Crime and Solving It Pays for Networks

Crime paid last week, as NBC’s “Law & Order” franchise buoyed that network, while “CSI: Crime Scene Investigation”--the most-watched show for the fourth time in six weeks--helped CBS post a narrow victory, according to viewing estimates issued Tuesday by Nielsen Media Research.

For the most part, unscripted shows such as NBC’s “Dog Eat Dog,” Fox’s “American Idol” and CBS’ “Big Brother 3” (which hit a ratings high last Wednesday) have served their purpose, helping stem the tide of ratings erosion during the summer. Viewing of those three networks, in fact, was virtually unchanged compared to the corresponding period a year ago, though ABC is still struggling--down nearly 30% last week versus 2001, with only “PrimeTime Thursday” cracking the top 25.

NBC’s latest fill-in, “Meet My Folks,” opened to promising tune-in July 22 but dropped a third off that plateau with the second installment. “Crime and Punishment”--the latest addition to the “Law & Order” family--also put up its highest rating since premiering in June.

Among cable offerings, “Sex and the City” again attracted stellar tune-in by HBO’s standards, with 6.6 million viewers Sunday, though the audience dropped sharply for the programs that followed, “Arli$$” and “The Wire.” USA is also doing well with its dramas “Monk” and “The Dead Zone.”

Brian Lowry

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National Nielsen Viewership

Here are the rankings for national prime-time network television last week (July 22-28) 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 269 million potential viewers in the U.S. age 2 and older. Viewership is listed in millions.

*--* Program Network Viewers Program 1 CSI CBS 14.18 2 Everybody Loves Raymond CBS 13.28 3 Becker CBS 11.41 4 Dog Eat Dog NBC 11.30 5 Law & Order NBC 11.06 6 Meet My Folks (Mon.) NBC 10.95 7 American Idol (Tue.) FOX 10.77 48 Hours (Mon.) CBS 10.77 9 Big Brother 3 (Wed.) CBS 10.21 10 Law & Order: Criminal Intent NBC 10.17 11 Dateline NBC (Sun.) NBC 9.95 12 Fear Factor NBC 9.73 13 Primetime Thursday ABC 9.52 14 Crime & Punishment ABC 9.51 15 Law & Order: SVU NBC 9.45 16 American Idol (Wed.) FOX 9.13 17 60 Minutes II CBS 9.06 18 Big Brother 3 (Thu.) CBS 9.04 19 Friends NBC 8.85 20 JAG CBS 8.69 21 48 Hours (Wed.) CBS 8.62 22 Dateline NBC (Tue.) NBC 8.54 23 The Agency CBS 8.44 24 Yes, Dear CBS 8.30 25 60 Minutes CBS 8.23 King of Queens CBS 8.23 27 20/20 (Fri.) ABC 7.97 28 Mole II: The Next Betrayal ABC 7.81 29 Judging Amy CBS 7.76 30 Scrubs (Thu.) (8:30 p.m.) NBC 7.56 31 Malcolm in Middle (9:30 p.m.) FOX 7.55 32 My Wife & Kids (8:30 p.m.) ABC 7.51 33 America Fights Back FOX 7.38 34 The West Wing NBC 7.34 The Guardian CBS 7.34 36 Meet My Folks (Wed.) NBC 7.30 Will & Grace NBC 7.30 38 According to Jim (8:30 p.m.) ABC 7.28 39 Houston Medical ABC 7.14 40 Malcolm in Middle (9 p.m.) FOX 7.08 41 Frasier NBC 7.06 42 The Simpsons FOX 7.04 Dateline NBC (Sun.) NBC 7.04 44 Spy TV (8:30 p.m.) NBC 7.03 45 “Metro” ABC 6.80 46 Funniest Home Videos ABC 6.69 47 Touched by an Angel CBS 6.62 48 According to Jim ABC 6.60 49 Dateline NBC (Fri.) NBC 6.56 50 “Having Our Say” CBS 6.51 51 King of the Hill FOX 6.50 52 30 Seconds to Fame FOX 6.41 53 Just Shoot Me NBC 6.39 54 Cops (8:30 p.m.) FOX 6.35 Spy TV NBC 6.35 56 “World’s Great Commercials” CBS 6.26 The Bernie Mac Show FOX 6.26 58 ER NBC 6.20 59 “The Shining,” Part 3 ABC 6.17 60 My Wife & Kids ABC 6.04 61 Big Brother 3 (Sat.) CBS 5.98 62 “First Kid” ABC 5.85 63 Whose Line Is It? (Fri., 9:30 p.m.) ABC 5.84 64 Cops FOX 5.72 65 The Practice ABC 5.55 66 That ‘70s Show FOX 5.53 Scrubs NBC 5.53 68 “Austin Powers” WB 5.41 69 Whose Line? (Fri., 9 p.m.) ABC 5.36 70 Grounded for Life (Tue.) FOX 5.22 71 WWE Smackdown! UPN 5.20 72 The Agency (Sat.) CBS 5.15 73 Meet the Marks FOX 5.09 74 The District CBS 5.02 75 “The Shining” Part 2 ABC 5.00 76 48 Hours CBS 4.97 77 Beyond Belief: Fact/Fiction FOX 4.90 78 “Copperfield: Tornado Fire” CBS 4.86 79 “Shyamalan’s Signs of Fear” ABC 4.57 80 Pulse FOX 4.54 81 “Daylight” NBC 4.30 82 “Live and Let Die” ABC 4.20 83 Hidden Cameras FOX 3.93 84 Alias ABC 3.89 85 Hidden Cameras (8:30 p.m.) FOX 3.87 86 Grounded for Life (Mon, 8 p.m.) FOX 3.78 87 She Spies NBC 3.70 88 Grounded for Life (Mon., 9:30 p.m.) FOX 3.46 89 Futurama FOX 3.37 90 Grounded for Life (Mon., 8:30 p.m.) FOX 3.33 91 One on One UPN 3.32 92 Greg the Bunny FOX 3.17 93 Grounded for Life (Mon., 9 p.m.) FOX 3.11 94 The Parkers UPN 2.99 95 Smallville WB 2.96 7th Heaven WB 2.96 97 Girlfriends UPN 2.91 98 The Hughleys UPN 2.78 99 Gilmore Girls WB 2.74 100 The X-Files FOX 2.72 101 Smallville (Mon.) WB 2.68 102 Reba (Fri.) WB 2.43 103 Reba (Thu.) WB 2.39 104 Raising Dad WB 2.16 105 Enterprise UPN 2.13 106 Jamie Kennedy WB 2.00 107 Sabrina/Witch (8:30 p.m.) WB 1.89 108 Sabrina the Teenage Witch WB 1.85 109 “Striptease” UPN 1.83 110 Charmed WB 1.76 111 Off Centre WB 1.73 112 Jamie Kennedy (8:30 p.m.) WB 1.70 113 Buffy the Vampire Slayer UPN 1.63 114 For Your Love (7:30 p.m.) WB 1.61 115 For Your Love WB 1.59 116 One on One UPN 1.43 117 Angel WB 1.32 118 The Hughleys UPN 1.23 119 Buffy the Vampire Slayer (Wed.) UPN 1.22

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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 7.95 11.41 NBC 7.82 12.36 ABC 6.03 8.88 FOX 5.55 8.49 WB 2.69 3.48 UPN 2.64 3.97

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