Evolution of... Crime Dramas

I admitted at the end of my War of 18-49 project that the Final Battlegrounds post which listed every single season average was rather bloated. So I'm going to break it down into four manageable parts: crime dramas, other dramas, comedies, and unscripted shows. I'll do the two drama categories today and the other two tomorrow. This is just a quickie thing I'm throwing together, so I won't have too much of my signature overly long commentary. But for this post, I'd like to note that CSI: Vegas wasn't just the king of the CSI universe until 2009-10; for eight years, it was squarely ahead of all the other crime dramas, including all the Law & Orders and all of CBS' other efforts. Then in 2009-10, multiple shows finally passed it.

CRIME DRAMAS

1999-2000
Law & Order 5.6/7.1/7.8
Law & Order: SVU (half on F) 3.6/4.9/6.6

2000-01
Law & Order 5.8/7.2/9.2
CSI (half on F) 4.4/6.6/9.3
Law & Order: SVU (F) 4.4/5.1/5.7

2001-02
CSI 6.6/8.8/10.5
Law & Order 6.2/7.4/8.8
Law & Order: SVU (F) 4.3/5.4/6.2
Law & Order: CI 3.5/4.4/6.8

2002-03
CSI 8.0/10.0/11.6
CSI: Miami 5.4/6.73/8.6
Law & Order 5.1/6.6/7.6
Without a Trace 4.3/5.4/6.4
Law & Order: SVU (F) 4.4/5.2/6.3
Law & Order: CI 4.4/5.2/6.0

2003-04
CSI 6.5/9.4/10.8
CSI: Miami 5.9/7.01/9.0
Law & Order 5.0/5.9/7.6
Without a Trace 4.7/5.7/6.8
Law & Order: SVU 4.7/5.38/7.4
Law & Order: CI 4.0/4.8/5.7
Cold Case 2.7/3.5/4.3
(Navy) NCIS 2.4/2.8/3.1

2004-05
CSI 8.3/9.92/11.6
CSI: Miami 6.5/7.47/8.6
Without a Trace 3.3/6.5/7.7
Law & Order: SVU 4.7/5.54/6.5
CSI: NY 3.8/5.3/7.1
Law & Order 3.6/4.56/6.2
Law & Order: CI 2.8/4.1/5.3
Cold Case 3.1/3.8/4.8
Numb3rs (F) 2.9/3.4/5.0
NCIS 2.9/3.3/3.9

2005-06
CSI 7.4/9.08/10.6
CSI: Miami 5.3/6.35/7.0
Without a Trace 5.0/6.31/7.3
Law & Order: SVU 4.8/5.48/6.5
CSI: NY 4.3/4.97/6.5
Criminal Minds 3.3/4.08/6.5
NCIS 3.0/3.87/4.4
Bones 2.8/3.8/5.2
Cold Case 2.9/3.8/4.5
Law & Order 2.6/3.72/4.8
Numb3rs (F) 2.9/3.40/3.8
Law & Order: CI 2.6/3.33/4.1

2006-07
CSI 5.2/6.91/8.4
CSI: Miami 4.7/5.61/6.5
Law & Order: SVU 3.8/4.65/5.3
CSI: NY 3.3/4.57/6.0
Criminal Minds 3.3/4.27/5.2
Without a Trace 3.0/3.95/4.8
NCIS 3.1/3.66/4.2
Cold Case 2.7/3.62/4.3
Bones 2.5/3.3/4.4
Numb3rs (F) 2.3/2.98/3.5
Law & Order: CI 2.0/2.94/4.2

2007-08
CSI 4.2/5.78/8.2
CSI: Miami 3.9/4.42/4.9
Law & Order: SVU 3.6/4.39/5.1
Without a Trace 3.1/3.80/6.4
Criminal Minds 3.1/3.64/4.5
CSI: NY 2.9/3.61/4.1
NCIS 2.9/3.36/4.1
Bones 2.7/3.17/3.6
Law & Order 2.6/3.16/3.8
Cold Case 2.1/2.91/3.5
Numb3rs (F) 2.1/2.48/2.8
Law & Order: CI (USA) 1.1/1.4/1.7

2008-09
CSI 3.4/4.75/7.1
CSI: Miami 3.3/3.98/5.2
NCIS 3.1/3.64/4.0
Criminal Minds 3.0/3.61/4.7
Law & Order: SVU 2.5/3.55/3.9
CSI: NY 2.9/3.38/4.3
Bones 2.3/2.93/3.5
Without a Trace 2.5/2.73/3.4
Cold Case 2.1/2.68/3.1
Law & Order 1.7/2.26/3.0
Numb3rs (F) 1.8/2.23/2.7
Law & Order: CI (USA) 0.9/1.2/1.5

2009-10
NCIS 3.1/4.07/4.8
Criminal Minds 3.1/3.60/4.4
CSI: Miami 2.7/3.59/4.3
CSI 2.8/3.40/4.1
CSI: NY 2.3/3.03/4.0
Bones 2.4/2.88/3.6
Law & Order: SVU 2.0/2.68/3.3
Cold Case 1.7/2.15/2.6
Numb3rs (F) 1.6/1.79/2.2
Law & Order (half on F) 1.2/1.64/2.0
Law & Order: CI (USA) 0.7/0.88/1.1