SUNDAY NIGHT FOOTBALL GOES OUT WITH A BANG

NBC said goodbye to its top-rated program on Sunday as Sunday Night Football played its final game of the season, averaging 15.79 million viewers, according to Nielsen’s overnight figures. Next Sunday, the network resumes airing back-to-back episodes of its news magazine Dateline in the 7:00 p.m. and 8:00 p.m. hours, followed by the two-hour series premiere of The Cops. (The show moves into its regular time period, Mondays at 9:00 p.m., on Jan. 17.) Sunday also saw ratings for ABC’s Desperate Housewives leap to 12.10 million viewers. ABC had aired movies in the same time period during the previous two weeks, the annual interval when viewing declines because of the holidays.