’Apprentice’ Tops ’CSI’ in Demos on Thursday

Fri Apr 2, 2004 02:21 PM ET

By Cynthia Littleton

LOS ANGELES (Hollywood Reporter) - NBC’s "The Apprentice" notched another Nielsen milestone Thursday by beating CBS’ "CSI: Crime Scene Investigation" for the first time among adults 18-49, the demographic coveted by advertisers.

"Apprentice" brought in 20.2 million viewers and 9.8 rating/24 share in adults 18-49, which narrowly topped "CSI" (26.4 million, 9.4/23) in the 9 p.m. hour, according to preliminary estimates from Nielsen Media Research.

"Apprentice," which is winding down to its two-hour April 15 finale, peaked in its second half-hour at 20.9 million viewers and 10.2/25.

The Donald Trump-hosted corporate-jungle reality series also overcame a lead-in disadvantage against "CSI," as NBC started off the night relatively slowly with an 8 p.m. repeat of "Friends" (13.5 million, 5.5/16) and a fresh 8:30 p.m. episode of "Will & Grace" (13.5 million, 5.9/16).

CBS’ "Survivor: All-Stars" (21.6 million, 8.2/23) had no trouble winning the 8 p.m. hour. At 10 p.m., CBS’ "Without a Trace" (18 million, 6.0/16) was a strong No. 2 but NBC’s "ER" (19.3 million, 9.3/25) was turbo-charged by its "Apprentice" lead-in.

As usual, ABC and Fox were also-rans for the night. ABC’s 8-10 p.m. repeats of "Extreme Makeover" and "Extreme Makeover: Home Edition" and 10 p.m. "Peter Jennings Reporting: Ecstasy Rising" news special yielded a nightly average of 6.6 million viewers and 2.3/6.

Fox had no luck in shuffling its Friday drama "Wonderfalls" (3 million, 1.1/3) to 9 p.m. hour, where it went up against the buzz saw of the "Apprentice"/"CSI" duel. Still, Fox’s 8 p.m. drama "Tru Calling" (5.2 million, 2.1/6) managed to improve on its season-average at 8 p.m.

UPN’s "WWE Smackdown!" (4.7 million, 1.7/4) also seemed dented by the heat of the NBC-CBS competition.

For the night, CBS led in viewers (CBS’ 22 million to NBC’s 17.6 million), while NBC prevailed in adults 18-49 (NBC’s 8.2/22 to CBS’ 7.8/21).

Reuters/Hollywood Reporter