CBS and ABC bask in early glow of the fall season

Returning favorites helped CBS become the most-watched network for the opening week of the television season, while ABC was first among the young adult audience most networks target.

CBS averaged 13.02 million viewers for its prime-time programming from Sept. 18 through Sunday, the fifth consecutive year it has won premiere week, according to Nielsen Media Research.

The week’s most-watched cable program was ESPN’s “Monday Night Football” matchup between the Jacksonville Jaguars and Pittsburgh Steelers. The game averaged 13.32 million viewers, the second most for any sponsored program in cable history, behind the 16.84 million for CNN’s Nov. 9, 1993, North American Free Trade Agreement debate between then Vice President Al Gore and billionaire Ross Perot.

“NBC Nightly News” regained its customary top spot among the network newscasts after back-to-back weekly victories by the “CBS Evening News With Katie Couric.” ABC’s “World News With Charles Gibson” was third.

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Here are the rankings for national prime-time network television last week (Sept. 18-24) 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 283.5 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 1 Grey’s Anatomy ABC 24.33 (Thu., 9 p.m.) 2 Desperate ABC 23.39 Housewives 3 CSI CBS 22.11 4 Dancing With the ABC 17.92 Stars 5 CSI: Miami CBS 17.43

6 Without a Trace CBS 17.36 7 Extreme Makeover: ABC 17.25 Home Edition (8 p.m.) 8 Survivor: Cook CBS 16.73 Islands 9 Cold Case CBS 15.98 10 CSI: NY CBS 15.88

11 Deal or No Deal NBC 15.62 (Mon.) 12 Sunday Night NBC 15.54 Football 13 Brothers & Sisters ABC 15.39 14 Criminal Minds CBS 15.30 15 ER NBC 15.29

16 Two and a Half Men CBS 14.82 17 Dancing With the ABC 14.79 Stars Results 18 Shark CBS 14.58 19 Law & Order: SVU NBC 14.37 (Tue.) 20 Grey’s Anatomy ABC 13.43 (Thu., 8 p.m.)

21 NCIS CBS 13.19 22 Studio 60 NBC 13.14 23 House FOX 13.11 24 Six Degrees ABC 12.28 25 60 Minutes CBS 12.10

26 Old Christine CBS 11.85 27 Close to Home CBS 11.74 28 Deal or No Deal NBC 11.63 (Fri.) 29 The Unit CBS 11.59 “Sunday Night NFL NBC 11.59 Pre-Game”

31 Jericho CBS 11.48 32 Law & Order: NBC 11.42 Criminal Intent 33 Numb3rs CBS 11.17 34 Boston Legal ABC 11.14 35 Law & Order NBC 10.97

36 Smith CBS 10.80 37 Deal or No Deal NBC 10.72 (Tue.) 38 Grey’s Anatomy ABC 10.41 (Wed.) 39 Amazing Race 10 CBS 10.29 40 Deal or No Deal NBC 10.23 (Thu.)

41 How I Met Your CBS 10.21 Mother 42 The Class CBS 10.19 43 Ghost Whisperer CBS 10.09 44 Extreme Makeover: ABC 9.55 Home Edition (7 p.m.) 45 The Simpsons FOX 9.44

46 Family Guy FOX 9.37 47 The OT (football FOX 9.25 post-game) 48 Prison Break FOX 9.13 49 Football Night NBC 8.95 America, Pt 3 50 Dateline: NBC NBC 8.64 (Fri.)

51 The Office NBC 8.47 52 My Name Is Earl NBC 8.38 College Football ABC 8.38 54 Men in Trees ABC 8.19 American Dad FOX 8.19

56 Wife Swap (9 p.m.) ABC 7.86 57 48 Hours Mystery CBS 7.82 58 Standoff FOX 7.63 59 Kidnapped (Wed.) NBC 7.52 60 20/20 ABC 7.43

61 Vanished FOX 7.30 62 Bones FOX 7.23 63 Biggest Loser 3 NBC 7.07 64 Law & Order: SVU NBC 6.83 (Sat.) 65 America’s Most FOX 6.73 Wanted

66 Cops (8:30 p.m.) FOX 6.67 67 Kidnapped (Sat.) NBC 6.56 68 Wife Swap (8 p.m.) ABC 6.53 69 War at Home FOX 6.48 70 Dateline: NBC NBC 6.19 (Sat.)

