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A nice perf by original movie "Locusts" on Sunday complemented the Eye net's usual nightly victories on Monday and Thursday last week, while Fox easily won Tuesday and Wednesday courtesy of "American Idol" and revved up Saturday with NASCAR racing action.
According to Nielsen Media Research, CBS and Fox both averaged a 3.7 rating in adults 18-49 for the April 18-24 sesh, with ABC and NBC tied for third with a 3.2. The respective strengths of the network leaders were evident at the opposite ends of the 18-49 demo, with CBS rolling to victory in adults 25-54 (4.7/12) and Fox cruising among viewers 12-34 (3.3/11).
CBS also won convincingly as usual in total viewers (12.5 million).
Both CBS and Fox are searching for their first seasonlong 18-49 title since Nielsen employed People Meters to track the demo in 1987. (CBS is the decided leader in 18-49 if you throw out sports programming, averaging a 3.9 to a 3.6 for ABC and NBC and a 3.4 for Fox.)
Race could hinge on how well Fox's "American Idol" holds up opposite finales of other shows (including ABC's "Lost" on the season's final night), and what kind of boosts CBS gets from the two-hour "Amazing Race," "Survivor" and "CSI" finales.
Overall, the week of April 18-24 was a good one for dramas set in hospitals, with ABC's "Grey's Anatomy," NBC's "ER" and Fox's "House" all among the top 10 programs in 18-49. "Grey's" cracked the top five for the first time (8.1/19), hitting a high with its fifth episode.
For CBS, Thursday drama "CSI" led the way as usual (9.2/24 in adults 18-49, 27.02 million viewers overall), standing as the week's No. 1 program in total viewers. Spinoff "CSI: Miami" (6.8/18, 20.11m) also coasted to victory on Monday, a night that included the week's top two comedies -- Eye's "Two and a Half Men" (5.5/13 in 18-49, 17.13m) and "Everybody Loves Raymond" (5.4/14, 16.96m).
CBS also posted solid second-place finishes opposite tough competish Sunday, with "Cold Case" (3.8/10 in 18-49, 16.74m) and movie "Locusts" (3.8/9, 12.68m), and Tuesday with "Amazing Race 7" (5.1/13, 12.34m).
On Friday, new drama "Numbers" continues to perform well (slot-leading 3.3/10 in 18-49, 11.50m), but "Joan of Arcadia" didn't see much of a spike with its season finale (2.0/7, 7.54m).
Over at Fox, editions of "American Idol" dominated their timeslots on Tuesday (9.8/29 in 18-49, 24.11m) and Wednesday (9.7/25, 22.68m), and Tuesday drama "House" made the top 10 (6.5/16, 17.48m). Also of note was theatrical "Maid in Manhattan" (2.2/7 in 18-49, 6.09m), which greatly improved the net's Friday fortunes, and Wednesday laffer "Stacked," which held up well in its second outing (Daily Variety, April 22).
Over the weekend, Saturday's strong showing for a NASCAR race from Phoenix (3.4/11 in 18-49, 8.76m) helped make up for Sunday's weak results for the "American Top 40 Live" music spec (1.6/4, 3.81m).
ABC's "Desperate Housewives" was the week's No. 1 program in 18-49 (10.1/23) -- even with a clips show -- and was sandwiched between dominant skeins "Extreme Makeover: Home Edition" (6.9/18 in 18-49, 17.11m) and "Grey's Anatomy" (8.1/19, 17.90m).
There wasn't a whole lot else happening at the Alphabet for the week, though, as modest scores dominated the other nights of the week. One standout was Friday's "20/20" (2.9/9 in 18-49, 9.19m), which built sharply on its lead-in and was the week's No. 1 newsmag in adults 25-54 (3.6/10).
NBC was paced by the Thursday tandem of "ER" and "The Apprentice 3" (6.5/17 in 18-49, 13.89m), which posted its best scores in six weeks. Donald Trump skein didn't get much help from its lead-in comedies "Will & Grace" (3.5/10 in 18-49) and "Joey" (3.0/10), with the latter establishing an all-time firstrun low for NBC in Thursday's leadoff half-hour.
Peacock was solid on Wednesday with week two of "Revelations" (4.5/12 in 18-49, 11.77m) and "Law & Order" (4.9/13, 14.33m) and placed second in adults 18-34 and male demos Sunday with a two-hour edition of boxing skein "The Contender" (2.9/7 in 18-49, 5.97m).
At the weblets, the WB inched ahead of UPN in adults 18-34 (1.4/4 vs. 1.3/4), although the former was down 13% year-to-year while the latter -- which wasn't airing top-rated series "America's Next Top Model" at this time in 2004 -- shot up by 30%.
Among adults 18-49, UPN was up vs. the same week a year ago on all five nights it programs. Even modestly rated programs like "Veronica Mars" and "Enterprise" improved their timeslots.
Lifting the Frog was the return of its Tuesday tandem "Gilmore Girls" and "One Tree Hill," which placed second to Fox in persons 12-34, and a nice showing by the first original "Everwood" since February (1.6/4 in 18-49, 4.42m).
The NBA Playoffs helped TNT finish well ahead of USA (0.86 to 0.71) for the primetime cable lead in adults 18-49, with FX's "The Shield" again the week's top scripted program in the demo (1.7/5).
