Reruns ruled the ratings roost as far as last week's Nielsen numbers are concerned. This resulted in nearly all of the broadcast networks posting sharp declines in the number of their viewers from the same period a year ago. But NBC still managed a solid win in the advertiser-coveted 18-49-year-old demographic group -- its ninth such victory in the past 10 weeks -- while CBS took the prize for total viewers in the last full week before the start of the May sweep, notes the Hollywood Reporter. Overall, CBS averaged 10.7 million viewers, followed by NBC (10.4 million), ABC (7.6 million) and Fox (6.9 million). The Top 10 primetime programs for the week of April 15-21, according to Nielsen Media Research, are as follows:
1. "CSI: Crime Scene Investigation," CBS, 14.7 million homes
2. "Survivor: Marquesas," CBS, 12.1 million homes
3. "Friends," NBC, 11.8 million homes
4. (tie) "60 Minutes," CBS, 11.5 million homes
4. (tie) "Friends," NBC, 11.5 million homes
6. (tie) "Everybody Loves Raymond," CBS, 11.0 million homes
6. (tie) "Law and Order," NBC, 11.1 million homes
8. "Will & Grace," NBC, 11.0 million homes
9. (tie) "Becker," CBS, 9.4 million homes
9. (tie) "Primetime Thursday," ABC, 9.4 million
homes
11. (tie) "Crossing Jordan," NBC, 9.3 million homes
11. (tie) "ER," NBC, 9.3 million homes
11. (tie) "Law and Order: Special Victims Unit," NBC, 9.3 million homes