CBS, ABC's 'Stars' shine Thursday

Morning Ratings Flash - Rick Kissell

By RICK KISSELL

CBS scored a routine ratings victory Thursday night, winning all three hours among young adults. Still, ABC's "Dancing With the Stars" continued to impress, achieving season highs opposite tough competish.

According to preliminary nationals from Nielsen, "Dancing With the Stars" (5.5 rating/14 share in adults 18-49, 19.8 million viewers overall) grew with each half-hour, placing second in 18-49 to the CBS combo of "Survivor" and "CSI." The ABC skein moved ahead of "Survivor" in total viewers in their head-to-head matchup.

The Alphabet also improved its fortunes by replaying last Sunday's "Grey's Anatomy" from 9:30 to 10:30 (3.6/9 in 18-49, 10.0 million viewers overall).

At CBS, "Survivor: Exile Island" (6.6/17 in 18-49, 18.9 million viewers overall) was down slightly from its week-earlier premiere, and "CSI" comfortably led its hour (9.2/21 in 18-49, 27.1 million viewers overall). "Without a Trace" (6.3/16 in 18-49, 20.2 million viewers overall) took advantage of its lead-in to edge out NBC's "ER" in demos (6.1/16 in 18-49, 14.1 million viewers overall), with the Peacock skein rising slightly from the previous week's series low.

Also for NBC, "Four Kings" (2.9/7 in 18-49, 6.3 million viewers overall) looked shakier at 8:30 coming out of "Will & Grace" (3.1/8 in 18-49, 7.4 million viewers overall). That led into the lowest original score to date for "My Name is Earl" (third-place 4.9/11 in 18-49, 10.2 million viewers overall), although "The Office" held steady (second-place 4.6/10 in 18-49, 9.0 million viewers overall).

Fox ran a distant fourth Thursday, with "The OC" on par with its recent outings (2.5/6 in 18-49, 5.3 million viewers overall) and 8 o'clock's original "That '70s Show" on the low end (2.2/6 in 18-49, 4.7 million viewers overall).

Preliminary 18-49 averages for the night: CBS, 7.3/18; NBC, 4.6/11; ABC, 4.4/11; Fox, 2.5/6; WB, 2.0/5; UPN, 1.1/3.

In total viewers: CBS, 22.0 million; ABC, 14.5 million; NBC, 10.2 million; Fox, 5.1 million; WB, 4.5 million; UPN, 2.9 million.