Procedurals Dead? Pshaw!

The Nielsens for last week on zap2it listed the Top 7 shows as:

1 CSI 11.5
2 NCIS 10.9
3 CSI: NY 10.8
4 WITHOUT A TRACE 10.2
5 CRIMINAL MINDS 9.9
6 COLD CASE 9.8
7 CSI: MIAMI 9.4

All on CBS. Quite a feat, even if most or all were reruns opposite
mostly rerun shows. Has this ever been done before by any genre, to
have a lock on the Top 7? Even reality shows may've not been able to
achieve that, at least not in the season average numbers. The only

Steven L....

genre to come close was the western, back in '58-'59 when it secured 6
of the Top 7. That was the westerns' peak season. After one more
robust year, they began their slow but steady evaporation process.
Going by history, are we then to understand that procedurals still have
one good year left in them before they too begin to vanish from our
screens? CBS is sure milking it all for what it's worth.

And if there ever was an argument for episodic TV over serialized TV,
there it is right there, even if it is made up of nothing but
procedurals.