ABC is hot — NBC is not

NEW YORK (AP) — Viewers flocked to old favorites "CSI: Crime Scene Investigation" and "Desperate Housewives" and tried out new fare "My Name is Earl" and "Everybody Hates Chris" in the first week of television's new season.

The season began like the old one left off: ABC is hot, NBC is not and CBS remains the nation's most popular network.

"Desperate Housewives" and "Lost" led ABC to its best first-week performance in five years. It was the first time since 1995 that ABC won the first week among the 18-to-49-year-old demographic most important to advertisers, according to Nielsen Media Research.

CBS is still the top network but, like NBC, its household ratings were down 7 percent compared to the first week last year.

NBC's "My Name is Earl" was a bright spot, the most popular sitcom of the week. But the network had a disastrous Thursday — the night it once dominated — with "Joey," "Apprentice" and "ER" showing erosion. UPN's "Everybody Hates Chris" beat "Joey" head-to-head with 7.8 million viewers, numbers almost unheard of for UPN.

For the week of Sept. 19-25, the top 10 shows, their networks and viewerships: 1. "CSI," CBS, 29 million; 2. "Desperate Housewives," ABC, 28.4 million; 3. "Lost," ABC, 23.5 million; 4. "Criminal Minds," CBS, 19.6 million; 5. "CSI: Miami," CBS, 19.2 million; 6. "Grey's Anatomy," ABC, 19 million; 7. "Survivor:," CBS, 17 million; 8. "Law & Order: SVU," NBC, 16.8 million; 9. (tie) "Invasion," ABC, 16.4 million; "Extreme Makeover: Home Edition," ABC, 16.4 million.