ABC trio sees ratings drop

CBS' crime shows pick up slack from sitcoms

By CYNTHIA LITTLETON

ABC had another tough outing with its Wednesday slate, with "Pushing Daisies," "Private Practice" and "Dirty Sexy Money" dipping from last week's lackluster preem numbers.

CBS remained sluggish in the 8-9 p.m. hour with "The New Adventures of Old Christine" and frosh laffer "Gary Unmarried." NBC's "Knight Rider" was also down from last week, as was CW's "America's Next Top Model." Fox's "Bones," on the other hand, picked up a little steam.

CBS' fortunes picked up considerably from 9-11p.m. with "Criminal Minds" and "CSI: NY," giving the Eye the nightly win in adults 18-49 (3.6 rating/10 share) and total viewers (13.1 million) by a comfortable margin, according to prelim Nielsens.

"Pushing Daisies" opened the night for ABC with 5.6 million viewers and 1.9/6 in 18-49. "Daisies" wasn't off all that much from the previous week (6.3 mil, 2.0/6), but at 9 p.m. "Private Practice" (7.3 mil, 2.4/6) dropped 22% in the demo from its preem. At 10 p.m., "Dirty Sexy Money" (5.9 mil, 2.0/6) was down 20% in the demo.

CBS' 10 p.m. anchor "CSI: NY" (15.9 mil, 4.3/12) was up by more than 1 million viewers and ranked as the night's most-watched show. Eye also saw gains for 9 p.m.'s "Criminal Minds" (15.9 mil, 4.2/11).

Peacock's "Knight Rider" (6.7 mil, 2.2/6) lost nearly 1 million viewers and slid 8% week-to-week in 18-49. NBC's "The Biggest Loser" (6.6 mil, 2.7/7) and "Lipstick Jungle" (4.8 mil, 1.9/5) couldn't get any traction against CBS' dramas.

Fox had a good start with "Bones" (10.3 mil, 3.3/10), which upticked 6% in 18-49 from last week, but fell off a cliff from 9-10 p.m. with a double dose of "Til Death" (4.8 mil, 1.6/4). Even so, "Bones" was strong enough to keep Fox No. 2 for the night in viewers (7.4 mil) and 18-49 (2.4/7).

CW's "Top Model" (3.9 mil, 1.7/5) eased a bit from last week's showing.

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