''Alias,'' ''Housewives'' fuel ABC victory

ABC?s new ad campaign for Alias features series star Jennifer Garner along with the tagline ”I can be anyone I want to be.” Apparently, that description now (finally) includes being the star of a hit TV series.

Indeed, with Alias? season premiere drawing its highest non-post-Super Bowl ratings of 15.8 million viewers (good for No. 16), along with top-10 finishes for its Desperate Housewives, Lost, Extreme Makeover: Home Edition, The FedEx Orange Bowl and an NFL playoff game, ABC was the top-rated network in primetime for the week of Jan. 3 to Jan. 9.

ABC averaged 15.9 million viewers for the week, outpacing nearest rival CBS (with 12 million) by almost 4 million couch potatoes. Those networks were followed by NBC (10.4 million), Fox (8.7 million), UPN (3.2 million) and The WB (2.8 million).

Following a holiday week littered with reruns, the networks trotted out a number of season and series premieres. NBC scored a solid audience for its Monday night chiller Medium (No. 14, with 16 million) and decent sampling for its sitcom Committed (No. 31, 11.7 million), but stumbled with its Sports Illustrated Swimsuit Model Search (No. 69).

Fox scored big ratings with the season premiere of 24, which landed at No. 18 with 15.3 million. UPN?s The Road to Stardom with Missy Elliot debuted at No. 95 with an audience of 3 million.

And while CBS? monster hit CSI remained at No. 1 with 28.9 million watchers, the Eye couldn?t crack the case of finding the next Martha Stewart (as if!): Its new Thursday-night reality series Wickedly Perfect was no Survivor, finishing 47th with 9.4 million.