71 Crimetime Saturday CBS 6.12 (8 p.m.) 72 Supernanny ABC 6.10 73 Grey’s Anatomy ABC 5.94 (Fri., 8 p.m.) 74 Crimetime Saturday CBS 5.93 (9 p.m.) 75 Cops (8 p.m.) FOX 5.61

76 ‘Til Death FOX 5.57 77 Justice FOX 5.52 78 College Football ABC 5.39 Pre-Game 79 America’s Next Top CW 5.14 Model (Wed.) 80 La Fea Mas Bella UNI 5.10 (Wed.)

81 La Fea Mas Bella UNI 4.83 (Mon.) 82 La Fea Mas Bella UNI 4.76 (Tue.) 83 Football Night NBC 4.73 America, Part 2 84 Barrera de Amor UNI 4.72 (Wed.) 85 Barrera de Amor UNI 4.68 (Mon.)

86 Barrera de Amor UNI 4.56 (Tue.) 87 “Latin Grammy UNI 4.32 Celebra Nuestra Musica” 88 Happy Hour FOX 4.31 89 Barrera de Amor UNI 4.13 (Fri.) 90 La Fea Mas Bella UNI 4.08 (Fri.)

91 Cristina UNI 3.91 92 La Fea Mas Bella UNI 3.89 (Thu.) 93 Friday Night CW 3.68 Smackdown! 94 Celebrity Duets FOX 3.57 (Fri.) 95 Nanny 911 FOX 3.56

96 Celebrity Duets FOX 3.31 (Thu.) 97 Don Francisco UNI 3.26 Presenta 98 Ver Para Creer UNI 2.79 99 Heridas de Amor UNI 2.66 (Mon.) “Lo que no Vio de UNI 2.66 Latin Grammy”

101 Everybody Hates CW 2.64 Chris (7:30 p.m.) 102 Smallville CW 2.62 103 Heridas de Amor UNI 2.61 (Tue.) 104 America’s Top CW 2.53 Model (Sun.) 105 7th Heaven CW 2.50

106 Heridas de Amor UNI 2.49 (Wed.) 107 Heridas de Amor UNI 2.43 (Fri.) 108 Everybody Hates CW 2.30 Chris (7 p.m.) 109 Cantando Por Sueno UNI 2.24 110 Sabado Gigante UNI 2.04

111 Supernatural CW 1.87 112 Hora Pico UNI 1.85 113 Gilmore Girls CW 1.77 114 Casos Familia UNI 1.73 115 “ET Presents CW: A CW 1.36 New Network”

116 Decisiones (Tue.) TEL 1.21 117 Amores (Tue.) TEL 1.12 118 Tierra de Pasiones TEL 1.10 (Tue.) 119 Amores (Wed.) TEL 1.07 120 Viuda de Blanco TEL 1.06 (Mon.)

Tierra de Pasiones TEL 1.06 (Wed.) 122 Tierra de Pasiones TEL 1.05 (Fri.) Tierra de Pasiones TEL 1.05 (Thu.) 124 Cinemundo Premier TEL 1.05 125 Amores (Thu.) TEL 1.04

126 Viuda de Blanco TEL 0.98 (Tue.) 127 Decisiones (Thu.) TEL 0.96 Viuda de Blanco TEL 0.96 (Wed.) 129 “ET Presents CW CW 0.95 Launch Party” Viuda de Blanco TEL 0.95 (Fri.)

131 Amores (Fri.) TEL 0.92 132 Viuda de Blanco TEL 0.91 (Thu.) 133 Amores (Mon.) TEL 0.90 134 Tierra de Pasiones TEL 0.89 (Mon.) 135 Decisiones (Mon.) TEL 0.88

136 Decisiones (Wed.) TEL 0.87 137 Decisiones (Fri.) TEL 0.84 138 “Kumbia Kings TEL 0.81 Concert” 139 Fashion House MNT 0.61 Highlights 140 Desire Highlights MNT 0.54

141 Quinceanera TEL 0.47 142 Lo McXimo TEL 0.30

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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 12.79 12.79

ABC 12.06 12.06

NBC 10.91 10.91

FOX 7.35 7.35

UNI 3.52 3.52

CW 2.79 2.79

TEL 0.94 0.94

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