ABC takes Monday demo crown

Morning Ratings Flash - Rick Kissell

By RICK KISSELL

A strong "Monday Night Football" matchup and a special "20/20" have boosted ABC to its first Monday victory of the season in adults 18-49, according to prelim nationals from Nielsen. CBS, which had won the season's first six Mondays, was a strong second and held a slight edge over ABC in total viewers for the night, pending updated nationals this afternoon.

CBS was led as usual by "Everybody Loves Raymond" (20.5 million, 7.3/17 in A18-49) and "CSI: Miami" (17.7 million, 6.2/15), although both were at firstrun season lows.

NBC saw its strongest 18-49 delivery on a Monday this season (5.0/12) with a three-hour original remake of "Carrie." Pic did especially well among women 18-34, teens and kids, topping its broadcast rivals in all three categories.

Fox was a distant fourth with season-low scores for "Boston Public" (8.9 million, 3.9/10 in A18-49) and a low turnout for a repeat of the season premiere of "24" (4.1 million, 2.1/5 in A18-49).

Reliable program ratings weren't available for the ABC programs, but the net seemed to have been boosted by both the attractive Miami-Green Bay football matchup as well as a special "20/20" in which Barbara Walters interviewed singer Justin Timberlake.

Preliminary 18-49 averages for the night: ABC, 6.5/15; CBS, 5.9/14; NBC, 5.0/12; Fox, 3.0/7.

Preliminary total-viewer averages for the night: CBS, 16.7 million; ABC, 16.3 million; NBC, 12.2 million; Fox, 6.5 million.