A Lowly Turnout for Reruns

With networks squirreling away original episodes for the rating sweeps beginning Thursday, many top hits were in reruns last week, and all four major networks saw their audience decline compared with the same stretch in 2001, based on viewing estimates issued Tuesday by Nielsen Media Research.

CBS’ Thursday tandem of “Survivor: Marquesas” and a “CSI: Crime Scene Investigation” repeat paced that network to victory, while NBC owed much of its success to the “Law & Order” franchise, with a rerun of the flagship series Sunday after spinoff “Law & Order: Criminal Intent” winning its time slot against the CBS movie “Two Against Time” and ABC’s “The Practice.” Lost among ABC’s other problems this season, in fact, is a steep decline by that legal drama, which has seen its audience drop sharply versus a year ago, when “Who Wants to Be a Millionaire” fed into it instead of the drama “Alias.”

Better news for ABC has surrounded midseason replacement “The Bachelor,” which won its time period last week and saw its ratings continue to expand Monday of the current week by nearly 2 million viewers. Yet despite the network’s gains in that hour, ABC’s “Once and Again” concluded its three-year run last Monday with more of a whimper than a bang ratings-wise, trailing NBC’s “Crossing Jordan” by more than 5 million viewers in its time period.

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National Nielsen Viewership

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