Here are the rankings for national prime-time network television last week (Dec. 7-13) as compiled by the Nielsen Co. 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 | Net- work | View- ers | | Program | Net- work | View- ers |
| 1 | Football | NBC | 20.88 |
| 2 | CSI | CBS | 16.43 |
| 3 | The Mentalist | CBS | 16.37 |
| 4 | 60 Minutes | CBS | 16.24 |
| 5 | NCIS | CBS | 15.09 |
| 6 | NFL Preg’ame (Sun.) | NBC | 15.08 |
| 7 | Two and a Half Men | CBS | 14.84 |
| 8 | Criminal Minds | CBS | 14.43 |
| 9 | The Big Bang Theory | CBS | 14.38 |
| 10 | The Biggest Loser | NBC | 13.45 |
| 11 | Survivor: Samoa | CBS | 13.25 |
| 12 | CSI: NY | CBS | 12.96 |
| 13 | CSI: Miami | CBS | 12.72 |
| 14 | NCIS: Los Angeles | CBS | 12.04 |
| Disney Prep & Landing | ABC | 12.04 |
| 16 | Christmas at the White House | ABC | 11.95 |
| 17 | A Charlie Brown Christmas | ABC | 11.17 |
| 18 | Bones | FOX | 10.90 |
| 19 | Barbara Walters Presents the 10 Most Fascinating People of 2009 | ABC | 10.55 |
| 20 | Extreme Makeover: Home Edition (8 p.m.) | ABC | 10.34 |
| 21 | Cold Case | CBS | 10.30 |
| 22 | Football Night America (Part 3) | NBC | 10.11 |
| 23 | Modern Family | ABC | 9.67 |
| 24 | The Mentalist (Sun.) | CBS | 9.37 |
| 25 | Dateline (Fri.) | NBC | 9.34 |
| 26 | The Good Wife | CBS | 9.10 |
| 27 | Law & Order | NBC | 8.81 |
| 28 | How I Met Your Mother | CBS | 8.78 |
| 29 | America’s Funniest Home Videos | ABC | 8.68 |
| 30 | Carrie Underwood: An All-Star Holiday Special | FOX | 8.55 |
| 31 | The Office | NBC | 8.51 |
| 32 | Criminal Minds (Sun.) | CBS | 8.45 |
| 33 | Shrek the Halls (Wed.) | ABC | 8.43 |
| 34 | Jay Leno Show (Tue.) | NBC | 8.33 |
| 35 | Glee | FOX | 8.13 |
| 36 | Law & Order: SVU | NBC | 7.92 |
| 37 | Accidentally on Purpose | CBS | 7.91 |
| 38 | Castle | ABC | 7.80 |
| 39 | The Middle | ABC | 7.68 |
| 40 | Family Guy | FOX | 7.66 |
| 41 | Santa Claus Is Comin’ to Town | ABC | 7.60 |
| 42 | The New Adventures of Old Christine | CBS | 7.49 |
| 43 | 20/20 (Fri.) | ABC | 7.39 |
| 44 | Mercy | NBC | 7.01 |
| Gary Unmarried | CBS | 7.01 |
| Cougar Town | ABC | 7.01 |
| 47 | The Simpsons | FOX | 6.97 |
| 48 | 30 Rock | NBC | 6.70 |
| 49 | So You Think You Can Dance (Wed.) | FOX | 6.69 |
| 50 | Football Night America (Part 2) | NBC | 6.67 |
| 51 | Law & Order: SVU (Mon., 8 p.m.) | NBC | 6.54 |
| 52 | The Cleveland Show | FOX | 6.53 |
| 53 | Fringe | FOX | 6.32 |
| 54 | So You Think You Can Dance (Tue.) | FOX | 6.24 |
| 55 | American Dad | FOX | 6.19 |
