CBS marks overall rise in viewers

CBS had nine of last week’s 10 most-watched shows to win the weekly prime-time ratings race for the 12th consecutive week and became the first of the four major broadcast networks to average more viewers for the season than a year ago.

CBS averaged 11.2 million viewers for its prime-time programming between Dec. 15 and Sunday, topped by a series-high 19.94 million for “NCIS,” according to figures released Tuesday by Nielsen Media Research. Only NBC’s Sunday night football game between the Carolina Panthers and New York Giants broke CBS’ monopoly of the week’s top 10, finishing third overall with 18.86 million viewers.

CBS’ “How I Met Your Mother” and “The Big Bang Theory” also recorded series highs, as did the first-year series “The Mentalist” and “Worst Week.” “Two and a Half Men” and “Without a Trace” both had season highs.

CBS was also first for the week among viewers ages 18 to 49, the group that advertisers pay a premium for and that ABC, Fox and NBC target.

For the 13 weeks of the season, CBS is averaging 12.02 million viewers, 1% more than a year ago. ABC (9.85 million), NBC (7.99 million) and Fox Broadcasting (7.84 million) are each down 9% from a year ago.

NBC was second for the week, averaging 7.511 million viewers, bolstered by the season finale of the weight-loss competition “The Biggest Loser,” which was 14th for the week with 11.83 million viewers.

The ESPN “Monday Night Football” game between the Cleveland Browns and Philadelphia Eagles on Dec. 15 was the week’s most-watched cable program with 9.88 million viewers, which would have placed it 19th among the programs shown on broadcast television.

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Here are the rankings for national prime-time network television last week (Dec. 15-21) 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 NCIS CBS 19.94 2 The Mentalist CBS 19.31 3 Football: Carolina Panthers at N.Y. Giants NBC 18.86 4 Two and a Half Men CBS 17.91 5 Criminal Minds CBS 15.16 *--*

*--* 6 CSI: Miami CBS 14.56 7 Without a Trace CBS 14.47 8 CSI: NY CBS 13.38 9 60 Minutes CBS 13.13 10 CSI CBS 12.68 *--*

*--* 11 Football Pregame (Sun.) NBC 12.47 12 Worst Week CBS 12.04 13 Cold Case CBS 12.00 14 Biggest Loser NBC 11.83 15 How I Met Your Mother CBS 11.37 *--*

*--* 16 The Big Bang Theory CBS 11.22 17 Ghost Whisperer CBS 10.18 18 Eleventh Hour CBS 10.07 19 Million Dollar Password CBS 9.58 20 Football Night America Part 3 NBC 9.39 *--*

*--* 21 The OT FOX 9.30 22 Numb3rs CBS 9.18 23 A Charlie Brown Christmas ABC 8.37 24 The Unit CBS 8.24 25 Million Dollar Password (Sun.) CBS 8.20 *--*

*--* 26 Heroes NBC 7.87 27 Numb3rs (9 p.m. Fri.) CBS 7.75 28 Chuck NBC 7.66 29 The Muppets Christmas Letter to Santa NBC 7.47 30 America’s Funniest Home Videos ABC 7.46 *--*

*--* 31 Gary Unmarried CBS 7.38 32 The New Adventures of Old Christine CBS 7.29 33 I Want a Dog for Christmas ABC 7.08 34 Law & Order NBC 7.02 35 Extreme Makeover: Home Edition (8 p.m.) ABC 6.82 *--*

*--* 36 Secret Millionaire (8 p.m. Wed.) FOX 6.71 37 Private Practice ABC 6.61 38 The Simpsons FOX 6.59 39 Extreme Makeover: Home Edition (Sun.) ABC 6.52 40 House FOX 6.44 *--*

*--* 41 Are You Smarter Thana 5th Grader? (9 p.m. Thu.) FOX 6.30 42 Dateline Fri NBC 6.29 43 Are You Smarter Than a 5th Grader? FOX 6.16 44 Momma’s Boys (Tue.) NBC 6.01 45 Family Guy FOX 5.89 *--*

