Great start for UPN's 'Chris'

Morning Ratings Flash -- Rick Kissell

By RICK KISSELL

UPN successfully launched its well-reviewed comedy "Everybody Hates Chris" on Thursday, as it placed second in its 8 o'clock timeslot among young adults. CBS, powered by "CSI," won the night overall while NBC saw more significant declines for its once-impenetrable night.

Kicking off the night, UPN's comedy based on the life on Chris Rock averaged a solid 3.2 rating/9 share among adults 18-49 and 7.6 million viewers overall, edging in the key demo NBC's second-year comedy "Joey" (3.0/9 in 18-49, 7.6 million viewers overall) as well as the first half-hour of Fox's "The OC." This is the largest comedy aud in the history of UPN.

CBS dominated the night as usual, but this time by its largest premiere-week margins yet. "Survivor: Guatemala" (5.9/16 in 18-49, 16.6 million viewers overall) and "CSI" (9.9/24 in 18-49, 28.3 million viewers overall) both were behind last year's pace but nothing else came close to either of them. Eye also did a good job getting sampling for its new Wednesday drama "Criminal Minds," whose initial episode won the 10 o'clock hour (6.7/17 in 18-49, 19.8 million viewers overall) in the slot usually housed by "Without a Trace."

At NBC, it was bad news across the board. A one-hour "Joey" didn't do much from 8 to 9 (3.3/9 in 18-49, 7.8 million viewers overall), placing second in key categories but this was its third-lowest firstrun score to date. "The Apprentice" then hit firstrun lows for a regular episode (4.6/11 in 18-49, 9.8 million viewers overall), falling 30% behind last fall's "The Apprentice 2" premiere. And at 10, "ER" kicked off its 12th season by placing second in the hour with a preem for the first time (6.5/16 in 18-49, 14.3 million viewers overall); it did narrowly move ahead of "Criminal Minds" in 18-49 in the 10:30 half-hour.

Fox ran third in 18-49 with both "The OC" (2.9/8 in 18-49, 6.3 million viewers overall) and "Reunion" (2.5/6 in 18-49, 5.3 million viewers overall).

And ABC was slightly above average but nothing special at 9 with its results show edition of "Dancing With the Stars: Dance-Off" (2.6/6 in 18-49, 10.3 million viewers overall).

Preliminary 18-49 averages for the night: CBS, 7.5/19; NBC, 4.8/12; Fox, 2.7/7; ABC, 2.2/6; UPN, 2.0/5; WB, 1.0/3.

In total viewers: CBS, 21.6 million; NBC, 10.6 million; ABC, 8.3 million; Fox, 5.8 million; UPN, 4.7 million; WB, 2.5 million.