CBS is tops overall for 11th week in a row

With seven of the 10 most-watched programs, CBS had another dominant week in the ratings, notching its 11th straight weekly victory among total viewers.

Led by “CSI: Crime Scene Investigation” (20.9 million), the No. 2 program, CBS carried the week ending Dec. 14 with an average of 11.9 million viewers, according to figures published Tuesday by Nielsen Media Research.

CBS has posted year-to-year ratings gains for five straight weeks, relying on a roster of existing scripted series plus a noteworthy newcomer, the cop drama “The Mentalist.” Last week also included the Sunday finale of “Survivor: Gabon” (13.8 million).

The network’s strength was not confined to total viewers. Among the ad-friendly demographic of adults aged 18 to 49, CBS had six of the top 10 shows, led by “CSI.”

The other networks had relatively unimpressive weeks, as is typical in a pre-holiday period. NBC’s results were skewed upward by the huge audience for its Sunday NFL match between the New York Giants and the Dallas Cowboys (23 million). That was not only the week’s top program but also the highest number for any game in the three years NBC has aired Sunday prime-time football.

NBC also got a nice result from “The Office” (8.8 million), in part because ABC aired a repeat of “Grey’s Anatomy.”

On basic cable, the top program was ESPN’s Monday football game between the Tampa Bay Buccaneers and the Carolina Panthers (11.6 million).

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*--* Program Network Viewers 1 Football: Giants at Cowboys NBC 23.05 2 CSI: Crime Scene Investigation CBS 20.86 3 60 Minutes CBS 18.80 4 Two and a Half Men CBS 15.59 5 Criminal Minds CBS 14.68 *--*

*--* 6 Football Pre-Game NBC 14.19 7 House FOX 14.05 8 CSI: Miami CBS 13.79 9 Survivor: Gabon Finale CBS 13.77 10 The Mentalist CBS 13.69 *--*

*--* 11 NCIS CBS 13.66 12 Eleventh Hour CBS 13.40 13 CSI: NY CBS 13.33 14 Survivor: Gabon CBS 13.05 15 Survivor: Gabon Reunion CBS 11.74 *--*

*--* 16 A Charlie Brown Christmas ABC 11.02 17 Law & Order: Special Victims Unit NBC 11.01 18 Football Night America Part 3 NBC 10.83 19 The Big Bang Theory CBS 10.50 20 How I Met Your Mother CBS 10.49 *--*

*--* 21 Worst Week CBS 10.44 22 Boston Legal ABC 9.88 23 Biggest Loser 6 NBC 9.36 24 ER NBC 9.03 25 Movie: “The Santa Clause 2” ABC 8.83 *--*

*--* 26 The Office NBC 8.76 27 Without a Trace CBS 8.55 28 The New Adventures of Old Christine CBS 7.94 29 America’s Funniest Home Videos ABC 7.94 30 Gary Unmarried CBS 7.73 *--*

*--* 31 Heroes NBC 7.72 32 Frosty the Snowman CBS 7.68 33 Frosty Returns CBS 7.62 34 Numb3rs CBS 7.60 35 Law & Order NBC 7.51 *--*

*--* 36 The Flight Before Christmas CBS 7.39 37 30 Rock NBC 7.38 38 Football Night America Part 2 NBC 7.32 39 Secret Millionaire (Wed.) FOX 7.26 40 Dateline (Fri.) NBC 7.09 *--*

*--* 41 America’s Funniest Home Videos (Tue.) ABC 7.03 42 Fringe FOX 6.95 43 Chuck NBC 6.94 44 Private Practice ABC 6.86 45 My Name Is Earl NBC 6.55 *--*

*--* 46 48 Hours Mystery CBS 6.54 47 Are You Smarter Than a 5th Grader? FOX 6.29 48 Grey’s Anatomy ABC 6.25 49 Family Guy FOX 5.96 50 Desperate Housewives (10 p.m.) ABC 5.84 *--*

*--* 51 20/20 (Fri.) ABC 5.80 52 Life NBC 5.64 53 The Simpsons FOX 5.57 54 Cuidado con El Angel (Tue.) UNI 5.52 55 Cops (8:30 p.m.) FOX 5.51 *--*

*--* 56 America’s Most Wanted: America Fights Back FOX 5.43 57 Secret Millionaire (Thu.) FOX 5.40 58 Prison Break FOX 5.40 59 Kath & Kim NBC 5.38 60 Don’t Forget the Lyrics FOX 5.33 *--*

*--* 61 Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles FOX 5.25 62 Dirty Sexy Money ABC 5.24 63 Fuego en La Sangre (Tue.) UNI 5.22 64 Fuego en La Sangre (Wed.) UNI 5.22 65 Cuidado con El Angel (Wed.) UNI 5.16 *--*

*--* 66 American Dad FOX 5.16 67 According to Jim (9:30 p.m.) ABC 5.15 68 Greatest Holiday Moments: Songs of the Season Countdown NBC 5.12 69 Ugly Betty ABC 5.09 70 Cops FOX 5.05 *--*

*--* 71 Fuego en la Sangre (Thu.) UNI 4.96 72 Cuidado con El Angel (Mon.) UNI 4.95 73 Fuego en la Sangre (Mon.) UNI 4.93 74 Eli Stone ABC 4.92 75 According to Jim ABC 4.92 *--*

*--* 76 Movie: “It’s a Wonderful Life” NBC 4.90 77 Pushing Daisies ABC 4.86 78 Movie: “Surviving Christmas” ABC 4.82 79 Little Spirit: Christmas in New York NBC 4.81 80 Cuidado con el Angel (Thu.) UNI 4.73 *--*

*--* 81 Are You Smarter than a 5th Grader? FOX 4.59 82 48 Hours Mystery CBS 4.59 83 King of the Hill (7:30 p.m.) FOX 4.54 84 Bones FOX 4.47 *--*

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 11.92 11.41

ABC 6.31 9.72

NBC 8.76 7.56

FOX 5.99 7.58

UNI 3.98 3.93 *--*

-- Scott Collins