• by Wayne Friedman , September 29, 2006

CBS won Wednesday night, but it got an even better result with "Jericho," its new drama, which became the first new show of the season to grow week-to-week in ratings.

"Jericho," the apocalyptic drama, climbed to a Nielsen preliminary 3.6 rating--up 13 percent from a 3.2 the week before in the 8 p.m. time slot. All the while, a competing new drama--NBC's "Kidnapped," which was running at 10 p.m.--sank a staggering 25 percent, week-to-week, landing at an anemic 2.1 rating among 18-49 viewers.

CBS earned a 4.5 rating/13 share for the night. ABC was next at a 4.2/11. There was good news for both networks: Each was up a couple tenths of a rating point. Fox came in at a lower 2.7/7 for the evening--although it, too, rose versus its numbers of a week ago. NBC was next at a 2.6/7. Then came the CW at a 2.1/6. Univision pulled up the rear with a 1.7/4.

Other highlights included ABC's "Dancing with the Stars," which was up 10 percent to a 4.0 rating from a week ago. Fox's "Bones" had a difficult time keeping up, only getting to a 2.7 rating.

CBS was able to capitalize in the 9 p.m. hour from rerun episodes of ABC's "Lost." CBS' "Criminal Minds" won for the second straight week, with a 4.8 rating, matching its best ever adult 18-49 rating result. An ABC recap show of "Lost" and NBC's "The Biggest Loser" tied for second, with a 3.4.

The CW's strongest show of the new season continues to be "America's Next Top Model," which posted a 2.4/7 rating--up 14 percent from the week before. "Model" also finished first among 18-34 viewers with a 2.9 rating. The CW tied for the night's lead among 18-34 viewers, drawing a 3.6/10 with a combination of "Model" and the debut of "One Tree Hill."

Wednesday continues to be a strong night for the CW--up nearly 200 percent in all demos versus WB, and almost 20 percent higher versus UPN numbers of a year ago.