SUNDAY NIGHT FOOTBALL RETURNS TO NO. 1

NBC’s Sunday Night Football was back on top of the Nielsen ratings again for last week after being overtaken for two consecutive weeks by ABC’s Dancing with the Stars. But football was all she wrote for NBC, whose highest-ranked primetime entertainment show, Law and Order: SVU, came in at No. 42. The network’s evening newscast, however, widened the gap between itself and ABC’s. During election week, NBC Nightly News with Brian Williams attracted 9.5 million viewers versus 7.9 million for ABC World News with Diane Sawyer. The CBS Evening News with Katie Couric, although increasing its numbers because of election coverage, remained a distant third with 6.4 million viewers. CBS continued to pull the highest ratings among all viewers, ending the week with a 6.6 rating and an 11 share. But ABC, thanks to the two Dancing episodes on Monday and Tuesday and the CMA Awards special on Wednesday, was a close second with an average 6.3/11. NBC was a distant third with an average 4.7/8, while Fox pulled up the rear with a 4.3/7. (Nevertheless, among the key demo of adults 18-49, Fox ranked first, followed by ABC, CBS, and NBC in that order.)

The top ten shows of the week according to Nielsen Research:1. Sunday Night Football, NBC, 12.8/20; 2. Dancing with the Stars (Monday), ABC, 12.7/19; 3. NCIS, CBS, 12.0/19; 4. Dancing with the Stars (Tuesday), ABC, 10.8/17; 5. Fox NFL Sunday Post-Game, Fox, 9.8/16; 5. NFL Sunday Pre-Kickoff, NBC, 9.8/15; 7. CMA Awards, ABC, 9.7/16; 8. NCIS: Los Angeles, CBS, 9.4/15; 9. The Mentalist, CBS, 8.5/15; 10. Two and a Half Men, CBS, 8.3/12.