CBS Collects Another Thursday Trophy

A repeat of CBS’ Without a Trace was Thursday night’s highest-rated show among advertisers’ prized 18-49 year-old demographic, according to Nielsen fast national ratings for Aug. 18.

The episode, about a 13-year-old girl who goes missing in an upstate New York town where another teenage girl disappeared years before, notched a 4 rating and 11 share in the demo.

(Fast national ratings are time-period estimates based on top markets. Final ratings may vary after smaller markets and live programming data are tabulated.)

Along with a fresh Big Brother (3.2/10) and a strong CSI rerun (3.9/11) at 10, Without a Trace helped CBS to another Thursday night victory. The network averaged a 3.7/11 for the night, winning all three hours of prime time.

Fox was in a distant second place. The network’s three-hour NFL preseason contest between the New Orleans Saints and the New England Patriots averaged a 2.6/8 over the course of a three-hour broadcast.

ABC and NBC were tied for fourth place at 2.0/6 apiece.

ABC aired a Jackie Chan movie, The Tuxedo, drawing a 2.0/6 from 8-10 p.m. A new Primetime Live pulled in a 2.1/6.

NBC aired repeats of Joey (2.1/7) at 8 p.m., Will & Grace (2.0/6) at 8:30, two episodes of Scrubs starting at 9 p.m. (2.1/6 and 2.2/6), and ER (1.9/5) at 10.

As usual, UPN got a big slam from its two-hour WWE Smackdown (1.6/5). The WB finished in last place, averaging .7/2 for the night, on Smallville (.8/3) and Everwood (.5/2) rebroadcasts.