‘CSI’ helps CBS capture weekly ratings

During a week that CBS was fined $550,000 for Janet Jackson’s Super Bowl flash and its news division had to apologize for shoddy reporting, at least the prime-time ratings gave network executives something to smile about.

CBS handily won last week’s ratings race, in the first official week of the new television season, and stuck archrival NBC where it hurts the most: on Thursday night and among young viewers.

NBC has dominated the ratings among 18- to 49-year-old viewers for more than a decade. That’s why it has taken in more advertising revenue than CBS, even though CBS has been the most popular network among viewers of all ages for the past couple of years.

But five of the top 10 shows among that youthful demographic last week were on CBS, according to Nielsen Media Research.

CBS was also the clear victor on Thursday, a lucrative night that NBC once owned. “Survivor” again topped the NBC comedy duo of “Joey” and “Will & Grace,” “CSI: Crime Scene Investigation” had almost twice as many viewers as “The Apprentice” and “Without a Trace” became the first series to ever beat an original episode of “ER.”

“CSI” was the week’s most popular show, and its two spinoffs also finished in Nielsen’s top five. In a closely watched duel, the premiere of CBS’ new “CSI: New York” topped NBC’s venerable “Law & Order” on Wednesday night.

Procedural crime dramas accounted for half of the week’s top 10 shows, while only four comedies — “Everybody Loves Raymond,” “Two and a Half Men,” “Joey” and “Will & Grace” — made Nielsen’s top 20.

Struggling ABC showed some signs of life. The premiere of “Lost,” with its crew of beautiful people stranded on a monster-filled tropical island, hit Nielsen’s top 10 with 18.7 million viewers — the network’s highest-rated drama premiere since 1995’s “Murder One.”

Maniacal carpenter Ty Pennington is turning ABC’s “Extreme Makeover: Home Edition” into a hit and the debut of “Wife Swap” easily beat Fox’s knockoff, “Trading Spouses.”

Several new shows already have shaky long-term prospects: ABC’s “The Benefactor” could lend himself some viewers; Fox’s “Quintuplets” and ABC’s “The Savages” may not have many laughs left; the WB’s “Jack & Bobby” hasn’t lived up to expectations; and NBC’s “LAX” may be grounded now that “CSI: Miami” is back as competition.

Without “American Idol,” Fox is starved for a hit. And NBC has to be worried that its prime-time average of 10.6 million viewers was down 2 million from premiere week last year, despite all of its promotion time during the Olympics.

Five of the top six broadcasters, with the WB the exception, had fewer viewers during premiere week 2004 than they had last year – another sign of their fading luster in a multichannel cable universe.

For the week ending Sunday, CBS averaged 13.6 million viewers (8.9 rating, 18 share), NBC had 10.6 million (7.1, 12), ABC 10 million (6.6, 11), Fox 5.3 million (3.6, 6), the WB 4.2 million (2.8, 4) and UPN 3.1 million (2.2, 4).

A ratings point represents 1,096,000 households, or 1 percent of the nation’s estimated 109.6 million TV homes. The share is the percentage of in-use televisions tuned to a given show.

The top 10 shows: “CSI: Crime Scene Investigation,” CBS, 30.6 million viewers; “CSI: Miami,” CBS, 22.5 million; “Without a Trace,” CBS, 21.5 million; “ER,” NBC, 19.7 million; “CSI: NY,” CBS, 19.3 million; “Survivor: Vanuatu,” CBS, 19.1 million; “Law & Order” special, NBC, 18.9 million; NFL Monday Night Football: Minnesota at Philadelphia,” ABC, 18.8 million; “Lost,” ABC, 18.7 million; “Everybody Loves Raymond,” CBS, 18 million.

During the week it issued an apology for its “60 Minutes” story on President Bush’s National Guard service, the “CBS Evening News” saw its average viewership drop by 500,000 viewers from the previous week, Nielsen said.

However, in a slow news week, ABC’s nightly news also lost 500,000 viewers and NBC 400,000.