Logo

‘Law & Order’ Premiere Gives NBC Friday Win

Sep 25, 2006  •  Post A Comment

NBC won Friday in the adults 18 to 49 demographic with help from the top-rated program for the night: the season premiere of the network’s veteran procedural, “Law & Order.”

At 10 p.m. (ET) “Law & Order” scored a 3.5 preliminary national rating, which includes live viewing plus same-day viewing via digital video recorders, according to Nielsen Media Research. That outpaced its CBS time period competitor “Numb3rs,” whose season premiere garnered a 3.1. “Numb3rs” was up 3 percent from its premiere last season. An original episode of newsmagazine “20/20” on ABC scored a 2.3, third in the time period.

NBC was also dominant at 8 p.m. with a special “Deal or No Deal” (3.3) and at 9 p.m. with “Dateline: To Catch a Predator” (3.2).

The season premiere of CBS’s “Ghost Whisperer” was No. 2 in the 8 p.m. time period with a 3.1, up 7 percent from its premiere last fall. CBS was also second in the 9 p.m. time period with the season premiere of legal drama “Close to Home,” which scored a 3.0. That was up 20 percent from the time period premiere of the canceled drama “Threshold” a year ago, but down 6 percent from “Home’s” own premiere last November.

The time period premiere of the repeat “Grey’s Anatomy” on ABC at 8 p.m. scored a 2.0, while at 9 p.m. new drama “Men in Trees” hit a 2.4, up 9 percent from its time period premiere last week.

Fox was steady for the night, with “Nanny 911” and the results show for “Celebrity Duets” both scoring a 1.4.

On The CW, “WWE Friday Night Smackdown!” premiered with a 1.3, down 13 percent both from its year-ago season premiere on UPN and last fall’s season premiere of The WB’s comedy block.

NBC was first for the night with a 3.3, followed by CBS (3.1), ABC (2.2), Fox (1.4) and The CW (1.3).