CBS is again No. 1; NBC wins 18-49s

NBC benefited from the absence of first-run episodes of several hit series last week to end ABC’s winning ways among the young adult viewers coveted by advertisers, while CBS maintained its streak of being the most-watched network for every week of the television season, according to figures released Tuesday by Nielsen Media Research.

NBC was the most-watched network among viewers ages 18 to 49 between Nov. 27 and Sunday, thanks in part to two newcomers -- “Heroes” and “Sunday Night Football” -- and “ER,” now in its 13th season. “Heroes” was third in the category while “ER” was sixth and the “Sunday Night Football” game between the Denver Broncos and Seattle Seahawks was eighth.

ABC, which had finished first in the category eight of the season’s first 10 weeks, was second, handicapped by a rerun of “Desperate Housewives” and the absence of “Lost” and “Dancing With the Stars,” which have completed their fall seasons.

With “NCIS” and “Criminal Minds” finishing third and fourth overall, CBS extended its winning streak to 11 weeks, averaging 11.78 million viewers.

ABC’s “Grey’s Anatomy” was the week’s most-watched program with 24.01 million viewers.

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Here are the rankings for national prime-time network television last week (Nov. 27-Dec. 3) 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 283.5 million potential viewers in the U.S. ages 2 and older. Viewership is listed in millions.

*--* 1 Grey’s Anatomy ABC 24.01 2 NFL Postgame (Sun.) FOX 21.89 3 NCIS CBS 17.96 4 Criminal Minds CBS 17.92 5 Deal or No Deal (Mon.) NBC 17.70

6 House (Tue.) FOX 17.30 7 CSI: Miami CBS 17.13 8 The OT (football postgame) FOX 16.55 9 CSI: NY CBS 16.43 10 CSI CBS 16.08

11 Survivor: Cook Islands CBS 15.63 12 Heroes NBC 15.56 13 Two and a Half Men CBS 15.50 14 Sunday Night Football NBC 15.42 15 Law & Order: SVU NBC 14.63

16 Without a Trace CBS 14.28 17 Cold Case CBS 14.11 18 ER NBC 13.36 19 “Allstate BCS Selection Show” FOX 13.35 20 “The Polar Express” ABC 13.21

21 Ugly Betty ABC 13.02 22 “Charlie Brown Christmas” ABC 13.01 23 Extreme Makeover: Home Edition ABC 12.77 24 The Unit CBS 12.56 25 60 Minutes CBS 12.52

26 Desperate Housewives ABC 12.04 27 The New Adventures of Old Christine CBS 12.01 28 Men in Trees ABC 11.34 29 Amazing Race 10 CBS 10.61 30 Shark CBS 10.32

31 Jericho CBS 10.25 32 Las Vegas NBC 10.16 33 Boston Legal ABC 9.86 34 Bachelor: Rome ABC 9.85 How I Met Your Mother CBS 9.85

36 Law & Order: Criminal Intent NBC 9.76 37 Prison Break FOX 9.62 38 My Name Is Earl NBC 9.49 39 “Christmas in Rockefeller Center” NBC 9.43 40 20/20 (Fri.) ABC 9.34

41 Biggest Loser 3 NBC 9.20 1 vs. 100 NBC 9.20 43 The Office NBC 9.07 44 NFL Pregame NBC 9.04 45 America’s Funniest Home Videos ABC 8.87

46 Wife Swap ABC 8.87 47 The Class CBS 8.72 48 Bones (8 p.m.) FOX 8.66 49 The Simpsons FOX 8.17 50 Thrifty Post-Late ABC 8.06

51 Medium NBC 8.01 52 3 Lbs. CBS 7.97 53 Family Guy FOX 7.77 54 Scrubs NBC 7.72 55 Show Me the Money ABC 7.69

56 Football Night in America, Part 3 NBC 7.65 57 Big Day ABC 7.55 58 Numb3rs CBS 7.38 59 House (Wed.) FOX 7.28 60 Studio 60 on Sunset Strip NBC 7.27

