‘CSI’ Rerun Clicks With TV Viewers

Send in the summer replacements, as the major networks labor to keep the lights on with inexpensive, unscripted series concepts that enjoyed varying degrees of success last week while a rerun of CBS’ “CSI: Crime Scene Investigation� topped the standings, based on viewing estimates issued Tuesday by Nielsen Media Research.

Actually, unscripted programs such as Fox’s “American Idol� and NBC’s “Dog Eat Dog� and “Law & Order� spinoff “Crime & Punishment� helped stem the tide flowing to competing options. Overall viewing of the major networks did dip 5% compared to the corresponding week in 2001, but that was largely due to ABC, which, continuing its in-season slide, fell 30% versus year-ago levels.

Even so, the networks have seen their collective share of audience slip to 35% of homes using TV during prime time and well below that on weekends, as viewers see reruns of favorite series as an invitation to explore other channels.

CBS generally fares somewhat better with repeats thanks to its older audience profile, which explains why the network could finish first last week in overall viewing but third among adults age 18 to 49. In addition to “CSI,� viewers came on down for “Everybody Loves Raymond,� “48 Hours� and a prime-time version of “The Price is Right.�

Brian Lowry

(BEGIN TEXT OF INFOBOX / INFOGRAPHIC)

National Nielsen Viewership

Here are the rankings for national prime-time network television last week (June 17-23) 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 1 CSI CBS 15.01 2 Everybody Loves Raymond CBS 13.25 3 48 Hours (Mon.) CBS 12.19 4 Becker CBS 11.66 5 Law & Order NBC 10.99 6 American Idol (Tue.) FOX 10.30 7 60 Minutes CBS 10.27 8 Dog Eat Dog NBC 10.25 9 Law & Order: SVU NBC 10.15 10 Price Is Right: U.S. Marines CBS 9.93 11 King of Queens CBS 9.59 12 American Idol (Wed.) FOX 9.47 13 Primetime Thursday ABC 9.43 14 Yes, Dear CBS 9.35 15 Dateline NBC (Tue.) NBC 9.29 16 JAG CBS 9.17 17 Law & Order: Criminal Intent NBC 8.85 18 Dateline NBC (Fri.) NBC 8.55 19 Spy TV (8:30 p.m.) NBC 8.54 20 Friends NBC 8.52 21 The Guardian CBS 8.31 22 Frasier NBC 8.20 ER NBC 8.20 24 20/20 (Fri.) ABC 8.17 60 Minutes II CBS 8.17 26 Spy TV (8 p.m.) NBC 8.15 Crime & Punishment NBC 8.15 28 Will & Grace NBC 8.11 29 “Deep in My Heart� CBS 7.95 30 The Simpsons FOX 7.87 31 Fear Factor NBC 7.85 32 48 Hours (Fri.) CBS 7.81 33 Crossing Jordan NBC 7.77 34 The Bernie Mac Show FOX 7.75 35 My Wife & Kids ABC 7.60 36 Judging Amy CBS 7.56 37 Malcolm in the Middle FOX 7.55 38 Touched by an Angel (Sun.) CBS 7.49 39 The District CBS 7.45 40 The West Wing NBC 7.23 41 “Diagnosis Murder� CBS 7.19 42 America’s Most Wanted FOX 6.83 43 The Agency CBS 6.82 44 “Like Mother, Like Son� CBS 6.71 45 According to Jim ABC 6.65 46 Scrubs NBC 6.53 47 That ‘70s Show (8:30 p.m.) FOX 6.35 48 Just Shoot Me NBC 6.34 49 “American Pie� FOX 6.31 50 Cops (8:30 p.m.) FOX 6.30 51 Millionaire (Thu.) ABC 6.21 52 Mole II: The Next Betrayal ABC 6.19 53 Houston Medical ABC 6.16 54 Funniest Home Videos ABC 6.09 55 The Simpsons (Wed.) FOX 6.04 56 State v ABC 5.93 57 The District (9 p.m.) CBS 5.92 58 Looking: Bachelorettes FOX 5.89 59 Dateline NBC (Sun.) NBC 5.86 60 Touched by an Angel CBS 5.67 61 Grounded for Life FOX 5.60 62 That ‘70s Show FOX 5.59 63 The Drew Carey Show ABC 5.49 64 King of the Hill FOX 5.39 65 Drew Carey (9:30 p.m.) ABC 5.38 66 “Ruby Bridges� ABC 5.25 67 Cops FOX 5.18 Weakest Link (Sun.) NBC 5.18 69 WWE Smackdown! UPN 5.15 70 “Disney’s Lilo & Stitch� ABC 5.04 71 The Practice ABC 4.94 72 “Goldfinger� ABC 4.93 73 Alias ABC 4.56 74 Futurama FOX 4.38 75 Spin City ABC 4.36 76 Whose Line Is It? (8:30 p.m.) ABC 4.29 77 Spin City (8:30 p.m.) ABC 4.24 78 Ed NBC 4.04 79 Whose Line Is It Anyway? ABC 3.69 80 “The Spy Who Loved Me� ABC 3.60 81 “Teen Choice Presents� FOX 3.55 82 Smallville WB 3.17 83 Reba WB 3.11 84 “Uprising� NBC 3.07 85 “Money Talks� WB 2.98 86 Gilmore Girls WB 2.85 87 Girlfriends UPN 2.58 88 7th Heaven WB 2.53 89 The Parkers UPN 2.47 90 Sabrina, the Teenage Witch WB 2.41 91 Jamie Kennedy (8:30 p.m.) WB 2.39 92 Raising Dad WB 2.38 93 Dark Angel FOX 2.35 94 The Hughleys UPN 2.27 95 Enterprise UPN 2.26 96 Charmed WB 2.21 97 The X-Files FOX 2.19 98 One On One UPN 2.16 99 Maybe It’s Me WB 2.02 100 Buffy the Vampire Slayer UPN 1.98 101 Jamie Kennedy WB 1.94 “Death by Magic� UPN 1.94 103 Dawson’s Creek WB 1.82 104 Angel WB 1.73 105 Wolf Lake UPN 1.70 106 Gilmore Girls (Mon.) WB 1.67 107 Dawson’s Creek (9 p.m.) WB 1.55

*--*

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 8.52 11.85 NBC 7.34 12.99 FOX 5.73 8.78 ABC 5.44 9.25 UPN 2.61 4.14 WB 2.36 3.63

*--*