CBS had a full plate of high ratings

CBS had more than a November sweeps victory to be thankful for during the long Thanksgiving weekend. The network last week scored nine of the top 10 highest-rated shows, according to Nielsen Media Research data released Tuesday.

The near-sweep by CBS was highlighted by the showing of a special Wednesday installment of “Survivor: Pearl Islands,” which topped the ratings for the first time in total viewers with more than 20 million. The episode was moved from its usual Thursday time slot to avoid airing on Thanksgiving evening.

In fact, part of CBS’ dominance can be attributed to the fact that NBC’s “Must See TV” lineup Thursday was significantly weakened by Thanksgiving. A Harry Connick Jr. Christmas special that replaced the reliable “ER” drew lackluster ratings, attracting about 6.8 million viewers, a fraction of what “ER” usually attracts.

The only non-CBS series to break into the top 10 in total viewers were ABC’s “Monday Night Football” match between the New York Giants and Tampa Bay Buccaneers (No. 9), and NBC’s “Fear Factor,” which tied with CBS’ “King of Queens” for the No. 10 spot.

“Two and a Half Men” continues to be a major player on CBS’ Monday comedy slate, and the network also has a clear new dramatic hit with “Cold Case.”

In other network news, Fox’s “The Bernie Mac Show” made a solid return to the Fox lineup in its new Sunday time slot following the still-formidable “The Simpsons.” And while ratings for the first part of ABC’s unscripted “Trista and Ryan’s Wedding” were unimpressive, they are likely to build leading up to the actual ceremony.

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Here are the rankings for national prime-time network television last week (Nov. 24-30) as compiled by Nielsen Media Research. They are based on the average number of people who watched a program from start to finish. Nielsen estimates there are 272.04 million potential viewers in the U.S. age 2 and older. Viewership is listed in millions.

*--* 1 Survivor: Pearl Islands CBS 20.06 2 CSI: Miami CBS 19.72 3 Everybody Loves Raymond CBS 19.14 4 60 Minutes CBS 19.13 5 Two and a Half Men CBS 17.14

6 CSI CBS 16.60 7 Cold Case CBS 16.46 8 “Finding John Christmas” CBS 16.19 9 Monday Night Football ABC 15.90 10 Fear Factor NBC 14.99

King of Queens CBS 14.99 12 Law & Order NBC 14.74 13 CSI (10 p.m.) CBS 14.56 14 Without a Trace CBS 13.40 15 Law & Order: SVU NBC 13.13

16 Still Standing CBS 12.87 17 Navy NCIS CBS 12.71 18 Law & Order (9 p.m.)’ NBC 12.34 19 Cold Case (8 p.m.) CBS 12.32 20 NFL Monday Showcase ABC 12.13

21 Trista and Ryan’s Wedding ABC 12.12 22 According to Jim ABC 11.86 23 Becker CBS 11.82 24 Law & Order: Criminal Intent NBC 11.74 25 The Simpsons FOX 11.70

26 8 Simple Rules ABC 11.65 27 Judging Amy CBS 11.62 28 Yes, Dear CBS 11.58 29 “Family Man” NBC 11.34 30 Extreme Makeover ABC 11.17

31 The Guardian CBS 10.87 32 American Idol, Christmas FOX 10.86 33 The Practice ABC 10.82 34 20/20 ABC 10.60 35 Friends (9 p.m.) NBC 10.41

36 Bernie Mac Show FOX 10.37 37 Less Than Perfect ABC 10.24 38 NYPD Blue ABC 10.17 39 “Frosty the Snowman” CBS 10.07 40 Average Joe NBC 10.01

41 “Frosty Returns” CBS 9.91 42 24 FOX 9.75 43 Dateline NBC (Sun.) NBC 9.70 44 Friends NBC 9.58 45 American Dreams NBC 9.55

46 I’m With Her ABC 9.30 47 My Wife and Kids ABC 9.24 48 Malcolm in the Middle FOX 9.18 49 Alias ABC 9.16 50 “Shania Twain: Up Close” NBC 8.98

51 Funniest Home Videos ABC 8.68 52 George Lopez Show ABC 8.58 53 It’s All Relative ABC 8.53 54 Joan of Arcadia CBS 8.27 55 48 Hours Investigates CBS 8.05

Queer Eye for the Straight Guy (Tue.) NBC 8.05 57 10-8 ABC 7.78 58 Joe Millionaire FOX 7.60 59 7th Heaven WB 7.54 60 Married to the Kellys ABC 7.38

61 Hope and Faith ABC 7.36 62 The O.C. FOX 7.02 63 Lyons Den NBC 7.00 64 King of the Hill FOX 6.97 65 Third Watch NBC 6.92

66 “Ice Wars X” CBS 6.88 67 Primetime Monday ABC 6.85 68 “Harry Connick Jr. Christmas” NBC 6.82 69 That ‘70s Show FOX 6.78 70 Arrested Development FOX 6.76

71 Queer Eye for the Straight Guy (Wed.) NBC 6.60 72 “Dr. Dolittle 2” FOX 6.47 73 King of the Hill FOX 6.43 74 Dateline NBC (Fri.) NBC 6.12 75 Life With Bonnie ABC 6.03

76 “Big Daddy” FOX 5.98 77 The Handler CBS 5.93 78 Primetime Thursday ABC 5.89 79 Everwood WB 5.87 80 Football: Notre Dame at Stanford ABC 5.73

81 “Austin Powers: Spy Who Shagged Me” FOX 5.54 82 WWE Smackdown! UPN 5.12 83 My Wife and Kids (Thu.) ABC 5.01 84 Minute With Stan Hooper FOX 4.73 85 Eve UPN 4.68

86 According to Jim (Thu.) ABC 4.67 87 Girlfriends UPN 4.63 88 George Lopez Show (Thu.) ABC 4.58 89 Half and Half UPN 4.53 90 Hope & Faith (Thu.) ABC 4.24

91 King of the Hill (7 p.m.) FOX 4.20 92 The Parkers UPN 4.02 93 “Never Been Kissed” WB 3.92 94 Charmed WB 3.74 95 “Justin Timberlake: Memphis” NBC 3.73

96 All of Us UPN 3.72 97 Enterprise UPN 3.71 98 Reba WB 3.58 99 One on One UPN 3.42 100 Rock Me Baby UPN 3.02

101 Stone Cold Truth UPN 2.94 102 “Josie and the Pussycats” WB 2.92 103 Half and Half (Sun.) UPN 2.76 104 “Christina Aguilera” WB 2.73 105 What I Like About You WB 2.68

106 Smallville: The Beginning WB 2.55 107 Grounded for Life WB 2.45 108 Steve Harvey Show WB 2.35 109 What I Like About You (9:30 p.m.) WB 2.26 110 “3 Strikes” UPN 2.19

111 Jamie Kennedy (9 p.m.) WB 1.83 112 Jamie Kennedy (9:30 p.m.) WB 1.76 113 Jamie Kennedy (8:30 p.m.) WB 1.63

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*--* Network averages Here is the number of viewers (in millions) that each network averaged per hour of prime time, for last week and for the season. Network Last week Season to date CBS 13.27 13.49

NBC 9.84 11.04

ABC 8.99 9.76

FOX 7.30 10.26

UPN 3.67 3.64

WB 3.50 4.17

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