Vote helps ABC and NBC rise

The first weeks of the fall TV season weren’t especially kind to ABC and NBC. But partly due to coverage of the presidential election on Nov. 4, the networks managed to tie for the top spot among the advertiser-friendly demographic of young adults for the week. CBS was again No. 1 among total viewers.

ABC’s election coverage was the most-watched among the broadcast networks, with an average of 13.2 million viewers, according to figures published Tuesday by Nielsen Media Research. NBC trailed with 12.1 million, and CBS was a very distant third with 7.4 million.

In addition to the news coverage, “Dancing With the Stars” helped ABC paper over some problems elsewhere on the schedule. “Dancing” easily dominated its Monday time slot with 17.1 million viewers, and a Wednesday results show -- displaced due to the election -- drew 15.8 million.

NBC enjoyed its last comedy ratings bounce from the campaign season with Monday’s mix of skits and clips, “Saturday Night Live Presidential Bash 2008” (14.4 million). And the network had another powerful NFL matchup Sunday between the New York Giants and the Philadelphia Eagles (17.6 million).

However, CBS still topped Wednesday, Thursday and Friday nights among all viewers and continued to draw strength from perennials such as “CSI: Crime Scene Investigation” (18.2 million). Overall, CBS narrowly led the week in total viewers (11 million), followed by ABC (10.4 million), NBC (8.9 million) and Fox (5.9 million).

On basic cable, CNN’s election coverage was the week’s most-watched programming, with an average of 15.2 million tuning in at 8 p.m. PST on Nov. 4, when Barack Obama was proclaimed president-elect.

-- Scott Collins

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Here are the rankings for national prime-time network television last week (Nov. 3-9) 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 60 Minutes CBS 18.47 2 CSI CBS 18.17 3 Football (Sun.) NBC 17.56 4 Dancing With the Stars ABC 17.09 5 Desperate Housewives ABC 15.85 *--*

*--* Dancing With the Stars (Results) ABC 15.85 7 Grey’s Anatomy (Thu., 9 p.m.) ABC 15.74 8 Saturday Night Live Presidential Bash ’08 (Mon.) NBC 14.44 9 Criminal Minds CBS 14.30 10 2008 election (9 p.m., Tue.) ABC 14.18 *--*

*--* 11 Two and a Half Men CBS 12.76 12 CSI: Miami CBS 12.74 13 Cold Case CBS 12.69 14 2008 Election (8 p.m., Tue.) NBC 12.46 15 Survivor: Gabon CBS 12.01 *--*

*--* 16 CSI: NY CBS 11.80 17 Amazing Race 13 CBS 11.71 18 NFL Pre-Game (Sun.) NBC 11.40 19 Numb3rs CBS 11.27 20 NCIS Friday (9 p.m.) CBS 11.22 *--*

*--* 21 2008 Election (9 p.m., Tue.) ABC 11.21 22 Eleventh Hour CBS 10.90 23 Ghost Whisperer CBS 10.89 24 Extreme Makeover: Home Edition (8 p.m.) ABC 10.75 25 Bones FOX 10.17 *--*

*--* 26 Brothers & Sisters ABC 10.11 27 The Unit CBS 9.87 28 The Big Bang Theory CBS 9.67 29 How I Met Your Mother CBS 9.40 30 Private Practice ABC 9.17 *--*

*--* 31 World News (Tue.) ABC 9.08 32 Ugly Betty ABC 8.92 33 Samantha Who? ABC 8.72 34 Life on Mars ABC 8.71 35 ER NBC 8.61 *--*

*--* 36 Office NBC 8.54 37 Football Night America (Part 3) NBC 8.53 38 Football (Sat.) ABC 8.48 39 Family Guy FOX 8.47 40 Worst Week CBS 8.28 *--*

*--* 41 20/20 (Fri.) ABC 8.23 42 48 Hours Mystery CBS 8.12 43 30 Rock NBC 8.07 44 The Simpsons FOX 8.01 45 Law & Order NBC 7.94 *--*

*--* 46 2008 Election (9 p.m., Tue.) CBS 7.41 47 Deal or No Deal (Mon.) NBC 7.17 48 Crimetime Saturday CBS 6.81 49 King of the Hill FOX 6.79 50 Boston Legal ABC 6.72 *--*

*--* 51 My Name Is Earl NBC 6.70 52 House (Wed., 9 p.m.) FOX 6.65 53 American Dad FOX 6.54 54 The New Adventures of Old Christine CBS 6.50 55 Are You Smarter Than a Fifth Grader? FOX 6.46 *--*

*--* 56 America’s Funniest Home Videos ABC 6.38 57 Gary Unmarried CBS 6.33 58 Cops 2 FOX 6.22 59 Dirty Sexy Money ABC 6.15 60 Football Night America Part 2 NBC 6.11 *--*

*--* 61 Life NBC 5.94 62 Crimetime Saturday (8 p.m.) CBS 5.91 63 Football Pre-Game (Sat.) ABC 5.78 64 Fuego en la Sangre (Mon.) UNI 5.66 America’s Most Wanted: America Fights Back FOX 5.66 *--*

*--* 66 Kath & Kim NBC 5.63 67 Cuidado con el Angel (Wed.) UNI 5.56 68 Fuego en la Sangre (Wed.) UNI 5.54 69 Deal or No Deal (Fri.) NBC 5.52 70 Fuego en la Sangre (Thu.) UNI 5.47 *--*

*--* 71 Supernanny ABC 5.40 72 The Simpsons (Sun., 7:30 p.m.) FOX 5.36 73 Cops FOX 5.30 74 Prison Break FOX 5.23 Cuidado con el Angel (Mon.) UNI 5.23 *--*

*--* 76 Cuidado con el Angel (Thu.) UNI 5.20 77 Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles FOX 5.17 78 Knight Rider NBC 5.12 79 Saturday Night Live Presidential Bash NBC 5.05 80 Don’t Forget the Lyrics FOX 4.98 *--*

*--* 81 Fuego en la Sangre (Fri.) UNI 4.90 82 Querida Enemiga (Wed.) UNI 4.79 83 2008 election (9 p.m., Tue.) FOX 4.73 84 Kitchen Nightmares FOX 4.70 Querida Enemiga (Mon.) UNI 4.70 *--*

*--* 86 Wife Swap ABC 4.59 *--*

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 11.04 11.23

ABC 10.4 10.11

NBC 8.89 7.55

FOX 5.87 7.96

UNI 3.93 3.91 *--*