The one-hour live season finale of “Big Brother 5” and the two-hour special season finale for “Amazing Race 5” propelled CBS to a win for the first Tuesday of the 2004-05 season in viewers and virtually all the key ratings demos.

According to Nielsen Media Research’s preliminary national ratings, “Big Brother” brought in 10.38 million viewers and garnered a 4.1 rating and 12 share among the adults 18 to 49 demo. “Amazing Race” was the top-rated show for the night in adults 18 to 49 with a 5.6/14.

The season premiere of NBC’s “Law & Order: SVU” edged out “Race” in the contest for total viewers for the night, however: The procedural drama brought in 13.88 million viewers to the reality show’s 12.90 million. ABC’s season premiere of “NYPD Blue” scored a 3.3/8 in the demo, down 13 percent from its premiere last season.

ABC also launched the one-hour special season premiere of “My Wife and Kids” (3.4/10 in adults 18 to 49) and the season premiere of “According to Jim” (4.2/11). At 9:30 p.m. (ET), the series premiere of “Rodney” scored a 3.9/10 in the demo, down slightly from last year’s 4.0/10 for the premiere of “Less Than Perfect” in the time slot.

The WB had a strong premiere night, with “Gilmore Girls” getting a 2.5/7 in the demo, up 39 percent from last season’s premiere. “One Tree Hill’s” 2.1/5 in the demo was up a whopping 162 percent from its tepid 0.8/2 opener last year, and was up 17 percent from its May 2004 sweeps average.

Fox’s “Trading Spouses” was down 24 percent in adults 18 to 49 week to week (2.5/7 versus 3.3/10), while “The Next Great Champ” was down 4 percent in the demo from last week (2.3/6 versus 2.4/6).

UPN’s lineup of “All of Us” and “Eve” averaged a 1.2/3 in the demo, down 25 percent from its premiere last year (1.6/4). The season finale of “Amish in the City” (1.3/3) was up 62 percent from last week’s episode of “The Player” in the time slot.

CBS won the night in adults 18 to 49 with a 5.1/14, followed by NBC with a 3.8/10. ABC was third with a 3.6/10, Fox was fourth with a 2.4/7, The WB was fifth with a 2.3/6, and UPN was sixth with a 1.2/3. CBS also won the night in adults 18 to 34 (4.3/13) and adults 25 to 54 (5.7/14).

In total viewers, CBS was number one with 12.07 million, followed by ABC (9.68 million), NBC (9.67 million), The WB (5.71 million), Fox (5.32 million) and UPN (2.80 million).