Six of the top 10 shows helps CBS regain lead

CBS returned to the top of the prime-time TV ratings last week after a one-week absence, with six of the 10 most-watched shows and the largest audiences of the season for “Cold Case,” “Shark” and “Numb3rs,” according to figures released Tuesday by Nielsen Media Research.

CBS averaged 11.95 million viewers for its prime-time programming between Nov. 12 and Sunday to become the most-watched network for the fifth time in the season’s eight weeks. After a victory the previous week, ABC was second with 10.37 million viewers.

For the third time in four weeks, the Monday competition edition of ABC’s “Dancing With the Stars” was the week’s most-watched program, averaging a season-high 21.43 million viewers. It was ABC’s largest nonsports audience in the 8-9:30 p.m. Monday time slot since May 1, 2000.

In a season in which most of the new series have struggled to attract viewers, the ABC comedy “Samantha Who?” was the week’s most-watched new series for the fifth time in its five airings with 13.7 million viewers, finishing 15th overall.

ABC’s coverage of Sunday’s American Music Awards reversed its two-year trend of declining viewership, averaging 11.81 million viewers, its most since 2004, when it drew 12.91 million. The audience was 9% larger than last year’s record low of 10.85 million, when it was broadcast on a Tuesday.

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Here are the rankings for national prime-time network television last week (Nov. 12-18) 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 286 million potential viewers in the U.S. ages 2 and older. Viewership is listed in millions.

*--* -- PROGRAM NETWORK VIEWERS 1 Dancing With the Stars (Mon.) ABC 21.81 2 CSI CBS 21.36 3 Grey’s Anatomy ABC 19.60 4 Dancing With the Stars (Tue.) ABC 17.59 5 NCIS CBS 17.39

6 House FOX 16.95 7 Criminal Minds CBS 15.73 8 CSI: Miami CBS 15.46 9 Survivor: China CBS 14.68 10 60 Minutes CBS 14.63

11 Sunday Night Football NBC 14.47 12 Without a Trace CBS 14.41 13 Cold Case CBS 14.12 -- Two and a Half Men CBS 14.12 15 Samantha Who? ABC 13.70

16 CSI: NY CBS 13.13 17 Shark CBS 12.65 18 Law & Order: SVU (Tue.) NBC 12.48 19 Amazing Race 12 CBS 11.86 20 “American Music Awards” ABC 11.81

21 “NFL Pregame” (Sun.) NBC 11.54 22 Private Practice ABC 11.48 23 Rules of Engagement CBS 11.46 24 Boston Legal ABC 11.36 25 The OT (football postgame) FOX 11.22

26 Heroes NBC 11.16 27 The Unit CBS 11.04 28 Deal or No Deal (Fri.) NBC 10.73 29 Ugly Betty ABC 10.67 30 The Simpsons FOX 10.56

31 Family Guy FOX 10.55 32 Numb3rs CBS 10.26 33 Are You Smarter Than a 5th Grader? FOX 9.63 34 E.R. NBC 9.60 35 Ghost Whisperer CBS 9.56

36 The Big Bang Theory CBS 9.32 37 King of the Hill FOX 9.23 38 Bones FOX 9.12 39 Football Night in America, Part 3 NBC 9.10 40 The Bachelor ABC 8.96

41 Women’s Murder Club (Fri.) ABC 8.91 42 Pushing Daisies ABC 8.82 43 The Office NBC 8.80 44 How I Met Your Mother CBS 8.42 45 Women’s Murder Club (Thu.) ABC 8.38

46 Moonlight CBS 8.16 -- Biggest Loser 4 NBC 8.16 48 American Dad FOX 8.12 49 Crimetime Saturday (9 p.m.) CBS 8.03 50 My Name Is Earl NBC 8.01

51 Dirty Sexy Money ABC 7.90 52 Chuck (Mon.) NBC 7.56 53 Kid Nation CBS 7.42 54 Til Death FOX 7.34 55 Back to You FOX 7.31

56 Cane CBS 7.29 -- 48 Hours Mystery CBS 7.29 58 Prison Break FOX 7.18 59 Cops (8:30 p.m.) FOX 7.05 60 Kitchen Nightmares FOX 6.95

61 Life NBC 6.90 62 Las Vegas NBC 6.72 63 Crimetime Saturday (8 p.m.) CBS 6.63 64 30 Rock NBC 6.45 65 Destilando Amor (Mon.) UNI 6.40

66 20/20 ABC 6.30 67 Bionic Woman (Wed.) NBC 6.29 68 Men in Trees ABC 6.27 -- Destilando Amor (Thu.) UNI 6.27 70 Destilando Amor (Wed.) UNI 6.25

-- America’s Most Wanted FOX 6.25 72 Destilando Amor (Tue.) UNI 6.17 73 Phenomenon NBC 6.10 74 Journeyman NBC 6.09 75 Don’t Forget the Lyrics (Tue.) FOX 6.03

76 Friday Night Lights NBC 5.96 77 Scrubs NBC 5.93 78 Cops (8 p.m.) FOX 5.91 79 “NASCAR Nextel Cup” (Sun.) ABC 5.78 80 Law & Order: SVU (Sat.) NBC 5.71

81 America’s Top Model 3 (Wed.) CW 5.33 82 Football Night America, Part 2 NBC 5.31 83 Carpoolers ABC 5.05 84 Don’t Forget the Lyrics (Fri.) FOX 4.87 85 Saturday Night Football ABC 4.84

86 K-Ville FOX 4.72 87 Friday Night Smackdown CW 4.69 88 Cavemen ABC 4.58 89 Smallville CW 4.51 90 “Premios TV y Novelas ‘07” UNI 4.31 *--*

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 11.95 11.75

ABC 10.37 11.15

FOX 8.54 9.19

NBC 8.24 8.36

UNI 3.84 3.53

CW 2.96 2.92 *--*