USA’s sci-fi miniseries “The 4400.” That was the largest audience for an original cable series this year and would have put it in 27th place on Nielsen’s list of total viewers -- except Nielsen ranks only broadcast network shows.

By comparison, the highest-rated original scripted series on broadcast TV was Fox’s “Quintuplets,” which had upward of 5.8 million viewers and finished in 47th place.

CBS’ “60 Minutes” also reentered the top 10 -- sixth place, to be exact -- with Sunday’s first TV joint interview with putative Democratic presidential and vice presidential candidates John Kerry and John Edwards.

Fox’s “Simple Life 2” continues to attract viewers, finishing 11th among viewers overall and second to “CSI” among viewers 18 to 49, those coveted by advertisers and most networks. “Amazing Race” finished fourth in that demographic category.

CBS’ “Big Brother” finished in 12th place in its Tuesday night slot and 13th in its Thursday spot, NBC’s dating show “For Love or Money 3” came in 16th and “Last Comic Standing 2” landed in 19th place.

-- Jonathan Taylor

*

Here are the rankings for national prime-time network television last week (July 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.

*--* Program Network Viewers 1 CSI CBS 14.83 2 CSI: Miami CBS 14.00 3 Two and a Half Men CBS 12.45 4 Without a Trace CBS 12.34 5 Everybody Loves Raymond CBS 12.23

6 60 Minutes CBS 12.00 7 Cold Case CBS 10.81 8 Law & Order: SVU NBC 10.66 9 Law & Order NBC 10.56 10 Amazing Race: 5 CBS 10.30

11 Simple Life 2 FOX 9.57 12 Big Brother 5 (Tue.) CBS 9.55 13 Big Brother 5 (Thu.) CBS 9.16 14 48 Hours Mystery CBS 8.95 15 Law & Order: Criminal NBC 8.92 Intent

16 For Love or Money 3 NBC 8.80 17 60 Minutes II CBS 8.69 18 Law & Order (9 p.m.) NBC 8.57 19 Last Comic Standing 2 NBC 8.39 20 “Catch a Falling Star” CBS 8.31

21 Yes, Dear CBS 8.16 22 Las Vegas (Sun.) NBC 7.90 23 My Wife & Kids (Wed., 8:30 ABC 7.83 p.m.) 24 Primetime Thursday ABC 7.75 25 Fear Factor NBC 7.58

26 Friends (8:30 p.m.) NBC 7.50 27 Still Standing (Mon.) CBS 7.40 28 Dateline: NBC (Fri.) NBC 7.33 29 Who Wants to Marry My Dad NBC 7.28 2? 30 My Wife and Kids (Wed., 8 ABC 7.21 p.m.)

31 20/20 (Fri.) ABC 6.90 32 Will & Grace NBC 6.76 33 King of Queens CBS 6.61 Still Standing (Wed.) CBS 6.61 35 “Olympic Trials” (Sun.) NBC 6.54

36 America’s Most Wanted FOX 6.52 37 NYPD 24/7 ABC 6.46 38 Friends NBC 6.38 39 Las Vegas (Fri.) NBC 6.22 40 48 Hours Investigates CBS 6.20 (Sat.)

41 America’s Funniest Home ABC 6.15 Videos 42 That ‘70s Show FOX 6.08 43 My Wife & Kids (Mon.) ABC 6.00 Cops (8:30 p.m.) FOX 6.00 45 8 Simple Rules ABC 5.96

46 Las Vegas (Thu.) NBC 5.95 47 Quintuplets FOX 5.86 48 According to Jim ABC 5.84 The Simpsons FOX 5.84 George Lopez ABC 5.84

Last Comic Standing 2 (8 NBC 5.84 p.m.) 52 Method and Red (Wed., 9:30 FOX 5.71 p.m.) 53 Extreme Makeover: Home ABC 5.55 Edition 54 “Olympic Trials” (Fri.) NBC 5.50 55 George Lopez (Mon.) ABC 5.18

56 48 Hours Investigates CBS 5.17 57 The Drew Carey Show ABC 5.14 58 JAG CBS 5.11 59 I’m With Her ABC 5.07 60 Less Than Perfect ABC 4.97

61 Simple Life 2 (Sun.) FOX 4.95 62 According to Jim (Mon.) ABC 4.94 63 WWE Smackdown! UPN 4.85 64 Hope & Faith ABC 4.81 65 The Drew Carey Show (9 ABC 4.78 p.m.)

66 Cops FOX 4.71 67 Joan of Arcadia CBS 4.67 68 “ABC 50th Anniversary ABC 4.64 Bloopers” Whose Line Is It Anyway? ABC 4.64 70 Weddings ABC 4.60

71 Married to the Kellys ABC 4.52 72 North Shore FOX 4.51 73 Las Vegas (Sat.) NBC 4.49 74 Whose Line Is It Anyway? ABC 4.47 (8:30 p.m.) 75 “Olympic Trials” (Sat.) NBC 4.44

76 Casino FOX 4.32 77 Bernie Mac (Tue., 8 p.m.) FOX 4.31 Life With Bonnie ABC 4.31 79 “Great Domestic Showdown” ABC 4.30 80 Wonderful World of Disney ABC 4.26

81 Quintuplets (Sun.) FOX 4.19 82 Next Action Star NBC 4.16 83 Bernie Mac (Tue., 9 p.m.) FOX 4.14 84 Hope & Faith (Mon.) ABC 4.09 85 Method and Red (Tue., 8:30 FOX 3.89 p.m.)

86 Arrested Development FOX 3.84 87 Bernie Mac (Fri., 8:30 FOX 3.71 p.m.) Method and Red (Tue., 9:30 FOX 3.71 p.m.) 89 The Ultimate Love Test ABC 3.61 90 Malcolm in the Middle FOX 3.38

91 Bernie Mac (Fri., 8 p.m.) FOX 3.37 92 Amazing Race: 5 (Sat.) CBS 3.34 93 King of the Hill FOX 3.25 94 Summerland WB 3.21 95 Crime and Punishment 3 NBC 3.11

96 North Shore (Thu.) FOX 2.91 97 The Jury FOX 2.87 Reba WB 2.87 99 7th Heaven WB 2.83 100 Tru Calling FOX 2.49

101 Smallville (9 p.m.) WB 2.45 102 Stephen King’s Kingdom ABC 2.40 Hospital 103 Half and Half (8:30 p.m.) UPN 2.27 104 All of Us UPN 2.25 105 Half and Half (9:30 p.m.) UPN 2.16

106 One on One UPN 2.13 107 Girlfriends UPN 2.12 108 Grounded for Life WB 2.10 109 Smallville WB 2.08 110 Gilmore Girls WB 2.06

111 Eve UPN 2.03 112 Charmed (9 p.m.) WB 2.01 113 Steve Harvey’s Big Time WB 1.99 114 Enterprise UPN 1.96 115 Charmed WB 1.84

116 Summerland WB 1.79 117 What I Like About You WB 1.77 118 America’s Next Top Model UPN 1.74 119 “Operation Condor” UPN 1.68 Jamie Kennedy (9:30 p.m.) WB 1.68

121 Jamie Kennedy WB 1.45 Steve Harvey’s Big Time WB 1.45 123 Enterprise UPN 1.35 124 Pepsi Smash WB 1.16

*--*

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 8.78 12.35

NBC 6.94 10.40

ABC 5.14 8.50

FOX 4.46 8.98

UPN 2.46 3.25

WB 2.12 3.43

*--*