Their eyes were watching Halle Berry. In an installment of Oprah's Book Club come to life, ABC's Winfrey-produced version of Zora Neale Hurston's Their Eyes Were Watching God drew 24.6 million viewers on Sunday (according to Nielsen) to become the third most-watched show of the week. It was a week of big events for ABC, which also drew 16.1 million viewers for the NYPD Blue series finale, the week's 10th biggest audience and the best showing for the 12-season cop drama in more than three years. Still, despite landing four top 10 shows, the network finished third overall for the week with an average of 10.7 million viewers.
Instead, it was usual winner CBS' week again, if just barely. The network averaged 11.7 million viewers, thanks in large part to CSI: Crime Scene Investigation (No. 2, 25.2 million), Survivor: Palau (No. 6, 21.7 million), and finally-coming-into-its-own Cold Case (No. 11, 15.8 million), which did better than such usually strong CBS dramas as CSI: Miami and Without a Trace. NBC, which saw the latest franchise launch, Law & Order: Trial By Jury, debut in ninth place (17.3 million), finished second among the networks, averaging 11.1 million viewers. Fox came in fourth with 10.4 million, despite boasting the week's top show in Tuesday's American Idol (26.9 million, with Wednesday's show close behind at 24.3 million and Monday's at 23.6 million), and despite a surprisingly strong performance from new drama House (No. 12, 15.6 million). UPN managed a rare victory over the WB, 3.9 million to 3.1 million.
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