Viewers don’t take a holiday from CBS, ABC

Even without “Dancing With the Stars” and “Lost,” ABC was able to continue its winning ways among the much-desired young adult viewers last week, while CBS maintained its streak of being the most-watched network for every week of the television season.

With six of the 20 most-watched programs among viewers ages 18 to 49, ABC finished first among the group coveted by most advertisers for the eighth time in the season’s 10 weeks. Its 18% margin over CBS, Fox and NBC was its largest of the season, according to figures released Tuesday by Nielsen Media Research.

In a week where viewing patterns were changed by the Thanksgiving holiday, CBS remained the most-watched network overall, however, averaging 12.22 million viewers.

CBS had seven of the week’s 20 most-watched shows, including “NCIS,” which finished seventh.

NBC’s “Heroes” was the week’s most-watched first-year series for the fourth time in the last five weeks, with 16.03 million viewers.

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Here are the rankings for national prime-time network television last week (Nov. 20-26) 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 283.5 million potential viewers in the U.S. ages 2 and older. Viewership is listed in millions.

*--* 1 Desperate Housewives ABC 21.43 2 CSI: Miami CBS 18.54 3 Grey’s Anatomy ABC 18.51 4 NFL Postgame (Sun.) FOX 17.59 5 NFL Postgame (Thu.) FOX 17.19

6 CSI CBS 17.17 7 NCIS CBS 17.00 8 Deal or No Deal (Mon.) NBC 16.96 9 Criminal Minds CBS 16.56 10 Heroes NBC 16.03

11 CSI: NY CBS 15.30 12 Sunday Night Football NBC 15.22 13 House FOX 15.20 14 Two and a Half Men CBS 15.04 15 Extreme Makeover: Home Edition ABC 14.65

College Football ABC 14.65 17 Law & Order: SVU NBC 14.20 18 Boston Legal (Sun.) ABC 13.47 19 60 Minutes CBS 13.18 20 ER NBC 13.04

21 “Candles on Bay Street” CBS 12.81 22 Survivor: Cook Islands CBS 12.67 23 Shark CBS 12.41 24 The Unit CBS 12.39 25 NFL Pregame NBC 12.03

26 The OT FOX 11.79 27 Numb3rs CBS 11.73 28 Deal or No Deal (Thu.) NBC 11.58 29 Old Christine CBS 11.48 30 America’s Funniest Home Videos ABC 11.09

31 The Simpsons FOX 10.93 32 American Music Awards ABC 10.84 33 Ghost Whisperer CBS 10.57 34 Amazing Race 10 CBS 10.37 35 Close to Home CBS 10.06

36 NFL Pregame NBC 9.90 37 Jericho CBS 9.73 38 Prison Break FOX 9.62 39 “He’s a Bully, Charlie Brown” ABC 9.54 40 Family Guy FOX 9.49

41 Crimetime Saturday CBS 9.42 42 College Football Pregame ABC 9.38 43 “A Charlie Brown Thanksgiving” ABC 9.37 44 Law & Order: Criminal Intent NBC 9.26 45 3 Lbs. CBS 9.21

46 How I Met Your Mother CBS 8.85 47 American Dad FOX 8.76 48 Ugly Betty ABC 8.74 49 House (Mon.) FOX 8.45 50 The Class CBS 8.21

51 Crimetime Saturday CBS 7.80 Show Me the Money ABC 7.80 53 Medium NBC 7.45 54 The Bachelor: Rome ABC 7.40 55 48 Hours Mystery CBS 7.28

56 “Shrek 2” ABC 7.26 57 Law & Order: SVU (Sat.) NBC 7.25 58 Primetime ABC 7.23 Cops (8:30) FOX 7.23 60 Studio 60 NBC 7.17

61 “Spider-Man 2” FOX 7.09 62 “The Family Man” NBC 7.03 63 The War at Home FOX 6.92 64 20/20 ABC 6.80 65 “Tony Bennett: An American Classic” NBC 6.42

