'Apprentice' Can't Top 'CSI' Overnights

See Also: 'Butterflied' Episode Guide

Despite strong opposition from NBC's Friends and The Apprentice, back-to-back CSI: Crime Scene Investigation episodes enabled CBS to win the overnight ratings battle by two-tenths of a point last night.

According to Mediaweek's Programming Insider, "Butterflied", the new episode which aired at 9 p.m., earned a 20.1 rating/28 share. This means that last night, approximately 20.1% of households in overnight markets with television sets were tuned to this week's episode, and 28% of households watching television at the time had CSI onscreen.

Reality show The Apprentice finished first in the 8:30 p.m. half-hour against a rerun of CSI, bringing in a 14.0/20 versus CSI's 11.1/16, but fell to second place at 9 p.m. when the regularly scheduled Thursday night CSI episode aired.

ER won the 10 p.m. hour for NBC by a smaller margin, 15.2/23 versus 13.7/20 over CBS's Without A Trace.

The Apprentice saw its ratings increase from the first week, gaining three percentage points in the overnights.

Programming Insider Marc Berman added that it was "particularly impressive" that the new reality show maintained its ratings when "Butterflied" began to air.

The original column with overnight ratings breakdown, which also contains a guess that the new CSI series may air Friday nights and the SAG nominations, is at Mediaweek. Full ratings will be available Monday.

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