61 20/20 (Wed.) ABC 7.10 62 Brothers & Sisters ABC 6.88 63 Law & Order: SVU (Sat.) NBC 6.84 64 American Dad FOX 6.77 65 “Big 12 Championship” ABC 6.66

66 Dateline: NBC (Sat.) NBC 6.61 67 America’s Most Wanted FOX 6.54 68 Cops (8:30 p.m.) FOX 6.33 69 48 Hours Mystery CBS 6.31 70 “Ice Wars -- 2006” CBS 6.19

71 Friday Night Lights NBC 6.18 72 30 Rock NBC 5.96 73 Bones (9 p.m.) FOX 5.78 74 America’s Next Top Model (Wed.) CW 5.73 75 Standoff FOX 5.69

76 La Fea Mas Bella (Mon.) UNI 5.54 77 Cops (8 p.m.) FOX 5.50 78 La Fea Mas Bella (Tue.) UNI 5.38 79 La Fea Mas Bella (Thu.) UNI 5.23 La Fea Mas Bella (Wed.) UNI 5.23

81 La Fea Mas Bella (Fri.) UNI 5.00 Help Me Help You ABC 5.00 83 Crimetime Saturday CBS 4.90 84 Gilmore Girls CW 4.89 85 Til Death (8:30 p.m.) FOX 4.78

86 Til Death (8 p.m.) FOX 4.77 87 Day Break ABC 4.72 Friday Night Smackdown CW 4.72 89 Football Night In America, Part 2 NBC 4.56 90 Justice FOX 4.26

91 7th Heaven CW 4.23 92 One Tree Hill CW 4.15 93 Futbol Liga Mexicana UNI 3.96 94 Mundo de Fieras (Thu.) UNI 3.82 95 Trading Spouses FOX 3.70

96 Mundo de Fieras (Mon.) UNI 3.69 97 The O.C. FOX 3.67 Mundo de Fieras (Tue.) UNI 3.67 99 Mundo de Fieras (Wed.) UNI 3.55 100 Heridas de Amor (Tue.) UNI 3.46

101 Veronica Mars CW 3.44 102 Reba (7:30 p.m.) CW 3.39 103 Heridas de Amor (Wed.) UNI 3.33 Heridas de Amor (Mon.) UNI 3.33 105 Everybody Hates Chris CW 3.28

106 Mundo de Fieras (Fri.) UNI 3.26 107 Smallville CW 3.17 108 Cristina UNI 3.11 109 Heridas de Amor (Thu.) UNI 3.09 110 All of Us CW 3.03

Heridas de Amor (Fri.) UNI 3.03 112 Girlfriends CW 2.98 113 Don Francisco Presenta UNI 2.96 114 The Game CW 2.83 115 Aqui y Ahora UNI 2.70

116 Lo Que No Vio UNI 2.62 117 Supernatural CW 2.58 118 Sabado Gigante UNI 2.53 119 Casos Vida UNI 2.51 120 “Festival Mariachi de Disney” UNI 2.47

121 Reba (7 p.m.) CW 2.37 122 America’s Next Top Model (Sun.) CW 2.16 123 Casos Familia UNI 1.85 124 Marina (Wed.) TEL 1.19 125 Cinemundo del Sabado TEL 1.09

126 Amor Mio (Wed.) TEL 1.07 Decisiones (Fri.) TEL 1.07 128 Marina (Tue.) TEL 1.06 129 Amor Mio (Mon.) TEL 1.02 Viuda de Blanco (Tue.) TEL 1.02

131 Viuda de Blanco (Mon.) TEL 1.01 Marina (Thu.) TEL 1.01

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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 11.78 12.94

NBC 10.36 10.33

ABC 10.10 11.71

FOX 8.22 8.27

CW 3.75 3.51

UNI 3.60 3.33

TEL 0.89 0.84

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