Win-win Situation For Eye Net

CBS was living large in the seven-day frame ending Oct. 16, scoring its first weekly clean sweep in primetime since the 2005-06 season began Sept. 19.

CBS nosed past ABC for bragging rights in the adults 18-49 demographic with an average of a 4.2 rating/11 share in the adults 18-49 demo, compared with ABC's 4.1/11, according to Nielsen Media Research. There was more daylight between CBS and ABC in the total-viewers column, with CBS averaging 13.4 million viewers to ABC's 10.7 million.

Fox, which turned over most of its schedule last week to baseball playoff coverage, was No. 3 in viewers (10.5 million) and No. 4 in adults 18-49 (3.3/9); NBC was just the opposite, with 9.6 million viewers and a 3.4/9 in the demo. WB Network had a slim edge on UPN with 3.8 million viewers to UPN's 3.7 million; the baby nets tied in their target demo of adults 18-34 (1.7/5).

CBS was put over the top in the weekly standings by a roughly hourlong NFL overrun on Sunday that injected 17.1 million viewers and a 6.6/23 in the demo into the eye network's averages. But CBS also saw week-to-week gains for many of its core franchises, including Monday's "CSI: Miami" (18.5 million, 6.2/15), Tuesday's "NCIS" (16.8 million, 4.1/11), Wednesday's "CSI: NY" (15.2 million, 5.3/14) and Thursday's "Survivor: Guatemala" (17.9 million, 6.5/18) and "Without a Trace" (20.6 million, 6.7/18).

CBS' new 9 p.m. Wednesday drama "Criminal Minds" (13.8 million, 4.2/10) also impressed with its highest numbers in three airings in the time slot to date and major growth from its 8:30 p.m. lead-in, "Yes, Dear" (8.8 million, 3.0/8), even against the heat of the 800-pound gorilla of Wednesday night, ABC's "Lost" (21.7 million, 9.4/22). "Minds" delivered CBS' best ratings in the time slot in more than two years.

CBS had the most-watched program of the week, as usual, in Thursday's "CSI: Crime Scene Investigation" (28.3 million, 10.0/25), but ABC had the top dog in the key demo in Sunday's "Desperate Housewives" (25.8 million, 11.4/25).

NBC's highlight of the week continued to be the 9 p.m. Tuesday comedy "My Name Is Earl" (12.6 million, 5.5/13), which held on to its mantle as primetime's top comedy. The peacock also saw its Monday drama slate gain a little ground last week, particularly 9 p.m's "Las Vegas" (13.6 million, 4.8/11).

The baseball playoffs haven't been so good to Fox so far this month. Not surprisingly, the most-watched game of last week's slate was the American League Divisional Series Game 5 (13.7 million, 4.9/12) on Oct. 10 that saw the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim advance to the ALCS (where they were quickly vanquished by the Chicago White Sox).

WB's favorite night of the week continues to be Tuesday with the dramas "Gilmore Girls" (6.2 million, 2.7/7) and "Supernatural" (5.5 million, 2.4/7). "Smallville" (5.9 million, 2.5/7) is hanging in there on Thursday, but most other spots on the network's schedule are flagging.

UPN has two bastions of Nielsen glory: 8 p.m. Wednesday's "America's Next Top Model" (5.5 million, 2.7/8) and 8 p.m. Thursday's "Everybody Hates Chris" (6.3 million, 2.5/7).

Among the noteworthy Nielsen news from the cable realm last week was MTV's series premiere of "Run's House," centering on Rev Run (aka Joey Simmons) of rap pioneers Run-DMC. The 10:30 p.m. Thursday premiere episode brought in 3.3 million viewers, most of them in the 12-34 age range.