NEW YORK (AP) - In a week dominated by reruns and holiday distractions, CBS maintained its winning ways, beating second-place Fox by nearly 2 million viewers.
CBS has won every week but one in the current TV season.
Meanwhile, the massive Northeastern snowstorm denied NBC its usual Sunday prime-time powerhouse with the cancellation of the Philadelphia Eagles-Minnesota Vikings game. It was rescheduled for Tuesday, airing too late to help NBC in last week's Nielsen ratings report. NBC, ranked third in viewers for the season to date, slipped to fourth in the Monday-through-Sunday measurement period.
Starting with the week's most-watched show, "NCIS," CBS claimed 14 of the top 20 shows. NBC had three, including "Football Night in America," which aired Sunday as usual. Fox had one show, and ABC was shut out, according to Nielsen Co. figures released Tuesday.
Univision nabbed 19th and 20th place with two editions of its hit telenovela "Soy Tu Duena" ("Woman of Steel"), which concluded a seven-month run Monday night by sealing its status as the most-watched novela ever aired in the U.S., according to Univision.
For the week, CBS averaged 7.1 million viewers (4.5 rating, 8 share), followed by Fox with 5.2 million (3.1 rating, 6 share), ABC's 4.9 million (2.9 rating, 5 share) and NBC's 4.7 million (2.9 rating, 5 share). ION Television had 1.5 million (0.9 rating, 2 share) and the CW had 1.1 million (0.7 rating, 1 share).
Among the Spanish-language networks, Univision led with a prime-time average of 3 million viewers (1.5 rating, 3 share), while Telemundo had 940,000 viewers (0.5 rating, 1 share), TeleFutura had 890,000 (0.4 rating, 1 share), and both Estrella and Azteca had 200,000 (0.1 rating, 0 share).
A ratings point represents 1,159,000 households, or 1 percent of the nation's estimated 115.9 million TV homes. The share is the percentage of in-use televisions tuned to a given show.
For the week of Dec. 20-26, the top 10 shows, their networks and viewerships:
"NCIS," CBS, 12.25 million; "The OT," Fox, 11.86 million; "60 Minutes," CBS, 11.53 million; "NCIS: Los Angeles," CBS, 11.28 million; "Two and a Half Men," CBS, 9.22 million; "Sing Off," NBC, 8.61 million; "Undercover Boss," CBS, 8.38 million; "The Mentalist," CBS, 7.96 million; "The Big Bang Theory," CBS, 7.93 million; "Hawaii Five-O," CBS, 7.67 million.
Top Nielsen programs for Dec. 20-26
NEW YORK (AP) - Prime-time viewership numbers compiled by the Nielsen Co. for Dec. 20-26. Listings include the week's ranking and viewership.
"NCIS," CBS, 12.25 million.
"The OT," Fox, 11.86 million.
"60 Minutes," CBS, 11.53 million.
"NCIS: Los Angeles," CBS, 11.28 million.
"Two and a Half Men," CBS, 9.22 million.
"The Sing Off," NBC, 8.61 million.
"Undercover Boss," CBS, 8.38 million.
"The Mentalist," CBS, 7.96 million.
"The Big Bang Theory," CBS, 7.93 million.
"Hawaii Five-O," CBS, 7.67 million.
"Football Night in America," NBC, 7.39 million.
"Mike & Molly," CBS, 7.35 million.
"The Mentalist" (Sunday), CBS, 7.30 million.
"Minute to Win It" (Tuesday), NBC, 7.04 million.
"CSI: Crime Scene Investigation," CBS, 6.99 million.
"Criminal Minds," CBS, 6.89 million.
"CSI: Miami" (Sunday), CBS, 6.79 million.
"The Good Wife," CBS, 6.72 million.
"Soy Tu Duena" (Wednesday), Univision, 6.69 million.
"Soy Tu Duena" (Wednesday), Univision, 6.65 million.
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ABC is owned by The Walt Disney Co. CBS is owned by CBS Corp. CW is a joint venture of Warner Bros. Entertainment and CBS Corp. Fox is a unit of News Corp. NBC and Telemundo are owned by General Electric Co. ION Television is owned by ION Media Networks. Univision and TeleFutura are owned by Broadcasting Media Partners Inc. Azteca America is a wholly owned subsidiary of TV Azteca S.A. de C.V.
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