‘CSI’ leads CBS past the World Series

CBS dominated prime-time viewing last week with six of the seven most-watched shows, led by a rerun of “CSI: Crime Scene Investigation,” according to Nielsen Media Research figures released Tuesday.

In a week heavy with reruns -- the networks were saving first-run programming for the November ratings sweeps that begin Thursday -- CBS averaged 12.6 million viewers between Oct. 24 and Sunday, making it the first network to win each of the first six weeks of a season since NBC did so in 1988.

“CSI” drew 24.2 million viewers, continuing its streak of being television’s most-watched program for each week of the season.

No first-season series made the top 10. “Commander in Chief” was 11th with 15.6 million viewers, the least of any of its five episodes and the first to attract fewer than 16.2 million viewers.

Fox’s coverage of baseball’s World Series concluded with mixed results. The four-game sweep by the Chicago White Sox was the least-watched World Series, averaging 17.2 million viewers. The previous low was the 2000 World Series between the New York Mets and New York Yankees, which averaged 18.1 million.

However, Chicago’s series-clinching 1-0 victory over the Houston Astros last Wednesday finished third for the week with nearly 20 million viewers, the most for a Fox program since the May 25 “American Idol” finale.

Chicago’s 7-5 14-inning victory in Game 3 -- the longest World Series game by time at 5 hours, 41 minutes -- was ninth with 16.7 million viewers.

Fox was the most-watched network for both nights of World Series telecasts last week and finished first for the week among all adult male demographic groups.

*

(BEGIN TEXT OF INFOBOX)

*--* Here are the rankings for national prime-time network television last week (Oct. 24-30) 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 280.50 million potential viewers in the U.S. age 2 and older. Viewership is listed in millions. Program Net- work View- ers Program Net- work View- ers

*--*

*--* 1 CSI CBS 24.22 2 Without a Trace CBS 21.75 3 “World Series Game 4” FOX 19.98 4 CSI: Miami CBS 19.94 5 NCIS CBS 18.00

6 Survivor: Guatemala CBS 17.38 7 Two and a Half Men CBS 16.77 8 Grey’s Anatomy ABC 16.67 9 “World Series Game 3” FOX 16.65 10 Extreme Makeover: Home Edition ABC 16.49

11 Commander in Chief ABC 15.62 12 CSI: NY CBS 15.31 13 Monday Night Football ABC 14.18 14 Desperate Housewives (Sun.) ABC 14.09 15 Law & Order: Criminal Intent (Sun.) NBC 13.67

16 60 Minutes CBS 13.59 17 Cold Case CBS 13.19 18 Out of Practice CBS 13.09 19 Criminal Minds CBS 12.78 20 Medium NBC 12.76

21 Crossing Jordan NBC 12.47 22 NFL Monday Showcase ABC 12.15 23 Ghost Whisperer CBS 11.73 24 Law & Order: SVU (Tue.) NBC 11.32 25 Las Vegas NBC 11.31

26 King of Queens CBS 11.23 27 “Great Pumpkin Charlie Brown” ABC 10.98 28 Boston Legal ABC 10.94 29 How I Met Your Mother CBS 10.89 30 Apprentice 4 NBC 10.60

31 The OT (NFL overtime) FOX 10.50 32 Amazing Race 8 CBS 10.37 33 America’s Funniest Home Videos ABC 10.16 34 Prison Break (9 p.m.) FOX 10.12 35 Numb3rs CBS 9.91

36 “World Series Game 3 Pre-Game” FOX 9.88 37 “World Series Game 4 Pre-Game” FOX 9.76 38 Crimetime Saturday (9 p.m.) CBS 9.69 39 ER NBC 9.42 40 Surface NBC 9.29

41 Close to Home CBS 9.25 42 According to Jim ABC 9.22 43 The Simpsons FOX 9.17 44 Lost ABC 9.06 45 Biggest Loser 2 NBC 9.05

46 48 Hours Mystery CBS 9.02 47 Law & Order NBC 8.73 E-Ring NBC 8.73 49 Invasion ABC 8.69 50 Crimetime Saturday (8 p.m.) CBS 8.67

51 Law & Order: Criminal Intent (Fri.) NBC 8.52 52 The West Wing NBC 8.51 53 George Lopez ABC 8.50 Three Wishes NBC 8.50 55 My Name Is Earl NBC 8.26

56 Freddie ABC 8.18 57 20/20 ABC 7.82 58 Wife Swap ABC 7.47 59 Apprentice: Martha NBC 7.38 60 Dateline NBC (Sun.) NBC 7.28

61 Dateline NBC (Fri.) NBC 6.79 62 Yes, Dear CBS 6.76 63 Alias ABC 6.55 Hope & Faith ABC 6.55 65 Prison Break (8 p.m.) FOX 6.50

66 Still Standing CBS 6.47 “Vampire Bats” CBS 6.47 68 Hot Properties ABC 6.41 69 Will & Grace NBC 6.27 70 Threshold CBS 6.09

71 Joey NBC 6.06 72 Gilmore Girls WB 6.02 73 Family Guy FOX 5.98 74 Smallville WB 5.78 75 Primetime ABC 5.61

76 War at Home FOX 5.59 77 America’s Next Top Model 5 (Wed.) UPN 5.48 78 American Dad FOX 5.44 79 Cops (9:30 p.m.) FOX 5.40 80 Everybody Hates Chris UPN 5.39

81 Wonderful World of Disney ABC 5.31 82 Cops (9 p.m.) FOX 5.29 83 Law & Order: SVU (Sat.) NBC 5.24 84 Cops (8:30 p.m.) FOX 5.23 85 Supernatural WB 5.08

86 Supernanny ABC 5.02 87 Night Stalker ABC 5.00 88 “Maid in Manhattan” FOX 4.90 89 Cops (8 p.m.) FOX 4.47 90 Charmed WB 4.32

91 Killer Instinct FOX 4.31 92 WWE Smackdown! UPN 4.27 93 7th Heaven WB 4.10 94 Desperate Housewives (Sat.) ABC 3.96 95 Everwood WB 3.91

96 Reba (Fri.) WB 3.78 97 Bernie Mac FOX 3.70 98 Veronica Mars UPN 3.58 99 “Scary Movie” NBC 3.54 100 Malcolm in the Middle FOX 3.53

101 Girlfriends UPN 3.40 102 All of Us UPN 3.38 103 Reba (Sun., 7:30) WB 3.36 One Tree Hill WB 3.36 105 One on One UPN 3.32

106 Reba (Sun., 7 p.m.) WB 3.11 107 Love Inc. (8:30 p.m.) UPN 3.08 108 America’s Next Top Model 5 (Tue.) UPN 3.05 109 Twins WB 3.03 110 Half and Half UPN 2.96

111 Related (Wed.) WB 2.75 112 Eve UPN 2.72 113 What I Like About You (8 p.m.) WB 2.37 114 Cuts UPN 2.22 115 Love Inc. (9 p.m.) UPN 2.17

116 What I Like About You (8:30 p.m.) WB 2.05 117 Supernatural WB 2.03 118 Love Inc. (9:30 p.m.) UPN 1.97 119 Related (Mon.) WB 1.96

*--*

*--* 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 12.57 12.89

FOX 10.33 9.13

ABC 9.50 10.80

NBC 8.70 9.38

WB 3.71 3.64

UPN 3.60 3.62

*--*