‘CSI: Miami’ Attracts a Lot of Bodies, Helps CBS Win Night

“CSI: Miami” looked as hot as the show’s namesake in its debut Monday--the first night of the new TV season--to pace CBS to a clear-cut victory, according to viewing estimates released Tuesday by Nielsen Media Research.

The “CSI” spinoff attracted more than 23 million viewers nationally, the largest audience for a September dramatic premiere since “ER” eight years ago. The show had more than twice as many viewers as NBC’s own forensic crime-solving series, “Crossing Jordan,” in the 10 p.m. slot.

CBS also controlled the preceding hour with back-to-back new episodes of “Everybody Loves Raymond,” which averaged 23.7 million viewers one night after three of its stars won Emmy Awards.

The new “CSI” was strong locally as well. The show was watched in roughly 665,000 homes--or 12.5% of those in the Los Angeles-Orange County viewing area--from 10:30 to 11 p.m., compared with 180,000 tuned to “Whose Line Is It Anyway?” on KABC-TV, helping KCBS-TV’s late news more than double the rating for KABC’s “Eyewitness News” at 11 p.m. while finishing just behind KNBC-TV’s newscast.

KCBS’ good news didn’t extend into late night: NBC’s “Tonight Show With Jay Leno” dominated with an L.A.-area audience of roughly 270,000 homes, compared with just over 100,000 for “Late Show With David Letterman,” like “Raymond” an Emmy winner on Sunday.