Ace time slots don’t benefit new shows

Despite a strong year for a handful of new network programs, last week’s prime-time rankings illustrate how difficult it can be to entice viewers with the promise of something new.

The John Stamos comedy “Jake in Progress,” for instance, failed to take advantage of the best time slot ABC could offer. Back-to-back episodes were presented in the hour that “Desperate Housewives’ usually occupies and managed barely more than half the audience that show typically draws.

NBC’s highly anticipated boxing series, “The Contender,” was seen by 8.9 million people in a Thursday showcase, or half what “ER” does in the same Thursday time slot.

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*--* Here are the rankings for national prime-time network television last week (March 7-13) 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. Program Net- work View- ers Program Net- work View- ers

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*--* 1 CSI CBS 29.40 2 American Idol (Tue.) FOX 27.66 3 American Idol (Wed.) FOX 26.85 4 American Idol (Mon.) FOX 23.91 5 Without a Trace CBS 23.32

6 Survivor: Palau CBS 21.80 7 CSI: Miami CBS 21.68 8 Extreme Makeover: Home Edition ABC 18.41 9 Two and a Half Men CBS 17.45 10 Cold Case CBS 16.61

11 Everybody Loves Raymond CBS 16.28 12 House FOX 16.14 13 Law & Order: Criminal Intent NBC 15.71 14 Law & Order: SVU NBC 14.73 15 Apprentice 3 NBC 14.11

16 Jake in Progress ABC 13.96 17 Crossing Jordan NBC 13.34 18 Simple Life 3 FOX 13.33 19 24 FOX 13.08 20 60 Minutes CBS 12.56

21 Blind Justice ABC 12.36 22 Lost ABC 12.16 23 Jake in Progress (9:30 p.m.) ABC 12.00 24 Law & Order NBC 11.82 25 Amazing Race: 7 CBS 11.69

26 CSI: NY CBS 11.28 27 Boston Legal ABC 11.12 28 NCIS CBS 10.77 29 Law & Order: Trial By Jury NBC 10.69 30 That ‘70s Show FOX 10.66

31 Numb3rs CBS 10.55 32 Primetime Live: Special Edition (Wed.) ABC 10.53 33 Extreme Makeover: Home Edition (7 p.m.) ABC 10.47 34 Law & Order: SVU (Fri.) NBC 10.45 According to Jim (9:30 p.m.) ABC 10.45

36 The West Wing NBC 10.10 37 Law & Order (Sat.) NBC 10.09 38 According to Jim ABC 10.08 39 Alias ABC 9.80 40 Judging Amy CBS 9.66

41 Fear Factor NBC 9.34 42 Dateline: NBC (Sun.) NBC 9.27 That ‘70s Show FOX 9.27 44 Listen Up CBS 9.26 45 “Dan Rather: Remembers” CBS 9.22

Still Standing CBS 9.22 47 Yes, Dear CBS 9.08 48 Supernanny ABC 9.01 49 JAG CBS 8.98 50 Contender (Thu.) NBC 8.95

51 “Saving Milly” CBS 8.86 52 Joey NBC 8.83 53 The Simpsons FOX 8.72 54 Will & Grace (Thu., 9:30 p.m.) NBC 8.67 55 Cops (8:30 p.m.) FOX 8.55

56 NCIS (Fri.) CBS 8.40 57 America’s Most Wanted FOX 8.11 58 Contender (Mon.) NBC 8.10 59 Law & Order: SVU (Sat.) NBC 8.08 60 Dateline: NBC (Fri.) NBC 7.98

61 King of Queens CBS 7.89 62 The O.C. FOX 7.66 63 20/20 (Fri.) ABC 7.64 64 George Lopez ABC 7.52 65 My Wife and Kids ABC 7.43

66 48 Hours Mystery CBS 7.41 67 Cops FOX 7.10 68 Extreme Makeover: Home Edition: How’d They Do That? ABC 7.05 69 Primetime Live (Thu.) ABC 6.96 70 Contender (Sun.) NBC 6.70

71 Will & Grace (Tue., 9 p.m.) NBC 6.67 72 American Dreams NBC 6.66 73 Law & Order: Criminal Intent (Sat.) NBC 6.38 74 Crimetime Saturday CBS 6.27 75 The Simpsons (9 p.m.) FOX 6.13

76 Boss Swap ABC 6.09 77 Arrested Development FOX 6.08 78 Hope & Faith ABC 5.97 79 8 Simple Rules (8:30 p.m.) ABC 5.95 80 8 Simple Rules ABC 5.74

81 Committed NBC 5.73 82 Bernie Mac (8:30 p.m.) FOX 5.58 Malcolm in the Middle FOX 5.58 84 Bernie Mac FOX 5.50 85 King of the Hill FOX 5.42

86 Sketch Show FOX 5.39 87 Gilmore Girls WB 5.23 88 America’s Next Top Model 4 UPN 5.12 89 “Minority Report” ABC 4.99 90 WWE Smackdown! UPN 4.96

91 Cold Case (Sat.) CBS 4.95 92 Less Than Perfect ABC 4.68 93 Extreme Makeover (9 p.m.) ABC 4.52 94 That ‘70s Show (Fri., 9:30 p.m.) FOX 4.39 95 Will & Grace (Tue., 8 p.m.) NBC 4.34

96 That ‘70s Show (Fri., 9 p.m.) FOX 4.23 97 Extreme Makeover ABC 4.21 98 Will & Grace (Tue., 8:30 p.m.) NBC 4.03 99 Reba WB 3.51 100 Point Pleasant FOX 3.44

101 Summerland WB 3.38 102 Smallville WB 3.17 103 7th Heaven WB 3.12 104 Steve Harvey’s Big Time WB 3.04 105 Girlfriends UPN 2.90

106 Blue Collar TV WB 2.79 107 Cuts UPN 2.75 108 One on One UPN 2.72 109 Eve UPN 2.60 Charmed WB 2.60

111 Half and Half UPN 2.59 112 All of Us UPN 2.43 113 Starlet (Tue.) WB 2.15 114 What I Like About You (8:30 p.m.) WB 2.13 115 Kevin Hill UPN 2.10

116 Veronica Mars UPN 2.07 117 Charmed (7 p.m.) WB 2.03 118 What I Like About You WB 1.92 119 America’s Next Top Model 4 (Fri.) UPN 1.71 120 Jack & Bobby WB 1.41

121 Starlet (Thu., 8 p.m.) WB 1.21 122 Enterprise UPN 1.18 123 Starlet (Thu., 9 p.m.) WB 1.05

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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 12.53 12.85

FOX 11.12 10.02

NBC 9.57 10.12

ABC 8.50 10.45

UPN 3.01 3.37

WB 2.58 3.43

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