‘CSI’ propels CBS during sweeps drive

CBS holds a comfortable lead in the November ratings sweeps, fueled by the best-ever performance of “CSI: Crime Scene Investigation” and strong sitcoms.

“CSI,” which marked its 100th episode last Thursday, drew more than 31 million viewers for its biggest audience in five seasons, according to Nielsen Media Research figures released Tuesday.

The drama even scored as the most-watched broadcast of the season so far, narrowly edging the seventh game of the New York Yankees-Boston Red Sox baseball playoff series -- 31.463 million versus 31.460 million, CBS said.

The “CSI” spinoffs, one set in Miami, the other New York, were Top 10 performers as well.

Nearly three weeks into the November sweeps (among the key ratings periods used to set local ad rates), CBS also was bolstered by comedies, including the season’s most-watched episode of “Two and a Half Men.”

For the sweeps to date, CBS is ahead of No. 2 NBC among total viewers and is facing the prospect of its first November sweeps win among advertiser-favored viewers 18 to 49 in nearly two decades.

ABC’s racy promotion of “Desperate Housewives” on “Monday Night Football” was quickly overshadowed by the basketball brawl in Detroit, leaving the network to gloat over the numbers: The Philadelphia Eagles-Dallas Cowboys game earned its highest ratings among key young-adult viewers in seven weeks and an average 17.1 million viewers.

NBC’s “Nightly News” won the evening news ratings race.

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Here are the rankings for national prime-time network television last week (Nov. 15-21) 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. age 2 and older. Viewership is listed in millions.

*--* 1 CSI CBS 31.46 2 Desperate Housewives ABC 24.21 3 CSI: Miami CBS 22.48 4 Survivor: Vanuatu CBS 20.39 5 Without a Trace CBS 19.75

6 ER NBC 18.90 7 Extreme Makeover: Home Edition ABC 17.86 8 Everybody Loves Raymond CBS 17.80 9 Lost ABC 17.64 10 Two and Half Men CBS 17.47

11 CSI: NY CBS 17.46 12 Monday Night Football ABC 17.11 13 “Category 6: Day of Destruction,” Part 2 CBS 16.68 14 Law & Order: SVU NBC 16.38 15 Apprentice 2 NBC 15.76

16 Cold Case CBS 15.58 17 NCIS CBS 15.27 18 60 Minutes CBS 14.64 19 Crossing Jordan NBC 14.02 20 NFL Monday Showcase ABC 13.99

21 Law & Order NBC 13.80 22 Law & Order: Criminal Intent NBC 13.47 23 The West Wing NBC 12.41 24 Boston Legal ABC 12.04 25 Will & Grace NBC 12.02

26 Joey NBC 11.92 27 Las Vegas NBC 11.88 28 Amazing Race: 6 CBS 11.79 29 “FOX NFL Sunday Post-Game” FOX 11.40 30 According to Jim ABC 11.31

“Back When We Were Grownups” CBS 11.31 32 Still Standing CBS 11.23 33 Fear Factor NBC 10.84 34 Listen Up CBS 10.82 35 CSI: Miami (Fri.) CBS 10.78

36 Biggest Loser NBC 10.51 37 Wife Swap ABC 10.36 38 Rodney ABC 10.13 39 Third Watch NBC 10.05 40 The Simpsons FOX 9.95

41 JAG CBS 9.85 42 Medical Investigation NBC 9.48 43 America’s Funniest Home Videos ABC 9.30 44 Joan of Arcadia CBS 9.16 45 NYPD Blue ABC 9.05

46 Cops (8:30 p.m.) FOX 9.04 47 America’s Most Wanted FOX 8.85 48 American Dreams NBC 8.82 49 George Lopez ABC 8.73 50 Nanny 911 ABC 8.62

51 The Bachelor ABC 8.61 52 20/20 ABC 8.52 53 My Wife and Kids ABC 8.51 54 Dateline: NBC (Sun.) NBC 8.50 55 Dateline: NBC (Fri.) NBC 8.45

56 Scrubs NBC 8.37 57 Primetime Live ABC 8.17 58 Cops FOX 7.97 59 Hope & Faith ABC 7.80 60 Trading Spouses FOX 7.49

61 The O.C. FOX 7.42 62 The Swan 2 FOX 7.25 63 Malcolm in the Middle FOX 7.06 64 House FOX 7.05 65 “Erin Brockovich” NBC 7.01

66 Hope & Faith ABC 6.94 67 48 Hours Mystery CBS 6.86 68 Complete Savages ABC 6.74 69 7th Heaven WB 6.71 70 Less Than Perfect ABC 6.68

71 That ‘70s Show FOX 6.66 72 Primetime Special Edition ABC 6.58 73 Extreme Makeover ABC 6.48 74 LAX NBC 6.26 75 Wonderful World of Disney ABC 6.15

76 “25 Million Dollar Hoax” NBC 6.05 77 Gilmore Girls WB 6.01 78 Arrested Development FOX 5.89 79 Simple Life 2 FOX 5.60 80 Rebel Billionaire FOX 5.45

81 WWE Smackdown! UPN 5.44 82 “Vibe Awards” UPN 5.18 83 America’s Next Top Model 3 UPN 5.11 84 Smallville WB 5.06 85 Everwood WB 4.71

86 Reba WB 4.62 87 Life of Luxury ABC 4.43 88 One Tree Hill WB 4.18 89 Charmed WB 3.95 90 Girlfriends UPN 3.94

91 Blue Collar TV WB 3.81 92 Half and Half UPN 3.76 93 Amazing Race: 6 (Sat.) CBS 3.73 94 North Shore FOX 3.62 95 One on One UPN 3.54

96 Big Fat Obnoxious Boss FOX 3.40 97 Renovate My Family FOX 3.36 98 Second Time Around UPN 3.35 99 Kevin Hill UPN 3.26 100 Enterprise UPN 3.15

101 Grounded for Life WB 3.09 102 Steve Harvey’s Big Time WB 2.94 103 House (Fri.) FOX 2.92 104 What I Like About You WB 2.88 105 Jack & Bobby WB 2.83

106 “The Whole Nine Yards” WB 2.42 107 America’s Next Top Model 3 (Fri.) UPN 1.86 108 Mountain WB 1.42

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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 14.07 13.34

NBC 10.82 10.30

ABC 10.54 10.17

FOX 6.84 9.84

UPN 4.19 3.65

WB 3.83 3.93

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