*--* 46 Secret Millionaire (8 p.m. Thu.) FOX 5.82 47 20/20 (Fri.) ABC 5.78 48 America’s Most Wanted: America Fights Back FOX 5.62 49 Grey’s Anatomy (9 p.m. Thu.) ABC 5.61 50 48 Hours Mystery CBS 5.51 *--*

*--* 51 Prison Break FOX 5.37 52 Cops 2 FOX 5.32 53 According to Jim (9 p.m. Tue.) ABC 5.22 Life NBC 5.22 55 Fuego en la Sangre (Mon.) UNI 5.21 *--*

*--* 56 King of the Hill FOX 5.15 Eli Stone ABC 5.15 58 Dirty Sexy Money ABC 5.13 59 Don’t Forget the Lyrics FOX 5.07 Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles FOX 5.07 *--*

*--* 61 Fuego en la Sangre (Tue.) UNI 5.06 62 Cuidado con el Angel (Mon.) UNI 5.04 63 The Office NBC 5.02 64 Cuidado con el Angel (Tue.) UNI 4.97 Desperate Housewives (Sun.) ABC 4.97 *--*

*--* 66 Football Night America (Part 2) NBC 4.96 67 Fuego en la Sangre (Wed.) UNI 4.90 68 Cuidado con el Angel Wed UNI 4.88 69 My Name Is Earl NBC 4.84 70 Fringe FOX 4.82 *--*

*--* 71 Cops FOX 4.80 72 Fuego en la Sangre (Fri.) UNI 4.75 73 Cuidado con el Angel (Thu.) UNI 4.72 74 American Dad FOX 4.69 75 Movie: Elf CBS 4.68 *--*

*--* 76 Pushing Daisies ABC 4.67 77 Fuego en la Sangre (Thu.) UNI 4.64 78 30 Rock NBC 4.61 79 Ugly Betty ABC 4.54 80 According to Jim (9:30 p.m. Tue.) ABC 4.52 *--*

*--* 81 Cuidado con el Angel (Fri.) UNI 4.50 82 Private Practice (Thu.) ABC 4.40 83 Law & Order: SVU (Sat.) NBC 4.36 84 30 Rock (Thu.) NBC 4.30 85 Bones (9 p.m. Wed.) FOX 4.12 *--*

*--* 86 Movie: The Cat in the Hat ABC 4.04 87 Tontas No Van Cielo (Mon.) UNI 4.02 88 Tontas No Van Cielo (Tue.) UNI 3.98 89 My Own Worst Enemy NBC 3.92 90 Kath & Kim NBC 3.92 *--*

*--* 91 Tontas No Van Cielo (Wed.) UNI 3.89 92 Suenos (Sun.) UNI 3.81 93 The Office (Thu.) NBC 3.77 94 Tontas No Van Cielo (Fri.) UNI 3.64 95 Tontas No Van Cielo (Thu.) UNI 3.64 *--*

*--* 96 I Want a Dog for Christmas ABC 3.64 97 Wife Swap ABC 3.40 98 Rosa de Guadalupe (Fri.) UNI 3.27 99 Don Francisco Presenta (Wed.) UNI 3.24 100 Supernanny ABC 3.19 *--*

*--* 101 Cristina (Mon.) UNI 3.10 102 Rosa de Guadalupe (Thu.) UNI 3.02 Aqui y Ahora (Tue.) UNI 3.02 104 Momma’s Boys (Fri.) NBC 2.94 105 20/20 Special (Mon.) ABC 2.91 *--*

*--* 106 WWE Tribute to the Troops NBC 2.89 107 Sabado Gigante (Sat.) UNI 2.61 108 Victoria’s Secret Fashion Show CW 2.44 109 Crusoe NBC 2.40 110 Hora Derbez (Sat.) UNI 2.14 *--*

*--* 111 Smallville CW 2.13 112 Supernatural CW 2.07 113 Gossip Girl (Mon.) CW 1.61 114 Everybody Hates Chris CW 1.42 115 Stylista CW 1.40 *--*

*--* 116 Movie: Three Amigos CW 1.36 *--*

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 10.7 10.84

NBC 7.17 7.18

FOX 5.87 7.11

ABC 4.94 8.91

UNI 3.94 3.89 *--*