CSI was doing well for a fledging show when it debuted on Friday nights, but its ratings skyrocketed once it went to Thursday nights. Even before that, it was considered CBS's breakout hit for the 2000-2002 season. CSI continues to pull in ratings even without Survivor reruns during the summer. It's continuing its excellent top 20 ratings in season two. Please note all numbers are final (not overnight) ratings. Thanks to Joe for first season ratings info.
A rating number with 1.0 equals a little over a million, and share which is the percentage of televisions in use at that time.
CSI Season 1 | CSI Season 2 | CSI Season 3
CSI: Miami Season 1
CSI - SEASON ONE Date Time # Rating Episode ---- ---- --- ------ ------- 000 Fri 10/06 9:00 #8 11.8/21 Pilot 001 Fri 10/13 9:00 #20 10.9/19 Cool Change 002 Fri 10/20 9:00 #25 9.5/17 Crate and Burial 003 Fri 10/27 9:00 #27 9.8/17 Pledging Mr. Johnson 004 Fri 11/03 9:00 #20 10.1/17 Friends & Lovers 005 Fri 11/10 9:00 #22 10.1/17 Who Are You? 006 Fri 11/17 9:00 #20 10.7/18 If These Walls Could Talk (Blood Drops) 007 Fri 11/24 9:00 #34 8.5 Anonymous Fri 12/01 9:00 #44 8.1 (REPEAT) Crate n' Burial 008 Fri 12/08 9:00 #18 10.2 Unfriendly Skies Fri 12/15 9:00 #35 8.5 (REPEAT) Pledging Mr. Johnson 009 Fri 12/22 9:00 Sex, Lies and Larvae Fri 12/29 9:00 #16 8.0/14 (REPEAT) Pilot Fri 1/05 9:00 #17 10.1/17 (REPEAT) Cool Change 010 Fri 1/12 9:00 #16 11.4 I-15 Murders Fri 1/19 9:00 #13 10.7 (REPEAT) Who Are You? Fri 1/26 9:00 #19 9.8/16 (REPEAT) Anonymous 011 Thu 2/01 9:00 #4 14.0/21 Fahrenheit 932 012 Thu 2/08 9:00 #6 13.8/20 Boom 013 Thu 2/15 9:00 #4 14.1/21 To Halve and to Hold 014 Thu 2/22 9:00 #6 13.1/19 Table Stakes 015 Thu 3/01 9:00 #3 14.8/22 Too Tough to Die 016 Thu 3/08 9:00 #2 14.4/22 Face Lift Thu 3/15 NCAA BASKETBALL Thu 3/22 NCAA BASKETBALL 017 Thu 3/29 9:00 #3 13.8/21 $35K O.B.O. Thu 4/05 9:00 #3 12.8/20 (REPEAT) Friends & Lovers 018 Thu 4/12 9:00 #2 14.8/24 Gentle, Gentle Thu 4/12 10:00 #5 12.3/21 (REPEAT) Sex, Lies and Larvae 019 Thu 4/19 9:00 #3 14.8/22 Sounds of Silence 020 Thu 4/26 9:00 #3 14.4/22 Justice is Served Thu 5/03 8-10 #1 20.1/31 SURVIVOR FINALE 021 Thu 5/10 9:00 #4 12.3/19 Evaluation Day Thu 5/10 10:00 #15 10.4/17 (REPEAT) Blood Drops aka ITWCT Thu 5/17 8:00 #28 8.0 (REPEAT) Table Stakes 022 Thu 5/17 9:00 #6 12.4/19 The Strip Strangler Thu 5/24 9:00 #12 9.2/15 (REPEAT) Fahrenheit 932 Thu 5/31 9:00 #4 9.5/16 (REPEAT) Boom Thu 6/07 9:00 #9 9.0 (REPEAT) Gentle, Gentle Thu 6/14 9:00 #10 7.5/13 (REPEAT) Sounds of Silence Thu 6/21 9:00 #15 7.1/12 (REPEAT) The Strip Strangler Thu 6/28 8:00 #20 6.2/12 (REPEAT) Crate and Burial Thu 6/28 9:00 #4 8.6/15 (REPEAT) Unfriendly Skies Thu 7/05 9:00 #6 7.6/13 (REPEAT) To Halve and To Hold Thu 7/12 9:00 #14 7.5/13 (REPEAT) Too Tough To Die Thu 7/19 9:00 #9 7.5/13 (REPEAT) Face Lift Thu 7/26 9:00 #11 7.7/13 (REPEAT) $35K O.B.O. Thu 8/02 9:00 #6 8.0/13 (REPEAT) Justice is Served Thu 8/09 10:00 (REPEAT) Evaluation Day Thu 8/16 10:00 #10 7.4/13 (REPEAT) Pledging Mr. Johnson Thu 8/23 8-11 NFL PRE-SEASON EAGLES AT TITANS Thu 8/30 10:00 #17 6.8/12 (REPEAT) Who Are You? Thu 9/06 10:00 #18 7.3/12 (REPEAT) Anonymous Thu 9/13 8-11 TERRORIST NEWS Thu 9/20 8:00 (REPEAT) Justice is ServedCSI's overall Nielsen ratings for the first season were:
National average: 11.59/18.63
Overnight average: 11.39/17.77
Timeslot average: 6.98/10.83 (66.00%)
Source: [Source: *TheFutonCritic.]CSI's advertising rate, for a 30-second spot, was $90,000 for the first season. [Source: *TheFutonCritic.]
