• by Wayne Friedman , November 6, 2006

The first day of the November Sweeps pushed both ABC and CBS to their limits, with ABC winning this first battle--but not by much. Fox, in somewhat of a shocker, found itself dead last.

ABC's "Grey's Anatomy" still dominated CBS' "CSI," with a 9.0/21--two full ratings points higher than "CSI." ABC's "Ugly Betty" continued its strong second place to CBS' "Survivor: Cook Islands," with a 4.4/11.

Still, CBS scored more evenly with viewers throughout the evening. CBS won the 8 p.m. time period, with "Survivor" a typically healthy 5.4/14. At 10 p.m., CBS' "Shark" continued to get the better of ABC's "Six Degrees"--beating the show with a 3.7/10, while "Degrees" earned a 3.1/8.

ABC tallied a 5.5 rating/13.9 share for the night, just ahead of CBS' 5.4 rating/13.5 share.

NBC also did fairly well in third place with a 4.8/12.1, touting consistency from "My Name is Earl," "The Office," and "Deal or No Deal" from 8 p.m. to 10 p.m. It tallied 18-49 numbers of 4.1/11, 4.2/11, and 4.7/11, respectively, for those shows. "ER" continued its resurgence, winning the 10 p.m. hour with a 5.7/15.

Perhaps the biggest loser was Fox, which still hasn't found its footing after the baseball playoffs. Its Thursday night programs--"Til Death" and "Happy Hour" and returning drama, "The O.C."--could only mount a 1.5/3.7 challenge, dead last behind Univision and the CW.

Univision, airing the Latin Grammys, took in a strong 2.6/6, its best numbers for any night of the new season so far. The CW also did better than Fox, with fresh episodes of "Smallville" and "Supernatural." It averaged 1.8/4.4.