18 Million Get Caught In 'Miami' Chase

CSI: Miami's hyped 90-minute episode claimed its time slot victory, but all three shows pulled in but average numbers in last week's rating reports.

After a month-long struggle to maintain its ratings crown in the February sweeps battle, CSI: Miami once again triumphed in its time slot. The special 90-minute "Nothing To Lose" started out a little slow in the first half hour but picked up a significant amount of viewers in its regular 10 p.m. slot, ending the night with 18.6 million viewers and 6.6/15 of the share. The number deviation can be accounted to the show's irregular 9:30 p.m. time slot. Miami's ratings rival, Medium, saw a decrease in the ratings, ending the night with 13.7 million viewers, while ABC's Supernanny came in third with 9.7 million. Though Miami easily won the hour, however, FOX's American Idol won the night with 23.2 million viewers.

18 million viewers was enough to crown "Nothing To Lose" the winner in its time slot, but the number is a decrease to the 19 million viewers "Identity" pulled in just last week. The gap widens considerably when this week's numbers are compared to the show's last 90-minute episode, "Crime Wave", which was watched by a whopping 22 million viewers. The show's ratings have suffered due to strong competition from NBC's Medium, whose numbers continues to see-saw closer to Miami's each week.

Meanwhile, CSI: New York continues to hold on in the ratings struggle. This week's "Hush" was watched by 14.1 million viewers and received 4.8/12 of the share, a slight improvement over last week's "Til Death Do We Part", which was watched by 14 million. But while the show continues to build a stronger audience it wasn't enough to beat NBC's Law and Order, which was watched by 14.5 million viewers. The small margin put New York in second place for its time slot, while ABC's Wife Swap came in third with 8.3 million viewers. However, none of them were strong enough to beat American Idol, which claimed another victory with 26.4 million viewers.

CBS easily came out triumphant on Thursday night with the help of CSI and Without A Trace. CSI's final sweeps episode, "Big Middle" came out victorious, scoring 27.2 million viewers and putting the network in first place. Without A Trace came in second for the night with 21.1 million viewers, while NBC's ER came in third; FOX's super hyped and criticized Stars Without Make-Up scored 7.4 million viewers. But while CSI won the night, its numbers decreased from last week's episode "King Baby", which was watched by 30.4 million viewers.

To view the full ratings reports, visit Reuters' Monday and Wednesday articles, and Variety's Thursday report.

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