66 “Cheaper by the Dozen” FOX 6.41 67 Cops FOX 6.22 68 America’s Most Wanted FOX 6.04 69 Dateline (Sat.) NBC 5.59 70 NFL Pregame NBC 5.49

71 La Fea Mas Bella (Tue.) UNI 5.40 72 What About Brian ABC 5.38 73 “Bruce Almighty” FOX 5.30 74 Day Break ABC 5.10 75 La Fea Mas Bella (Wed.) UNI 5.01

76 La Fea Mas Bella (Mon.) UNI 4.84 Standoff FOX 4.84 78 “Madonna: The Confessions Tour Live From London” NBC 4.61 79 La Fea Mas Bella (Fri.) UNI 4.58 80 7th Heaven CW 4.22

81 Gilmore Girls CW 4.20 82 Friday Night Smackdown! CW 4.13 83 The Nine ABC 4.10 84 America’s Next Top Model CW 4.07 85 Reba CW 3.89

86 Mundo de Fieras (Tue.) UNI 3.81 87 Mundo de Fieras (Mon.) UNI 3.47 88 Everybody Hates Chris CW 3.38 89 Heridas de Amor (Tue.) UNI 3.34 90 “Premios TV y Novelas” UNI 3.29

91 Mundo de Fieras (Wed.) UNI 3.25 92 La Fea Mas Bella (Thu.) UNI 3.18 93 Heridas de Amor (Mon.) UNI 3.14 94 Cristina (Mon.) UNI 3.09 95 Mundo de Fieras (Fri.) UNI 3.06

96 All of Us CW 3.00 97 Heridas de Amor (Fri.) UNI 2.98 98 Heridas de Amor (Wed.) UNI 2.82 99 Girlfriends CW 2.81 100 Sabado Gigante UNI 2.69

101 Don Francisco Presenta UNI 2.66 Reba CW 2.66 103 Veronica Mars CW 2.57 104 Ver Para Creer (Tue.) UNI 2.54 105 One Tree Hill CW 2.53

106 “Noche de Estrellas” UNI 2.48 107 The Game CW 2.42 108 America’s Top Model CW 2.32 109 Casos de la Vida Real UNI 2.28 110 Mundo de Fieras (Thu.) UNI 2.18

111 “RBD en Concierto” UNI 2.12 112 Smallville CW 2.01 113 Heridas de Amor (Thu.) UNI 1.83 114 Casos Familia UNI 1.72 115 Supernatural CW 1.39

116 Decisiones (Tue.) TEL 0.97 117 Decisiones (Wed.) TEL 0.94 118 Viuda de Blanco (Tue.) TEL 0.89 Viuda de Blanco (Wed.) TEL 0.89 120 Decisiones (Fri.) TEL 0.83

Marina (Wed.) TEL 0.83 122 Viuda de Blanco (Mon.) TEL 0.82 123 Decisiones (Mon.) TEL 0.80 Cinemundo Premier TEL 0.80 125 Marina (Tue.) TEL 0.79

126 Festival de Cine TEL 0.78 127 Amor Mio (Tue.) TEL 0.77 128 Amor Mio (Wed.) TEL 0.75 129 Marina (Fri.) TEL 0.73 130 Amores (Tue.) TEL 0.71

131 “Pepe Aguilar Concert” TEL 0.70 132 Marina (Mon.) TEL 0.69 Viuda de Blanco (Fri.) TEL 0.69 134 Amor Mio (Mon.) TEL 0.67 135 Amores (Wed.) TEL 0.66

Amores (Mon.) TEL 0.66 137 Amor Mio (Fri.) TEL 0.65 Festival de Cine TEL 0.65 139 Seguro y Urgente TEL 0.58 140 Cinemundo del Sabado TEL 0.53

141 Vas o No Vas TEL 0.51 142 Amores (Fri.) TEL 0.48 143 Que Hay de Nuevo TEL 0.25

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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 12.22 12.77

ABC 10.62 11.65

NBC 9.74 10.13

FOX 8.35 8.17

UNI 3.29 3.31

CW 3.13 3.41

TEL 2.30 3.30

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