Paced by television's top two most popular programs, "American Idol"-boosted Fox and "CSI"-powered CBS scored primetime victories in key young-adult categories last week.
NBC placed a competitive second across the board and ABC remained buried in fourth.
According to Nielsen in-home viewing estimates for the week of March 8-14, an extra hour of "Idol" was enough to give Fox its first victory in the key adults 18-49 demo (4.1/11) in five weeks. It was followed by NBC (3.9/11), CBS (3.6/10), ABC (2.7/7), UPN (1.4/4) and the WB (1.3/3).
CBS, which also won the week as usual in total viewers (11.98 million), edged past NBC to win the week in adults 25-54 (4.6/11) -- its 12th victory in its target demo this season vs. six at this time a year ago.
For the Eye net, a firstrun Thursday paved the way, with "CSI" the week's No. 2 program in 18-49 (10.0/24) and No. 1 in both adults 25-54 (12.2/26) and total viewers (27.40 million), and "Survivor: All-Stars" (8.7/23 in 18-49, 22.63m) ruling the night's opening hour. And "Without a Trace" picked it up with NBC's "ER" out of the picture, retaining an improved 68% of its "CSI" lead-in and logging a series record in 18-49 (6.8/18).
Also, Sunday was improved, thanks to "Family Sins" (3.9/10 in 18-49, 12.30m), the net's top-rated movie in 18-49 since December, and another solid outing for "Cold Case" (3.7/10 in 18-49), the night's most-watched program overall (15.92m).
Fox dominated its two nights of "American Idol" (17% of its sked), with a 90-minute seg on Tuesday ranking as the week's No. 1 show in 18-49 (10.7/28) and helping new comedy "Cracking Up" get sampled to good numbers (5.1/13 in 18-49, 11.25m).
On the comedy front, "That '70s Show" (5.3/16 in 18-49) dominated its Wednesday slot, but the net's six-laffer block on Sunday is ailing, again placing fourth in 18-49 and merely matching its Saturday average with "Cops" and "America's Most Wanted" (3.1/10).
And while new reality skein "Playing It Straight" did OK on Friday (2.1/7 in 18-49), lead-out drama "Wonderfalls" struggled in its preem (1.8/5 in 18-49, 4.31m).
Over at NBC, net remained competitive despite repeats or preemptions for key series including "Las Vegas," "Law & Order: SVU," "Friends" and "ER."
Highlights included more sturdy numbers for Sunday's "Crossing Jordan" (4.6/12 in 18-49, 12.79m) as well as the Thursday duo of "Will & Grace" (7.3/19 in 18-49) and "The Apprentice" (9.7/23 in 18-49). But original movie "Behind the Camera: Charlie's Angels" didn't do much on Monday (3.6/9 in 18-49, 7.83m).
'Hospital' healthy
ABC was again in fourth place, led by a special Wednesday "Extreme Makeover" (4.0/11 in 18-49, 9.83m). And although "Kingdom Hospital" (3.7/10 in 18-49, 8.52m) fell behind a "Law & Order" repeat, it was the net's top-rated scripted show of the week, ranking 25th among all shows in the 18-49 demo.
UPN edged past the WB in adults 18-34 (1.5/5 vs. 1.4/4), topping the Frog in this demo on every weeknight but Wednesday and improving on its year-ago weekly average by a big 36%. Spec "Mania of Wrestlemania" (1.2/4 in 18-49, 2.68m) perked up UPN's Friday numbers, while "America's Next Top Model" put up more good numbers despite competish from "American Idol."
The WB's second season of "High School Reunion" got off to a solid start on Sunday (1.8/4 in 18-49, 3.40m), retaining 91% of its 18-34 lead-in from "Charmed" (2.1/5 vs. 2.3/7).
HBO's "The Sopranos" (5.2/12 in 18-49, 9.97m) was down about 15% from its week-earlier season premiere, but still beat out its broadcast rivals in 18-49, including NBC's tough "Law & Order: CI" (4.9/12).
TNT, paced by repeats of theatrical biggies "The Matrix" and "Men in Black," scored a primetime victory in adults 18-49 to lead the ad-supported cablers (1.02 rating) and was also the most-watched cable net overall (2.65m). Disney Channel topped primetime among kids 2-11 (1.15m), edging out Nickelodeon (1.07m).
Contact Rick Kissell at
rick.kissell@variety.com