Record Ratings For 'Paper Or Plastic?'

See Also: 'Paper Or Plastic?' Episode Guide

"Paper Or Plastic?" scored CSI: Crime Scene Investigation's highest-ever ratings earlier this month with almost 31 million Americans tuning in.

The episode, which aired on February 12, scored a final national rating of 18.3/27, according to Yahoo! TV. This means approximately 18.3% of American households with television sets were tuned into CSI, while the episode was viewed by 27% of households watching television at the time.

In terms of actual viewers, these figures mean "Paper Or Plastic?" was watched by a total of 30.9 million people. The previous record for most-watched episode this season was held by "Jackpot", which attracted 29.6 million viewers (story). Fellow CBS crime shows Without a Trace and Cold Case also hit record highs in the same week, with 20.1 and 17.3 million viewers, respectively.

CSI was the number one program for the week, fending off this season's chief competition, American Idol. CSI: Miami also scored highly, with a number five ranking. The episode, "Slow Burn" (14.0/22), was watched by 21.8 million viewers. According to Variety, this was the spin-off's highest-rated outing after the series premiere.

CBS won the week in total viewers, with an average of 14.2 million watching in prime-time. Rival network NBC was second (12.6 million), followed by FOX (9.3 million) and ABC (8.3 million). The smaller networks, UPN, the WB and PAX, all had averages of fewer than 5 million viewers.

Further ratings information is available at the St. Petersburg Times or SFGate.com.

Discuss this news item at Talk CSI!
 Add CSI Files RSS feed to your news reader or My Yahoo!
Also a Desperate Housewives fan? Then visit GetDesperate.com!