'Fallen Idol' Special Beats 'CSI: New York'

Strong competition from both ABC's "Fallen Idol" edition of Primetime Live and a new episode of Law & Order combined to push CSI: New York to second place last Wednesday.

According to a report on the Daily Variety, the "Fallen Idol" special was watched by 13.7 million viewers, which put it ahead of the 13.4 million that tuned in for New York's "On The Job." The difference was more pronounced in the important demographic category of adults aged between 18 and 49, where ABC had an advantage of more than 40% over New York.

CSI: New York's viewership number of 13.4 million was only a million lower than last week, which seems like a small drop, considering that ABC was then still airing its low-rated series Eyes, and Law & Order was in repeats. Indeed, the NBC show seemed to be hit the hardest by Primetime Live, as with 11.7 million viewers it was nearing all-time lows. CSI: New York was undoubtedly helped by CBS's decision to precede it with the original episode of Without a Trace that was pre-empted for the recent Bush conference; in this unusual Wednesday timeslot, Without A Trace was watched by 11.93 million people.

On Monday, CSI: Miami's "Recoil" did't have much to fear from the competition, as it became the most-watched show of the night with just over 20 million viewers. NBC still performed well, with Medium attracting 12.6 million viewers, but Variety noted that an hour earlier the NBC show Las Vegas had to settle for some of its lowest ratings ever. At that time, CBS was airing the timeslot-winning combination of Everybody Loves Raymond and Two And A Half Men.

Finally, on Thursday 25.9 million people tuned in for the original CSI's "Weeping Willows," nearly twice as many as watched The Apprentice on NBC. CBS also managed to win the overall night, thanks to strong performances by Survivor and Without A Trace, although the latter show apparently got most of its strength from older viewers, and was soundly beaten in the adults 18-49 demographic by ER.

More info on last week's ratings can be found in Variety's full reports for Monday, Wednesday and Thursday.

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