Producer's top three shows help CBS to win
NEW YORK — Three different shows produced by the same man -- Jerry Bruckheimer -- were the three most-watched programs on prime-time television last week.
All three shows, "CSI: Crime Scene Investigation," "Without a Trace" and "CSI: Miami," were on CBS, which easily won the rankings race in a week dominated by reruns.
A fourth Bruckheimer show, "Cold Case," was ranked ninth. "CSI" is television's most popular show and the other two chart leaders are usually in or around the top 10. "Without a Trace" moved up last week because it aired an original episode against a repeat of "ER" on NBC.
"The Simple Life" with Paris Hilton and Nicole Richie has quickly become Fox's most popular show. It was seen by just under 12 million people last week, meaning it had more viewers than an interview with President Bush that aired at the same time on ABC, according to Nielsen Media Research.
A special prime-time showing of CBS' venerable game show "The Price Is Right" drew more than 12 million viewers.
CBS averaged 12.4 million viewers for the week. But since nearly two-thirds of CBS' audience was outside of the 18-to-49-year-old demographic, that key measurement was won by NBC.
NBC averaged 9.8 million people overall, ABC had 8.8 million, Fox 7.4 million, UPN 3.4 million and the WB 3 million.
NBC's "Nightly News" with Tom Brokaw won the evening news race, averaging 11.8 million viewers. ABC's "World News Tonight" with Peter Jennings had 10.5 million and the "CBS Evening News" with Dan Rather had 8.5 million.
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Here are the rankings for national prime-time network television last week (Dec. 15-21) 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 272.04 million potential viewers in the U.S. age 2 and older. Viewership is listed in millions.
*--* 1 CSI CBS 24.70 2 Without a Trace CBS 19.35 3 CSI: Miami CBS 19.21 4 Monday Night Football ABC 18.76 5 Everybody Loves Raymond CBS 18.05
6 Two and a Half Men CBS 14.77 7 Law & Order NBC 14.50 8 NFL Monday Night Showcase ABC 14.28 9 Cold Case CBS 13.95 10 Primetime Special Edition ABC 13.89
11 60 Minutes CBS 13.74 12 Still Standing CBS 13.55 13 "The Christmas Shoes" CBS 13.47 Friends NBC 13.47 15 "Barbara Walters Presents" ABC 13.07