| 56 | Law & Order: SVU (Mon., 9 p.m.) | NBC | 5.77 |
| 57 | Jay Leno Show (Fri.) | NBC | 5.72 |
| 58 | Cops 2 | FOX | 5.62 |
| 59 | Community | NBC | 5.50 |
| 60 | America’s Most Wanted: America Fights Back | FOX | 5.48 |
| 61 | 48 Hours Mystery | CBS | 5.44 |
| Scrubs | ABC | 5.44 |
| 63 | Numb3rs | CBS | 5.39 |
| 64 | Find My Family | ABC | 5.23 |
| 65 | Yes, Virginia | CBS | 5.20 |
| 66 | Cops | FOX | 5.14 |
| 67 | Sortilegio (Mon.) | UNI | 5.09 |
| 68 | Sortilegio (Tue.) | UNI | 5.02 |
| 69 | Sortilegio (Wed.) | UNI | 4.98 |
| 70 | Jay Leno Show (Thu.) | NBC | 4.96 |
| 71 | Parks and Recreation | NBC | 4.90 |
| Grey’s Anatomy (Thu., 9 p.m.) | ABC | 4.90 |
| 73 | Sortilegio (Thu.) | UNI | 4.73 |
| 74 | Jay Leno Show (Mon.) | NBC | 4.68 |
| 75 | Ugly Betty | ABC | 4.65 |
| 76 | En Nombre del Amor (Wed.) | UNI | 4.57 |
| 77 | Movie: “It’s a Wonderful Life” | NBC | 4.50 |
| Jay Leno Show (Wed.) | NBC | 4.50 |
| 79 | The Big Bang Theory | CBS | 4.49 |
| 80 | Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer | CBS | 4.46 |
| 81 | Supernanny | ABC | 4.45 |
| 82 | The Flight Before Christmas | CBS | 4.38 |
| 83 | Sortilegio (Fri.) | UNI | 4.31 |
| 84 | En Nombre del Amor (Mon.) | UNI | 4.30 |
| 85 | The Forgotten | ABC | 4.26 |
| 86 | Medium | CBS | 4.05 |
| 87 | En Nombre del Amor (Tue.) | UNI | 4.03 |
| 88 | Abc Sat Movie of the Week | ABC | 3.99 |
| 89 | En Nombre del Amor (Thu.) | UNI | 3.97 |
| 90 | FlashForward | ABC | 3.96 |
| 91 | En Nombre del Amor (Fri.) | UNI | 3.95 |
| 92 | Private Practice | ABC | 3.89 |
| 93 | Better Off Ted | ABC | 3.82 |
| 94 | Castle (Sat.) | ABC | 3.67 |
| 95 | Cristina | UNI | 3.47 |
| 96 | Un Gancho al Corazón (Wed.) | UNI | 3.37 |
| 97 | Don Francisco Presenta | UNI | 3.35 |
| 98 | Un Gancho al Corazón (Tue.) | UNI | 3.18 |
| 99 | La Rosa de Guadalupe (Fri.) | UNI | 3.14 |
| 100 | La Rosa de Guadalupe (Thu.) | UNI | 3.05 |
| 101 | Un Gancho al Corazón (Mon.) | UNI | 3.04 |
| 102 | Aqui y Ahora (Tue.) | UNI | 3.02 |
| 103 | Un Gancho al Corazón (Thu.) | UNI | 2.84 |
| 104 | Dollhouse (Fri., 8 p.m.) | FOX | 2.72 |
| 105 | Un Gancho al Corazón (Fri.) | UNI | 2.64 |
| 106 | Brothers (Sun., 7:30 p.m.) | FOX | 2.62 |
| 107 | One Tree Hill (Mon.) | CW | 2.57 |
| 108 | Sabado Gigante | UNI | 2.49 |
| 109 | Cine Especial (Sun., 8 p.m.) | UNI | 2.45 |
| 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 | 10.55 | 11.89 |
|
| NBC | 8.76 | 7.93 |
|
| ABC | 6.83 | 9.97 |
|
| Fox | 6.22 | 9.2 |
|
| UNI | 3.51 | 3.56 |
