CBS takes a small pot for a 13-week streak

In a week with traditionally little original entertainment programming and low viewership, CBS had eight of the 10 most-watched prime-time television programs last week to be the most-watched network for the 13th consecutive week.

CBS averaged 7.58 million viewers for its prime-time programming between Dec. 22 and Sunday, according to figures released Tuesday by Nielsen Media Research. NBC finished second with 6.27 million, thanks in large measure to its “Sunday Night Football” game between the Denver Broncos and San Diego Chargers, the week’s most-watched program, averaging 14.85 million viewers.

CBS won 30 of the week’s 44 half-hours. Its most-watched program was “60 Minutes,” which was second overall.

The ESPN “Monday Night Football” game between the Chicago Bears and Green Bay Packers on Dec. 22 was the week’s most-watched cable program with 13.8 million viewers, which would have placed it third among the pro- grams shown on broadcast television.

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*--* Program Network Viewers 1 NFL Football: Denver at San Diego NBC 14.85 2 60 Minutes CBS 14.11 3 Two and a Half Men CBS 11.82 4 The Mentalist (10 p.m.) CBS 10.68 5 NCIS (9 p.m.) CBS 10.60 *--*

*--* 6 NFL Pregame (Sun.) NBC 10.14 7 Million Dollar Password CBS 9.84 8 Cold Case CBS 9.69 9 CSI: Miami CBS 8.54 10 CSI CBS 8.03 *--*

*--* 11 Ghost Whisperer CBS 7.79 12 The OT FOX 7.62 13 Football Night America (Part 3) NBC 7.52 14 Eleventh Hour CBS 7.37 15 The Big Bang Theory CBS 7.24 *--*

*--* 16 Law & Order: SVU NBC 7.05 17 CSI: NY CBS 6.92 18 Worst Week CBS 6.86 19 How I Met Your Mother CBS 6.84 20 House FOX 6.74 *--*

*--* 21 Numb3rs CBS 6.69 22 Deal or No Deal (Thu.) NBC 6.52 How the Grinch Stole Christmas (Tue.) ABC 6.52 24 Shrek the Halls (Mon.) ABC 6.51 Ghost Whisperer (9 p.m.) CBS 6.51 *--*

*--* 26 Criminal Minds CBS 6.46 27 Movie: ‘The Sound of Music’ (Sun.) ABC 6.45 The Unit CBS 6.45 29 Home for the Holidays CBS 6.43 30 House (8 p.m. Mon.) FOX 6.25 *--*

*--* 31 Law & Order (Tue.) NBC 6.17 32 Today Looks Back: 2008 NBC 6.12 33 Law & Order: SVU (Tue.) NBC 6.03 34 America’s Most Wanted FOX 5.93 35 Without a Trace (8 p.m.) CBS 5.88 *--*

*--* 36 Movie: ‘Charlie and the Chocolate Factory’ (Mon.) ABC 5.70 37 Family Guy FOX 5.69 38 Are You Smarter Than a 5th Grader? (Fri.) FOX 5.68 39 20/20 (Fri.) ABC 5.67 40 Cops 2 FOX 5.61 *--*

*--* 41 The Simpsons FOX 5.46 42 Dont Forget the Lyrics (Fri.) FOX 5.38 43 Fuego en la Sangre (Mon.) UNI 5.33 44 Movie: ‘It’s a Wonderful Life’ (Wed.) NBC 5.29 45 Dateline (Fri.) NBC 5.23 *--*

*--* 46 Momma’s Boys NBC 5.01 47 Cops FOX 4.98 Prison Break FOX 4.98 49 Cuidado con el Angel (Mon.) UNI 4.94 50 Fuego en la Sangre (Tue.) UNI 4.84 *--*

*--* 51 Football Night America (Part 2) NBC 4.81 52 Fuego en la Sangre (Fri.) UNI 4.77 American Dad FOX 4.77 54 Cuidado con el Angel (Tue.) UNI 4.70 55 Rediscovered ABC 4.60 *--*

*--* 56 Wonderful World of Disney: ‘The Chronicles of Narnia’ ABC 4.57 57 King of the Hill FOX 4.43 58 Bones (8 p.m. Wed.) FOX 4.35 59 Movie: ‘The Longest Yard’ (Sat.) CBS 4.33 60 Cuidado con el Angel (Fri.) UNI 4.29 *--*

*--* 61 Fringe FOX 4.22 62 Law & Order: SVU (Sat.) NBC 4.18 63 Bones (9 p.m. Wed.) FOX 3.82 Tontas No Van Cielo (Fri.) UNI 3.82 65 Supernanny (Fri.) ABC 3.78 *--*

*--* 66 Tontas No Van Cielo (Tue.) UNI 3.73 67 Wife Swap (Fri.) ABC 3.70 68 Ugly Betty (Thu.) ABC 3.61 69 Tontas No Van Cielo (Mon.) UNI 3.57 70 Private Practice (Thu.) ABC 3.52 *--*

*--* 71 Gary Unmarried CBS 3.51 72 Old Christine CBS 3.48 73 The Office (Thu.) NBC 3.38 74 Grey’s Anatomy (9 p.m. Thu.) ABC 3.37 75 Rosa de Guadalupe (Fri.) UNI 3.17 *--*

*--* 76 Sabado Gigante (Sat.) UNI 3.13 77 Cristina (Mon.) UNI 3.02 Movie: ‘Miracle’ (Sat.) ABC 3.02 79 Kitchen Nightmare (Wed., 9 p.m.) FOX 2.97 Aqui y Ahora (Tue.) UNI 2.97 *--*

*--* 81 The List ABC 2.90 82 The Office (Thu.) NBC 2.80 83 The Beijing Olympic Opening Ceremony NBC 2.74 84 Top Chef (Fri.) NBC 2.59 85 Premio Nuestro (Thu.) UNI 2.47 *--*

*--* 86 Kitchen Nightmare (8 p.m. Thu.) FOX 2.39 87 48 Hours Mystery (8 p.m.) CBS 2.29 88 Hora Derbez (Sat.) UNI 2.14 89 Latin Grammy (Sun.) UNI 2.12 90 Cine: ‘Jesus el Nino Dios’ (Wed.) UNI 2.10 *--*

*--* 91 Una Noche de 10 con el Gordo y la Flaca (Sun.) UNI 1.92 92 Lo Que No Vio de Premio lo Nuestro (Thu.) UNI 1.88 93 Flight Before Christmas CW 1.84 94 Don Francisco (Wed.) UNI 1.82 95 Supernatural Christmas CW 1.60 *--*

*--* 96 Story of Santa Claus CW 1.57 97 Movie: ‘Babes in Toyland’ (Sun.) CW 1.42 98 Everybody Hates Chris (8 p.m. Fri.) CW 1.40 99 Smallville (Thu.) CW 1.33 *--*

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 7.58 11.11

NBC 6.27 7.46

FOX 5.41 7.32

ABC 4.72 9.02

UNI 3.15 3.88 *--*