CSI:NY wins "Silver" for CBS

Ratings for the Olympics dropped slightly on Wednesday although NBC’s coverage of the Games easily remained the most watched programming of the night.

According to Nielsen’s estimates, roughly 24.3 million viewers tuned in during prime time, one of the smallest audiences to tune in to this year’s Games in Beijing.

CBS placed second, earning its best ratings with reruns of “CSI: NY” at 10 (6.1 million). CBS’s “Greatest American Dog” garnered 5.1 million viewers at 8. ABC and Fox finished in a virtual tie for third. Both networks offered mainly reruns with the exception of ABC at 10 p.m. when it broadcast “Primetime: Crime,” which delivered 4.1 million viewers.

The sucess of the CSI's, CSI Vegas, CSI Miami, and CSI NY continue to earn CBS top 10 ratings proving popular with American audiences who, it seems, happily watch reruns of their favourite Crime Drama rather than Live action from the Beijing Olympics 2008.