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CBS ran away with the prime-time network ratings for the first full week of December, with an airtight lock on the top five most- watched shows.
CBS' "CSI: Crime Scene Investigation" was the No. 1 program for the week ending Dec. 11, rounding up a season-high average of 31 million viewers, according to figures released Tuesday by Nielsen Media Research. The forensics drama got a powerful boost from Thursday's finale of "Survivor: Guatemala" (21.2 million). Meanwhile, a football overrun on Sunday helped drive "60 Minutes" to its biggest number in five years (19.7 million).
For prime time overall, CBS led with an average of 14 million viewers, tailed by ABC (9.6 million), NBC (9.4 million) and Fox (5.7 million). CBS also held a commanding lead among the adults aged 18- 49 demographic, the group considered most important by advertisers.
With the November "sweep" period over and the holidays approaching, other network lineups were heavily larded with low- performing repeats. However, NBC's Tuesday (soon to be Thursday) comedy "My Name is Earl" delivered its most-watched episode (14 million), and ABC did well with the holiday chestnut "A Charlie Brown Christmas" (15.3 million). But NBC's "West Wing" looked defeated on Sunday (8.1 million).
On basic cable, the most-watched program was Sunday's Lions- Packers game on ESPN (8.9 million). The Sci-Fi Channel opened relatively well with Monday's debut of the miniseries thriller "The Triangle" (4.3 million).
SCOTT COLLINS
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*--* Here are the rankings for national prime-time network television last week (Dec. 5-11) as compiled by...