'Blink' Beats 'Law & Order'

See Also: 'Blink' Episode Guide

CSI: New York yesterday managed to do what for years seemed impossible: beat NBC's Law & Order and claim the Wednesday ratings crown.

According to Marc Berman at MediaWeek, the New York series premiere "Blink" was watched by 18.51 million people. Not only was this a 128% increase over the 8 million people that watched The Brotherhood of Poland, New Hampsire on CBS last year, it also was 2.81 million viewers more than were tuned in to NBC's competing Law & Order. CSI's lead was even bigger among the important adults 18-49 category, a demographic in which it held a 25% advantage over L&O.

"Blink" achieved a 14.8 rating with a 23 share, which means that out of all households in America with television sets 14.8% were tuned in to CSI: New York, as well as 23% of those actually watching TV at 10:00pm. From 8:00pm to 10:00pm, CBS managed to get a 9.8/15 rating for the Dr. Phil Primetime Special. This combination of self-help and murder mystery proved potent enough for CBS to able to take the top spot on the Wednesday viewership charts.

Besides the success of the third CSI series, the other big story was the debut of ABC's Lost. At 8:00pm, 18 million people watched this new drama show from Alias creator J.J. Abrams. For ABC, this was the most-watched drama premiere since Murder One in 1995.

More ratings information for yesterday night can be found in the full report at MediaWeek.

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