• by Ken Liebeskind , March 6, 2002

Now that the Olympics are over, NBC's hegemony over the market has ended, with CBS beating out NBC in this week's Nielsens. CBS had four of the top seven shows, with the Grammy Awards, an annual special, ranking seventh and helping give CBS the overall victory.

CBS scored a 15 share, with a 9.1 household rating, edging NBC (14/8.9) and easily beating ABC (9/5.8) and Fox (8/5.2).

CBS scored big with CSI, ranked first, which earned a 25 share and a 10.6 household rating. Other top CBS shows were Survivor and Everybody Loves Raymond, ranked fourth and fifth. The Grammys scored an 18 share/7.0 household rating with nearly 19 million viewers. NBC won with Friends and E.R., ranked second and third.

Also in the top 10 were the NBC shows Leap of Faith, Will & Grace, Law and Order and Frasier. CBS and NBC won the entire top 25 with the exception of two Fox shows, Simpsons and Malcolm in the Middle, ranked 22 and 23.

Cable winners for the most recent week were WWF Entertainment (TNN), Superstation Sunday Showcase Unforgiven (TBS), Sunday Movie Love, Lies and Murder (LIF) and Spongebob (NICK). The top WWF Entertainment episode earned a 4.0 household rating with 4.2 million households tuned in.