CBS’ strong Thursday lineup was too much for the deciding game of baseball’s National League Championship Series between the St. Louis Cardinals and Houston Astros, according to preliminary nationals from Nielsen. With the exception of CBS’ “Survivor: Vanuatu,” all of Thursday’s entertainment programs were down week-to-week.
CBS drama “CSI” (9.5 rating/22 share in adults 18-49, 26.2 million viewers overall) was again the night’s No. 1 program, easily topping baseball in the 9 o’clock hour as well as NBC’s solid “The Apprentice” (second-place 7.1/17 in adults 18-49, 14.4 million viewers overall).
“Survivor: Vanuatu” (7.1/19 in adults 18-49, 19.0 million viewers overall) won the night’s leadoff hour over NBC’s “Joey” (4.7/13 in adults 18-49, 11.4 million viewers overall) and “Will & Grace” (4.8/12 in adults 18-49, 10.6 million viewers overall), both of which lost 3 share points week-to-week. And at 10, NBC’s “ER” (7.9/20 in adults 18-49, 16.2 million viewers overall) opened up a bigger demo advantage over CBS “Without a Trace” (5.9/15 in adults 18-49, 18.5 million viewers overall).
Fox’s Astros-Cardinals game averaged a 14.4 rating/21 share in Nielsen’s metered-market overnights, well below the 21.1/32 of the previous night’s Boston Red Sox-New York Yankees seventh game but a strong number for this lower-profile matchup opposite tough Thursday competish on other nets.
ABC didn’t do much all night with “Extreme Makeover” (1.7/5 in adults 18-49, 5.9 million viewers overall), “Life as We Know It” (1.5/4 in adults 18-49, 4.0 million viewers overall) and “Primetime” (1.7/4 in adults 18-49, 4.8 million viewers overall). Middle hour’s “Life as We Know It” fell from its first two outings but is holding up better in persons 12-34.
Preliminary 18-49 averages for the night: CBS, 7.5/19; NBC, 6.6/17; Fox, 6.2/15; ABC, 1.6/4; UPN, 1.6/4; WB, 1.0/2.
In total viewers: CBS, 21.2 million; Fox, 18.1m; NBC, 13.9m; ABC, 4.9m; UPN, 4.5m; WB, 2.4m.
Credit: Variety/Yahoo
