‘Housewives’ lifts ABC

A suddenly resurgent ABC won the weekly prime-time ratings race in the key category of young-adult viewers, thanks to a commanding performance from the new drama “Desperate Housewives” -- as well as some notable programming preemptions because of Thursday’s presidential debate.

Sunday’s premiere of “Desperate Housewives” was the No. 1 program for the week ending Sunday in total viewers (21.6 million) and adults ages 18 to 49, according to figures released Tuesday by Nielsen Media Research. It was ABC’s most-watched drama debut since “NYPD Blue” launched in 1993.

ABC also breathed a sigh of relief as another highly promoted new drama, “Lost,” remained No. 1 in its time period for the second week in a row (17 million viewers). And the Wednesday reality series “Wife Swap” opened strongly in its regular time period (11 million), narrowly defeating NBC’s venerable crime series “Law & Order” among young adults.

Overall, ABC finished second to CBS in total viewers (an average of 10.8 million vs. 12.2 million), trailed by NBC (9.7 million) and Fox (5 million). ABC was the only network that posted gains in both viewers and young adults compared to the same week a year ago.

However, CBS and NBC would likely have done much better if not for the 90-minute Thursday debate between President Bush and Sen. John F. Kerry, which displaced such hits as “CSI: Crime Scene Investigation” and “ER.”

As it was, CBS still had seven of the 10 most-watched programs, including No. 2 “Survivor: Vanuatu” (19.9 million), which for the third straight week beat NBC’s “Joey” in viewers and young adults.

A special Wednesday airing of “The Apprentice” was NBC’s only entry in the top 10 among young adults.

On basic cable, the debate was good news for Fox News Channel, whose coverage was No. 1 for the week, averaging 9.6 million viewers.

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Here are the rankings for national prime-time network television last week (Sept. 27-Oct. 3) 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 Desperate Housewives ABC 21.64 2 Survivor: Vanuatu CBS 19.91 3 CSI: Miami CBS 19.72 4 CSI: NY CBS 19.47 5 Monday Night Football ABC 19.37

6 Everybody Loves Raymond CBS 18.68 7 Lost ABC 17.00 8 Two and a Half Men CBS 16.59 9 CSI CBS 16.36 10 NFL Monday Showcase ABC 15.23

11 Cold Case CBS 15.03 12 60 Minutes CBS 14.91 13 Apprentice 2 NBC 14.69 14 Extreme Makeover: Home Edition ABC 14.53 15 Navy NCIS CBS 14.33

16 Joey NBC 13.59 17 “Decision ‘04: Presidential Debate Analysis” NBC 13.36 18 Boston Legal ABC 13.07 19 Law & Order: SVU NBC 13.00 20 Law & Order NBC 12.94

21 Crossing Jordan NBC 12.84 22 Will & Grace NBC 12.82 23 Las Vegas NBC 11.56 24 According to Jim ABC 11.24 25 Listen Up CBS 11.20

26 Wife Swap ABC 11.05 27 Law & Order: Criminal Intent NBC 11.00 28 Fear Factor NBC 10.88 29 Still Standing CBS 10.83 30 Judging Amy CBS 10.62

31 Medical Investigation NBC 10.07 32 60 Minutes (Wed.) CBS 10.05 33 “Analysis: Presidential Debate” ABC 10.03 34 Clubhouse CBS 10.00 35 NYPD Blue ABC 9.73

36 “Campaign ‘04: Debate Analysis” CBS 9.42 7 “Suburban Madness” CBS 9.42 38 JAG CBS 9.28 39 Rodney ABC 9.27 40 Scrubs NBC 8.99

41 20/20 (Fri.) ABC 8.96 42 Lost (Sat.) ABC 8.82 43 Law & Order: SVU (Sat.) NBC 8.81 44 Third Watch NBC 8.79 45 LAX NBC 8.75

46 Crimetime Saturday CBS 8.72 47 Joan of Arcadia CBS 8.49 48 Dateline: NBC (Sun.) NBC 8.43 49 Dateline: NBC (Fri.) NBC 8.41 50 George Lopez ABC 8.39

51 Father of the Pride NBC 8.12 52 America’s Funniest Home Videos ABC 7.94 53 Trading Spouses FOX 7.89 54 The Bachelor ABC 7.84 55 48 Hours Mystery CBS 7.83

56 Dr. Vegas CBS 7.75 57 Hawaii NBC 7.51 58 American Dreams NBC 7.49 59 My Wife and Kids ABC 7.38 60 America’s Most Wanted FOX 6.76

61 7th Heaven WB 6.53 Cops (8:30 p.m.) FOX 6.53 63 Hope & Faith ABC 6.48 64 That ‘70s Show FOX 6.43 65 Wife Swap (Sat.) ABC 6.42

66 8 Simple Rules ABC 6.33 67 Gilmore Girls WB 5.99 68 The Simpsons FOX 5.95 69 Extreme Makeover ABC 5.91 Less Than Perfect ABC 5.91

71 Life’s Funniest Moments NBC 5.69 72 Smallville WB 5.66 73 “Rush Hour 2” FOX 5.60 74 Last Comic Standing 3 NBC 5.48 Complete Savages ABC 5.48

76 Bernie Mac FOX 5.47 77 Trading Spouses (Mon.) FOX 5.36 Cops FOX 5.36 79 Quintuplets FOX 5.20 80 Bernie Mac (9:30 p.m.) FOX 5.18

81 The Benefactor ABC 4.93 One Tree Hill WB 4.93 83 Everwood WB 4.92 84 Charmed WB 4.77 85 Reba WB 4.54

86 The Apprentice 2 (Sat.) NBC 4.51 87 Survivor: Vanuatu (Sat.) CBS 4.43 88 King of the Hill FOX 4.42 89 America’s Next Top Model 3 UPN 4.36 Next Great Champ FOX 4.36

91 North Shore FOX 4.33 92 Kevin Hill UPN 3.93 93 WWE Smackdown! UPN 3.80 94 Girlfriends UPN 3.73 95 World’s Craziest Videos FOX 3.59

96 Half and Half UPN 3.53 97 One on One UPN 3.43 98 The Simpsons (Fri.) FOX 3.36 99 Totally Outrageous Behavior FOX 3.34 100 Blue Collar TV (8:30 p.m.) WB 3.27

101 Eve UPN 3.21 102 Second Time Around UPN 3.17 103 Blue Collar TV (9:30 p.m.) WB 3.13 104 That ‘70s Show (Fri.) FOX 3.12 105 Blue Collar TV (8 p.m.) WB 2.96

106 Mountain WB 2.95 107 All of Us UPN 2.93 108 King of the Hill (Sat.) FOX 2.89 109 What I Like About You WB 2.54 110 Grounded for Life WB 2.49

111 Jack & Bobby WB 2.46 112 Complex: Malibu FOX 2.32 113 Steve Harvey’s Big Time WB 2.28 114 Veronica Mars UPN 2.21 115 One Tree Hill (Thu.) WB 1.93

116 America’s Next Top Model (Fri.) UPN 1.61 117 Kevin Hill (Fri.) UPN 1.59

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