How hot is CSI: Miami? David Caruso wants to quit.

That's the joke du jour, anyway, floating around Hollywood these days as the spinoff of the CBS drama, CSI:Crime Scene Investigation, decimates the competition on Monday nights.

In its second week, the Jerry Bruckheimer-produced series attracted 20 million viewers.

That makes CSI:Miami, which casts Caruso and fellow ex-NYPD Blue star Kim Delaney as forensics sleuths, as clearly the breakout hit of the new season thus far. Already, with the fall session barely two weeks old, its winners -- and some of its losers -- have begun to emerge.

Out in front? Returning blockbusters Friends, Frasier, Will & Grace, Everybody Loves Raymond, ER and CSI continue to prove that viewers like their old favourites.

That's usually bad news for freshman efforts -- even CSI:Miami has its McDonalds-like brand name going for it -- but some of the newbies have managed to crack the top 30 in their first couple weeks.

Among them: the Bruckheimer-produced missing-persons drama Without a Trace; the Dana Delaney-starring Presidio Med; Hack, starring David Morse; the atrocious Good Morning Miami; the flat suburban comedy Hidden Hills; the schmaltzy American Dreams; and the justly-praised Boomtown.

Still Standing -- the sitcom starring The Full Monty's Mark Addy -- got off to a strong start, thanks to its lead-in from Everybody Loves Raymond.

For ABC, the struggling third-place network, there is good and bad news: the John Ritter sitcom 8 Simple Rules for Dating My Teen-aged Daughter is off to a promising start, and My Wife and Kids is looking like this might be its breakout year.

But on the flip side, the heavily-hyped Twin Peaks-as-game-show Ben Affleck-produced Push, Nevada is tanking. So did That Was Then, drawing a measly four million viewers when it bowed last Friday.