CBS wins a competitive ratings week over NBC

<br>NEW YORK (AP) _ Maybe not everybody loves Raymond, but enough people did last week to lift the CBS comedy to first place in the Nielsen Media Research ratings. <br><br>That led CBS to a narrow victory

Tuesday, November 27th 2001, 12:00 am

By: News On 6

NEW YORK (AP) _ Maybe not everybody loves Raymond, but enough people did last week to lift the CBS comedy to first place in the Nielsen Media Research ratings.

That led CBS to a narrow victory over NBC in the final full week of the November ``sweeps'' competition, where ratings are used to set local advertising rates.

NBC's ``Friends'' was actually the most-watched program, with 24.2 million viewers to 21.9 million viewers for ``Everybody Loves Raymond.'' But there were more TV sets tuned on to the CBS show. It was the first time ``Everybody Loves Raymond'' finished on top during a regular TV season.

The Thanksgiving holiday slightly depressed viewership on Thursday night. Last week's ``Survivor'' segment, for example, slipped to 17.7 million viewers and 20th place in the Nielsen standings.

In a faceoff of pop stars, Jennifer Lopez (11.8 million) on NBC outdrew Garth Brooks (9.5 million) in the second of his three concerts on CBS. 'N Sync, which had 7.5 million viewers on CBS, came in third.

For the week, CBS averaged 13.2 million viewers (8.4 rating, 14 share), NBC had 12.8 million (8.1, 14), ABC had 10 million (6.5, 11), Fox had 9.5 million (5.7, 9), UPN had 4.2 million (2.6, 4), the WB had 4 million (2.6, 4) and Pax TV had 1.3 million (0.9, 1).

In the evening news ratings race, NBC's ``Nightly News'' won with an average audience of 11.5 million (7.9 rating, 16 share). ABC's ``World News Tonight'' had 11 million (7.9, 15) and the ``CBS Evening News'' had 9.9 million (7.0, 13).

A ratings point represents 1,055,000 households, or 1 percent of the nation's estimated 105.5 million TV homes. The share is the percentage of in-use televisions tuned to a given show.

For the week of Nov. 19-25, the top 10 shows, their networks and ratings were ``Everybody Loves Raymond,'' CBS, 14.4; ``ER,'' NBC, 13.9; ``Friends,'' NBC, 12.7; ``CSI: Crime Scene Investigation,'' CBS, 12.4; ``Becker,'' CBS, 11.9; ``Law and Order,'' NBC, 11.8; NFL Monday Night Football: N.Y. Giants at Minnesota, ABC, 11.8; ''60 Minutes,'' CBS, 11.7; ``Friends'' special, NBC, 11.5; ``Judging Amy,'' CBS, 10.9.