TV Ratings: CBS Wins First Night of Sweeps

CBS won the 1st night of the sweeps on the strength of "Survivor" (a deflated but still dominant 13,82 million), CSI (also down to 19,99 million) and Shark (14,25 million). ABC was close second with a somewhat weakened line-up of "Ugly Betty" (9,56 million,) "Grey's Anatomy" (19,75 million) and "October Road" (9,35 million).

"Ugly Betty" used to average over 13 million viewers earlier this season. Has the comedy run out of Nielsen steam? Also, both CSI and "Grey's Anatomy" failed to crack the 20 million mark. Are more and more people watching these shows via DVR or are fewer people watching TV these days in general?

CSI pulled in over 27 million viewers at this time last year, while "Survivor" scored almost 18 million. This year, "CSI" was still the most watched drama of the evening, while "Grey's Anatomy" was #1 in the 18-49 demo.

NBC's comedy "30 Rock" really went out with a whimper. After averaging 5-6 million viewers all season long, the Tina Fey comedy which has already been renewed for a second season (as we learned, without Alec Baldwin) sunk to 4,82 million, pulling down lead-out "Scrubs" in the process (4,68 million).

10 p.m. drama "ER" was stronger in total viewers (9,39 million), but "October Road" actually won the timeslot in the 18-49 demo. Given the fact that "Shark" had 5 million total viewers more than "October Road" that is quite an impressive result in the demo for the midseason drama.

Finally, over on The CW "Smallville" scored only 3,93 million viewers (one of the worst results of the season), but "Supernatural" retained a great deal of that audience (3,34 million).

Overall however the viewing levels seem to be down.

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