CBS still hot; ABC gains

CBS marked its sixth straight week atop the crucial 18-to-49 age demographic, while runner-up ABC continued making ratings gains compared with a year ago, according to figures released Tuesday by Nielsen Media Research.

CBS’ “CSI: Crime Scene Investigation” was the most-watched show for the week ending Sunday, and ABC’s soap “Desperate Housewives” was No. 1 among 18- to 49-year-olds.

Tuesday’s 39th annual Country Music Assn. Awards also delivered for CBS, which had six of the top 10 shows among total viewers. ABC, meanwhile, won four nights among young-adult viewers; season-to-date, its “demo” ratings are up 5% while each of its rivals is down in the category.

NBC continued to struggle, with “ER” its only show in the top 10 among 18- to 49-year-olds, a category it once dominated.

In the November ratings sweeps, which end next week, CBS holds a narrow lead over ABC in young adults, with NBC and Fox far behind.

Scott Collins

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Here are the rankings for national prime-time network television last week (Nov. 14-20) 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 Network Viewers 1 CSI CBS 28.98 2 Desperate Housewives ABC 25.92 3 Lost ABC 21.87 4 Without a Trace CBS 21.66 5 Grey’s Anatomy ABC 20.32

6 CSI: Miami CBS 19.36 7 Survivor: Guatemala CBS 18.82 8 Monday Night Football ABC 18.52 9 60 Minutes CBS 18.13 10 “CMA Awards” CBS 17.73

11 Extreme Makeover: Home Edition ABC 17.34 12 Cold Case CBS 17.08 13 Law & Order: SVU (Tue.) NBC 15.73 14 CSI: NY CBS 15.69 15 ER NBC 15.30

16 Two and a Half Men CBS 15.17 17 NFL Monday Showcase ABC 15.12 18 Criminal Minds CBS 14.36 19 House FOX 12.95 20 Commander in Chief ABC 12.57

21 Medium NBC 12.53 22 “I Walk the Line: Johnny Cash” CBS 12.51 23 Numb3rs CBS 12.44 24 Out of Practice CBS 12.20 25 Ghost Whisperer CBS 12.05

26 “Snow Wonder” CBS 11.77 27 Close to Home CBS 11.64 28 My Name Is Earl NBC 11.51 29 Law & Order NBC 11.44 30 Las Vegas NBC 11.36

31 America’s Funniest Home Videos ABC 11.02 32 Boston Legal ABC 11.00 33 King of Queens CBS 10.93 34 Apprentice 4 NBC 10.78 35 Biggest Loser 2 NBC 10.37

36 How I Met Your Mother CBS 10.35 37 Invasion ABC 10.32 38 Simpsons FOX 10.31 39 E-Ring NBC 9.72 40 “Poseidon Adventure” NBC 9.57

Prison Break (9 p.m.) FOX 9.57 42 Surface NBC 9.28 43 Family Guy FOX 9.08 44 Will & Grace NBC 8.89 45 Bones FOX 8.84

46 Law & Order: SVU (Sat.) NBC 8.61 47 War at Home FOX 8.59 48 Freddie ABC 8.58 49 American Dad FOX 8.19 50 Law & Order: Criminal Intent (Fri.) NBC 8.18

51 Crimetime Saturday (9 p.m.) CBS 8.15 52 George Lopez ABC 8.13 53 Wife Swap ABC 8.10 54 20/20 ABC 8.05 55 According to Jim ABC 8.02

Joey NBC 8.02 57 The Office NBC 7.99 58 “Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets” ABC 7.73 59 Trading Spouses FOX 7.32 60 “NASCAR Post-Race” (Sun.) NBC 7.29

61 48 Hours Mystery CBS 7.28 62 Primetime ABC 7.24 63 Hope and Faith ABC 7.07 64 “Hot Properties” (Tue.) ABC 6.82 65 That ‘70s Show FOX 6.78

66 Crimetime Saturday (8 p.m.) CBS 6.71 67 Cops (8:30 p.m.) FOX 6.68 68 King of the Hill FOX 6.62 69 Supernanny ABC 6.59 70 Alias ABC 6.48

71 America’s Most Wanted FOX 6.37 72 Apprentice: Martha NBC 6.33 73 Law &Order;: Criminal Intent (Sat.) NBC 6.24 74 The O.C. FOX 6.20 75 Gilmore Girls WB 6.19

76 Dateline: NBC (Fri.) NBC 6.15 77 Cops (8 p.m.) FOX 6.03 78 Smallville WB 5.97 79 7th Heaven WB 5.81 80 The Simpsons (7 p.m.) FOX 5.68

81 Hot Properties (Fri.) ABC 5.66 82 Prison Break (8 p.m.) FOX 5.59 83 America’s Next Top Model 5 UPN 5.53 84 Primetime ABC 5.50 85 Everybody Hates Chris UPN 5.42

86 Stacked FOX 5.40 87 WWE Smackdown UPN 4.85 88 “Vibe Awards” UPN 4.49 89 Charmed WB 4.22 Everwood WB 4.22

91 Supernatural WB 4.21 92 Bernie Mac FOX 3.99 93 Reunion FOX 3.88 94 Love Inc. UPN 3.79 95 Girlfriends UPN 3.67

96 Reba (Fri., 9 p.m.) WB 3.56 97 One Tree Hill WB 3.52 98 Half and Half UPN 3.41 99 All of Us UPN 3.34 Killer Instinct FOX 3.34

101 Eve UPN 3.21 102 Malcolm in the Middle FOX 3.18 103 Reba (Sun., 7:30 p.m.) WB 3.04 104 One on One UPN 2.99 105 Veronica Mars UPN 2.94

106 Cuts UPN 2.88 107 Related (Mon.) WB 2.71 108 Reba (Fri., 8:30 p.m.) WB 2.68 109 Twins WB 2.62 110 Reba (Sun., 7 p.m.) WB 2.46

111 What I Like About You WB 2.45 Supernatural WB 2.45 113 Related (Wed.) WB 1.94

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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 15.23 13.39

ABC 11.66 10.93

NBC 9.59 9.36

FOX 6.96 8.55

UPN 4.15 3.64

WB 3.82 3.62

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