Creepy crawlers send NBC's tally soaring

NEW YORK - Tanks filled with tarantulas and swarming rats on Fear Factor were a winning formula for NBC, which had its best ratings week of the year in the demographic it cares about.

Fear Factor slipped into Nielsen Media Research's top 10 last week with 17.9-million viewers. Next week's tally will be even better: Preliminary ratings showed Monday's conclusion of its couples competition had a series-best 18.6-million viewers.

The movie Shrek on Sunday also boosted NBC's ratings on a night that is normally a problem.

Last week gave NBC its highest ratings of the season among the 18-to-49-year-old demographic craved by advertisers, the only group that NBC executives profess to care about, and its widest margin of victory.

It was also a milestone week for producer Jerry Bruckheimer: Three of his CBS shows - CSI: Crime Scene Investigation, Without a Trace and Cold Case - had their most-watched episodes ever.

CSI was the week's most popular show overall, with 30.9-million viewers.

Last week's ratings proved one thing to ABC: Viewers like home redesigns more than people redesigns. Extreme Makeover: Home Edition was seen by 10.9-million people on Sunday, while Extreme Makeover had 7.7-million viewers on Thursday.

For the week, CBS averaged 14.2-million viewers in prime time, NBC 12.6-million, Fox 9.3-million, ABC 8.3-million, UPN 4.1-million, the WB 4-million and Pax TV 1-million.

NBC's Nightly News won the evening news ratings race, averaging 10.9-million viewers. ABC's World News Tonight had 10.4-million and the CBS Evening News 8.3-million.

1. CSI: Crime Scene Investigation, CBS, 30.9-million viewers.

2. American Idol (Tuesday), Fox, 26.2.

3. Friends, NBC, 25.9.

4. American Idol, (Wednesday), Fox, 24.5

5. Survivor: All-Stars, CBS, 22.4

6. ER, NBC, 21.9

7. CSI: Miami, CBS, 21.8

8. Without a Trace, CBS, 20.1

9. The Apprentice, NBC, 18.5

10. Fear Factor, NBC, 17.9

11. Everybody Loves Raymond, CBS, 17.6

12. Cold Case, CBS, 17.3

13. Law & Order, NBC, 17

14. Two and a Half Men, CBS, 17

15. 60 Minutes, CBS, 15

16. CBS Sunday Movie: It Must Be Love, CBS, 14.5

17. My Big Fat Obnoxious Fiance, Fox, 13.8

18. NBC Movie of The Week: Shrek, NBC, 13.4

19. Law & Order: Criminal Intent, NBC, 13.3

20. Navy NCIS, CBS, 13.2

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