ABC finishes TV premiere week at ratings peak

By Steve Gorman

LOS ANGELES (Reuters) – For the first time in a decade, ABC
finished the opening week of a new U.S. TV season on top of the
ratings, led by returning hits “Desperate Housewives” and
“Lost,” while rival network NBC posted its lowest ranking in
five years.

Walt Disney Co.-owned ABC claimed six of the top 10 shows
in the key race for young-adult viewers — including No. 1
ranked “Desperate Housewives” — and five of the hottest
programs overall during the first week of the 2005-06 broadcast
season, Nielsen Media Research reported on Tuesday.

Among viewers aged 18 to 49, the benchmark group most
networks use to measure prime-time success, ABC also boasted
the highest-rated new series for the week, alien thriller
“Invasion,” and the week’s top reality show, “Extreme Makeover:
Home Edition.”

Another unsung hero of ABC’s lineup, the returning medical
drama “Grey’s Anatomy,” landed at No. 4 in the 18-to-49 group
and at sixth place in total viewers.

“All of our key programs that we needed to work this week
are all in the top 10,” ABC ratings expert Jeffrey Lindsey
said.

The multiple successes added up to ABC’s first premiere
week at No. 1 in the 18-to-49 ratings since 1995, when the
network’s schedule included such hits as “Home Improvement,”
“Ellen,” “Roseanne” and “Grace Under Fire.”

CBS, a unit of Viacom Inc. remained the most watched
network overall, with return of mega-hit “CSI: Crime Scene
Investigation” drawing the week’s single-biggest audience in
total viewers, 29 million.

COMIC SOAP OPERA

Darkly comic soap opera “Housewives” and castaway thriller
“Lost,” two breakout hits that led ABC’s ratings rebound last
season, ranked second and third behind “CSI” last week with
viewer tallies of 28.3 million and 23.4 million, respectively.

The launch of CBS’s latest detective show, “Criminal
Minds,” ranked as the most watched new show among all age
groups for the week and fourth overall.

But ABC, which finished the week a close second behind CBS
in total viewers, was the only network among the Big Three
broadcasters to see its average audience grow in comparison to
the same week a year ago. CBS and NBC both lost viewers.

NBC, embarking on its second season since sitcom hits
“Friends” and “Frasier” left its lineup, ended the week in
third place for both total viewers and the 18-to-49 audience
that the General Electric Co.-owned network had long dominated.

That marked NBC’s lowest starting point for a new TV season
since September 2000, when ABC was still flying high with its
gargantuan game show hit “Who Wants to Be a Millionaire.”

One bright spot on NBC’s new schedule was the premiere of
“My Name Is Earl,” which ranked as the highest-rated new comedy
in prime time and ranked No. 8 in the 18-49 ratings derby.

“ER,” the venerable hospital drama that has long anchored
NBC’s once-mighty Thursday night lineup, returned for its 12th
season with respectable numbers.

But NBC continued to see ratings slippage on a night it
once branded “Must-See-TV.”

“Friends”-spin-off “Joey” was eclipsed by the premiere of
UPN’s Chris Rock-inspired series, “Everybody Hates Chris,”
which yielded the highest-rated comedy debut on the
Viacom-owned network in its 10-year history. And “CSI” pummeled
real estate tycoon Donald Trump’s return for a fourth edition
of his reality show “The Apprentice.”

A new “Apprentice” spin-off starring domestic diva and
ex-con Martha Stewart fared even worse against ABC’s “Lost” on
Sunday night.