Eye wows on Wednesday

Morning Ratings Flash - Rick Kissell

By RICK KISSELL

ABC's "Lost" remained hot Wednesday but CBS stole the night on the strength of "CSI: NY" and the conclusion to disaster pic "Category 6: Day of Destruction," according to preliminary nationals from Nielsen.

The Alphabet's "Lost" (6.7 rating/18 share in adults 18-49, 17.5 million viewers overall) virtually matched its series highs in the night's opening hour, again dominating despite facing increased competish from the first half of the Eye's "Category 6" and again standing as Wednesday's top-rated program.

The CBS pic (5.0/13 in adults 18-49, 16.7 million viewers overall) was a solid second from 8 to 9 and then surged to an easy timeslot victory from 9 to 10. Also for CBS, "CSI: NY" (6.3/17 in adults 18-49, 17.1 million viewers overall) ruled at 10 over NBC's "Law & Order" (4.4/12 in adults 18-49, 13.8 million viewers overall) and ABC's "Wife Swap" (4.3/11 in adults 18-49, 10.4 million viewers overall).

At Fox, 9 o'clock unscripted skein "Nanny 911" continues to perform pretty well (3.9/10 in adults 18-49, 8.5 million viewers overall), tying for second in 18-49 with NBC's "West Wing" (3.9/9 in adults 18-49, 12.4 million viewers overall) and edging out a special "Women Tell All" episode of ABC's "The Bachelor" (3.7/9 in adults 18-49, 8.8 million viewers overall).

Of note at the weblets, the WB's "Jack & Bobby" defeated UPN's "Kevin Hill" in adults 18-34 for the first time (1.7/4 vs. 1.3/4).

Prelim 18-49 averages for the night: CBS, 5.5/14; ABC, 4.9/13; NBC, 3.4/9, tied with Fox, 3.4/9; UPN, 1.9/5; WB, 1.8/5.

In total viewers: CBS, 16.8 million; ABC, 12.2 million; NBC, 10.8 million; Fox, 7.4 million; UPN, 4.2 million; WB, 4 million.