CSI - SEASON TWO Date Time # Rating Episode ---- ---- --- ------ ------- 023 Thu 9/27 9:00 #04 14.2/21 Burked 024 Thu 10/04 9:00 #07 12.6/19 Chaos Theory 025 Thu 10/11 9:49 #06 13.8/21 Overload (delayed due to presidential speech on terrorism) 026 Thu 10/18 9:00 #03 14.1/12 Bully for You 027 Thu 10/25 9:00 #03 15.7/23 Scuba Doobie-Doo 028 Thu 11/01 9:00 #06 14.5/21 Alter Boys 029 Thu 11/08 9:00 #03 15.1/23 Caged Sat 11/10 9:00 #40 7.3 (REPEAT) Pilot 030 Thu 11/15 9:00 #03 15.7/24 Slaves of Vegas 031 Thu 11/22 9:00 #04 12.4/22 And Then There Were None Thu 11/22 10:00 #25 9.0 (REPEAT) Chaos Theory Thu 11/29 9:00 #07 12.2/18 (REPEAT) Overload 032 Thu 12/06 9:00 #01 14.9/23 Ellie 033 Thu 12/13 10:00 #10 11.2/18 Organ Grinder (against first-run E.R.) 034 Thu 12/20 9:00 #01 15.0/24 You've Got Male Thu 12/27 9:00 #01 12.0/20 (REPEAT) Unfriendly Skies Thu 01/03 9:00 #03 13.7/13 (REPEAT) Anonymous 035 Thu 01/17 9:00 #04 14.9/22 Identity Crisis Thu 01/24 8:00 # (REPEAT) Cool Change Thu 01/24 9:00 #02 13.3/20 (REPEAT) The I-15 Murders 036 Thur 01/31 9:00 #06 14.8/22 The Finger Thu 02/07 9:00 # (REPEAT) Sounds of Silence 036 Thur 02/07 9:00 #07 15.8/23 Burden of Proof Thu 02/14 9:00 # (REPEAT) Sex, Lies and Larvae Thu 02/21 9:00 # (REPEAT) Gentle, Genle Thu 02/28 9:00 #02 17.1/26 Primum Non Nocere Thu 03/07 9:00 #03 16.2/24 Felonious Monk Thu 03/14 9:00 NCAA Tournament Thu 03/21 9:00 NCAA Tournament Thu 03/28 9:00 #02 15.4/25 Chasing the Bus Thu 04/04 9:00 #02 16.1/25 The Stalker Thu 04/11 9:00 #01 13.7/21 (REPEAT) Too Tough to Die Thu 04/18 9:00 #01 13.9/22 (REPEAT) Burked Thu 04/25 9:00 # Cats in the Cradle Thu 05/02 9:00 # Anatomy of a Lye Thu 05/09 9:00 # Cross-Jurisdictions Thu 05/16 9:00 # The Hunger Artist Thu 05/23 9:00 # (REPEAT) Ellie Thu 05/30 9:00 #02 11.6/19 (REPEAT) Organ Grinder Thu 06/06 9:00 # (REPEAT) You've Got Male Thu 06/13 9:00 #01 10.9/18 (REPEAT) And Then There Were None Thu 06/20 9:00 #03 (REPEAT) Chaos Theory Thu 06/27 9:00 #01 10.3/18 (REPEAT) Altar Boys Thu 07/04 9:00 #16 5.7/13 (REPEAT) Friends & Lovers Thu 07/11 9:00 #02 8.8/16 (REPEAT) Boom Thu 07/18 9:00 #01 9.4/17 (REPEAT) Face LIft Thu 07/25 9:00 #01 9.5/17 (REPEAT) Identity Crisis Thu 08/01 9:00 #01 10.5/18 (REPEAT) Bully for You Thu 08/08 9:00 #01 9.5/17 (REPEAT) Chasing the Bus Thu 08/15 9:00 #02 8.3/ (REPEAT) Mon 08/19 10:00 #02 9.4/16 (REPEAT) Caged Thu 08/22 PRE-EMPTED Thu 08/23 10:00 # (REPEAT) Burked Mon 08/26 10:00 #03 9.5/16 (REPEAT) Cats in the Cradle Thu 08/29 9:00 # (REPEAT) Scuba Doobie-Doo Mon 09/02 10:00 #03 9.8/17 (REPEAT) Burden of Proof Thu 09/05 9:00 #04 9.4/15 (REPEAT) Anatomy of a Stalker Sun 09/08 (REPEAT) You've Got Male Mon 09/09 10:00 # (REPEAT) The Finger Thu 09/12 9:00 # (REPEAT) Primum Non Nocere Thu 09/12 10:00 # (REPEAT) Slaves of Las Vegas Thu 09/16 10:00 #07 9.5/16 (REPEAT) Cross Jurisdictions Thu 09/12 10:00 # (REPEAT) Slaves of Las Vegas
CSI - SEASON THREE Date Time # Rating Episode ---- ---- --- ------ ------- 046 Thu 09/26 9:00 #02 18.2/27 Revenge is Best Served Cold 047 Thu 10/03 9:00 #02 17/1/26 The Accused is Entitled 048 Thu 10/10 9:00 #01 19.4/29 Let the Seller Beware 049 Thu 10/17 9:00 #01 A Little Murder Thu 10/24 9:00 # (REPEAT) Primum Non Nocere 050 Thu 10/31 9:00 # Abra Cadaver
CSI: MIAMI - SEASON ONE Date Time # Rating Episode ---- ---- --- ------ ------- 001 Mon 09/23 10:00 #05 14.9/24 Golden Parachute 002 Mon 09/30 10:00 # Losing Face 003 Mon 10/07 10:00 #08 12.1/19 Wet Foot / Dry Foot 004 Mon 10/14 10:00 # Just One Kiss 005 Mon 10/21 10:00 # Ashes to Ashes 006 Mon 10/28 10:00 # BrokenAlso, check out a nifty collection of Nielsen ratings for CSI, as well as other shows. Go to The Futon Critic.