CSI, Friends Top Season's Programming

CBS drama CSI and the next-to-last season of Friends were TV's biggest winners in primetime for the year, according to Nielsen Media Research. The figures don't include the year's special programming such as the Super Bowl.

Of the top 10 programs in prime households and persons for the year, CBS led with four and NBC and Fox each had three. ABC's first program on the list, Monday Night Football, was 11th. ABC made three more appearances on the list (The Bachelorette, 14th; The Bachelor, 18th; and NFL Monday Night Showcase, 28th) before its first scripted program, NYPD Blue, cracked the list at 34th. Fox's first scripted prorgram was The Simpsons (41st), although Fox's NFL Sunday Bonus was 31st.

Joe Millionaire, which had the top single showing beyond this year's Super Bowl with the finale of the Fox phenom, was the third highest-ranking show on the list. Fox has said it would return Joe Millionaire to the air in the new season with a top-secret twist that the network hopes will give the network another big win. That and the runaway successes of American Idol, which was another partial season program, helped Fox score big from January through May.

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Another partial-season franchise, had two shows in the top 10: Survivor: Thailand and Survivor: Amazon. Law and Order was ranked in the top 10 but its two siblings, Law and Order: SVU and two versions of Law and Order: Criminal Intent, were in the top 25.

The top 10 programs for the season through May 25 are:

  1. CSI (CBS), 16.1/24, 17.19 million average viewers.

  2. Friends (NBC), 13.8/22, 14.6 million average viewers.

  3. Joe Millionaire (Fox), 13.3/19, 14.2 million average viewers.

  4. ER (NBC), 12.9/21, 13.8 million average viewers.

  5. American Idol - Tuesday (Fox), 12.6/19, 13.4 million average viewers.

  6. American Idol - Wednesday (Fox), 12.5/19, 13.3 million average viewers.

  7. Survivor: Thailand (CBS), 12.1/19, 12.9 million average viewers.

  8. Everybody Loves Raymond (CBS), 11.9/18, 12.7 million average viewers.

  9. Law and Order (NBC), 11.7/19, 12.519 million average viewers.

  10. Survivor: Amazon (CBS), 11.7/18, 12.515 million average viewers.

In season-to-date demos for the 35 weeks since Sept. 23, in households CBS (8.2/13, 8.7 million average viewers) came in ahead of NBC (7.7/13, 8.2 million average viewers), ABC (6.3/10, 6.6 million average viewers), Fox (6.0/10, 6.4 million average viewers); The WB (2.6/4, 2.7 million average viewers), UPN (2.3/4, 2.4 million average viewers) and Pax (0.8/1, 870,000 average viewers).

In season-to-date for adults 18-49, NBC (4.4/12, 5.7 million average viewers) came in just ahead of Fox (4.3/12, 5.4 million average viewers) and ahead of CBS (3.8/10, 4.9 million average viewers), ABC (3.7/10, 4.8 million average viewers), The WB (1.8/5, 2.2 million average viewers), UPN (1.5/4, 1.9 million average viewers) and Pax (0.3/1, 370,000 average viewers).

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