Week of December 26th/2005-January 1st/2006 complete ratings

from the L.A. Times

William George Ferguson...

William George Ferguson...

CBS closes 2005 with a bang: 7 shows in Top 10

The final week of 2005 was a predictably quiet one for prime-time TV.
With most viewers caught up in the holiday swirl, networks hewed to
their seasonal mix of series repeats, football match-ups and a
smattering of New Year's specials.

With seven of the top 10 programs, CBS hauled away the prize as
most-watched network for the week ending Jan. 1, according to figures
released this week by Nielsen Media Research.

Leading the way was a Thursday repeat of "CSI: Crime Scene
Investigation," the week's No. 1 program with 17.6 million viewers.

Overall, CBS averaged 10.1 million viewers for the week, trailed by
ABC (8.1 million), NBC (7 million) and Fox (5.7 million).

ABC was tops among viewers ages 18 to 49, the demographic most prized
by advertisers. The network waved goodbye to "Monday Night Football"
(the series moves to ESPN next season) with a New England Patriots-New
York Jets contest that was the week's No. 2 program in the 18-49
demographic and among total viewers (a relatively tame 14.4 million).

On Saturday, the prime-time portion of ABC's "Dick Clark's New Year's
Rockin' Eve" — featuring Clark's first TV appearance since suffering a
stroke in December 2004 — led its time slot (7.7 million) but faced
surprisingly tough competition from a repeat of CBS' "48 Hours
Mystery" (7.3 million).

Season to date, ABC is flat in 18 to 49, while its main rivals have
experienced declines. But the network hasn't quite been able to catch
No. 1 CBS, which has an ever-so-thin advantage of one-tenth of a
"demo" rating point over ABC. NBC and Fox are tied for third.

On basic cable, football dominated; the week's top five most-watched
programs were pro or college games on ESPN. Sunday's Rams-Cowboys
contest was the week's top draw (9.1 million viewers), followed
closely by Saturday's Giants-Raiders game (8.4 million).