CBS leads in overall viewership

For the second consecutive week of the new television season, CBS was the most-watched network and ABC remained the leader among the coveted young adult audience, according to figures released Tuesday by Nielsen Media Research.

CBS averaged 12.6 million viewers for its prime-time programming last week, with four of the eight most-watched programs. ABC was second overall with 11.1 million but registered five of the top 10 among viewers ages 18 to 49, the demographic most sought by advertisers.

Each of the season’s four most-watched new series recorded double-digit percentage declines from their premieres a week earlier.

CBS’ “Criminal Minds” was seen by 10.6 million viewers in its first broadcast in its regular Wednesday 9-to-10 p.m. time slot opposite “Lost.” That was a 46% decline from its premiere, when it followed “CSI: Crime Scene Investigation.”

ABC’s “Invasion” fell 25%, from 16.4 million to 12.3 million; NBC’s “My Name Is Earl” dropped 25%, from 15.2 million to 11.4 million; and CBS’ “Out of Practice” was down 13%, from 13.2 million to 11.5 million.

NBC, CBS and the WB all have recorded viewership declines over the first two weeks of the season when compared with a similar period during the 2004-2005 season, while ABC, Fox and UPN have recorded increases.

CBS is down 2%, NBC 7% and the WB 17%. Fox is up 35%, UPN 24% and ABC 13%.

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Here are the rankings for national prime-time network television last week (Sept. 26-Oct. 2) 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. ages 2 and older. Viewership is listed in millions.

*--* Program Network Viewers 1 CSI CBS 27.99 2 Desperate Housewives ABC 27.11 3 Lost ABC 23.16 4 Without a Trace CBS 20.97 5 Grey’s Anatomy ABC 17.57

6 CSI: Miami CBS 17.37 7 Survivor: Guatemala CBS 17.29 8 Cold Case CBS 16.67 9 Commander in Chief ABC 16.36 10 Law & Order: SVU NBC 15.32

11 NCIS CBS 15.10 12 Law & Order NBC 15.05 13 Extreme Makeover: Home Edition ABC 14.80 14 ER NBC 14.41 15 Two and a Half Men CBS 14.37

16 Monday Night Football ABC 13.60 17 House FOX 13.36 18 CSI: NY CBS 13.30 19 Medium NBC 13.23 20 Crossing Jordan NBC 12.40

21 Boston Legal ABC 12.37 22 Law & Order: Criminal Intent NBC 12.35 23 Invasion ABC 12.30 24 Las Vegas NBC 12.13 25 Lost (9:30 p.m.) ABC 11.98

26 Numb3rs CBS 11.83 NFL Monday Showcase ABC 11.83 28 Out of Practice CBS 11.51 29 My Name Is Earl NBC 11.40 30 Ghost Whisperer CBS 10.87

31 King of Queens CBS 10.65 32 Amazing Grace CBS 10.64 33 Criminal Minds CBS 10.60 34 60 Minutes CBS 10.45 35 The Apprentice 4 NBC 10.43

36 The Simpsons FOX 10.41 37 How I Met Your Mother CBS 10.40 38 The OT FOX 10.22 39 “Mayday” CBS 10.20 40 Will & Grace NBC 9.80

41 Surface NBC 9.41 42 Yes, Dear CBS 8.74 43 Still Standing CBS 8.60 44 Family Guy FOX 8.56 45 Prison Break FOX 8.55

46 War at Home FOX 8.54 47 Crimetime Saturday CBS 8.48 48 America’s Funniest Home Videos ABC 8.37 49 Threshold CBS 8.34 50 Alias ABC 8.21

51 Crimetime Saturday (8 p.m.) CBS 8.20 52 20/20 ABC 8.19 53 According to Jim ABC 8.10 54 Bones FOX 7.87 55 E-Ring NBC 7.70

56 The West Wing NBC 7.65 57 Hope & Faith ABC 7.53 58 Joey NBC 7.45 59 Biggest Loser 2 NBC 7.44 60 American Dad FOX 7.43

61 So You Think You Can Dance FOX 7.35 62 Law & Order: SVU (Sat.) NBC 7.27 63 The Office NBC 7.13 64 Night Stalker ABC 7.11 65 Wife Swap ABC 6.96

66 Dateline NBC (Sun.) NBC 6.91 67 48 Hours Mystery CBS 6.61 68 The O.C. FOX 6.56 69 Nanny 911 (9 p.m.) FOX 6.51 70 Three Wishes NBC 6.38

71 Apprentice-Martha NBC 6.12 72 Supernanny ABC 6.10 73 Dateline NBC (Fri.) NBC 6.03 74 Everybody Hates Chris UPN 6.01 75 Cops (8:30 p.m.) FOX 5.98

76 America’s Most Wanted FOX 5.90 Smallville WB 5.90 78 Commander in Chief (Sat.) ABC 5.73 Primetime ABC 5.73 80 Gilmore Girls WB 5.44

81 Cops FOX 5.15 82 7th Heaven WB 5.04 83 Supernatural WB 5.01 84 Reunion FOX 4.55 Inconceivable NBC 4.55

86 America’s Next Top Model 5 UPN 4.52 87 Killer Instinct FOX 4.47 88 Surface (Sat.) NBC 4.15 89 Invasion (Sat.) ABC 4.10 90 Arrested Development FOX 4.02

91 Love, Inc. UPN 3.85 92 Charmed WB 3.83 93 Surface (Sat., 8 p.m.) NBC 3.81 94 Bernie Mac Show FOX 3.80 95 WWE Smackdown! UPN 3.76

96 Girlfriends UPN 3.73 97 Kitchen Confidential FOX 3.69 98 All of Us UPN 3.58 99 Everwood WB 3.51 100 Malcolm in the Middle FOX 3.50

One on One UPN 3.50 102 Veronica Mars UPN 3.29 103 Half and Half UPN 3.24 104 Eve UPN 3.21 105 Reba WB 3.10

106 America’s Next Top Model (Tue.) UPN 3.01 107 Just Legal WB 2.96 108 Cuts UPN 2.75 109 Reba -- The Beginning (Sun.) WB 2.72 110 Living With Fran WB 2.44

111 Blue Collar TV WB 2.34 112 Twins WB 2.24 113 What I Like About You WB 2.12 114 Reba -- The Beginning WB 2.10 115 One Tree Hill WB 2.00

116 Blue Collar TV (Sun.) WB 1.86 117 Sex, Love & Secrets UPN 1.41

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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 12.63 12.74

ABC 11.14 11.70

NBC 9.11 9.50

FOX 7.49 6.69

WB 3.47 3.38

UPN 3.47 3.81

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