nielsen ratings
(fast national numbers for monday, december 12, 2011)

Here are the highlights of the 14 ad-sustained programs that aired in primetime on the broadcast networks last night:

CBS (12.02 million viewers, #1; adults 18-49: 3.6, #1) held onto the top spot on Monday with a special "2 Broke Girls" (12.46 million viewers, #3; adults 18-49: 4.1, #2), a repeat of "2 Broke Girls" (10.25 million viewers, #5; adults 18-49: 3.3, #5) and the respective fall finales of "Two and a Half Men" (14.71 million viewers, #1; adults 18-49: 4.6, #1), "Mike & Molly" (12.83 million viewers, #2; adults 18-49: 3.9, #3) and "Hawaii Five-0" (10.93 million viewers, #4; adults 18-49: 2.8, #7).

NBC (7.08 million viewers, #2; adults 18-49: 2.6, #2) then jumped into second place with the return of "Fear Factor" (8.69 million viewers, #6; adults 18-49: 3.2, #6), a second hour of "Fear Factor" (8.52 million viewers, #7; adults 18-49: 3.5, #4) and a new "Rock Center With Brian Williams" (4.04 million viewers, #12; adults 18-49: 1.1, #11). Overall, said lineup delivered the Peacock's best Monday numbers of the season.

Next up was FOX (5.71 million viewers, #3; adults 18-49: 1.8, #3) with a new "Terra Nova" (6.99 million viewers, #8; adults 18-49: 2.1, #8) followed by a repeat of "House" (4.42 million viewers, #10; adults 18-49: 1.4, #10).

Meanwhile, ABC (4.29 million viewers, #4; adults 18-49: 1.1, #4) was out of the hunt with a repeat of "I Want a Dog for Christmas, Charlie Brown" (5.30 million viewers, #9; adults 18-49: 1.9, #9), a new "You Deserve It" (3.40 million viewers, #13; adults 18-49: 0.9, #13) and a repeat of "Castle" (4.16 million viewers, #11; adults 18-49: 1.0, #12).

And finally, encores of "Hart of Dixie" (1.42 million viewers, #14; adults 18-49: 0.4, #15) and another "Hart of Dixie" (1.31 million viewers, #15; adults 18-49: 0.5, #14) on The CW (1.36 million viewers, #5; adults 18-49: 0.5, #5) closed out the night. In the netlet's target demo (women 18-34), "Dixie" posted a 0.5 rating at 8:00/7:00c and a 0.7 rating at 9:00/8:00c.

Week-to-week changes (adults 18-49):
+22.22% - Rock Center With Brian Williams
-4.55% - Terra Nova (vs. 11/28/11)
-6.67% - Hawaii Five-0
-7.14% - Mike & Molly
-8.00% - Two and a Half Men
-10.00% - You Deserve It
-10.87% - 2 Broke Girls

Year-to-year changes (adults 18-49):
+10.81% - 2 Broke Girls (vs. How I Met Your Mother)
+6.06% - Fear Factor - 9:00 (vs. The Sing-Off)
+5.41% - Mike & Molly
+4.55% - Two and a Half Men
-3.03% - Fear Factor - 8:00 (vs. The Sing-Off)
-3.45% - Hawaii Five-0
-12.50% - Terra Nova (vs. House (Repeat))
-15.38% - Rock Center With Brian Williams (vs. Chase (Repeat))
-18.18% - You Deserve It (vs. Mariah Carey: Merry Christmas to You)

In late-night metered market ratings (via NBC's press release):

In Nielsen's 56 metered markets, household results were: "The Tonight Show with Jay Leno," 2.8/7; CBS's "Late Show with David Letterman," 2.7/7; and ABC's combo of "Nightline," 3.0/7; and "Jimmy Kimmel Live," 1.5/4.

In the 25 markets with Local People Meters, adult 18-49 results were: "The Tonight Show with Jay Leno," 1.0/4; "Late Show," 0.8/3; "Nightline," 1.0/4; and "Jimmy Kimmel Live," 0.6/3.

At 12:35 a.m., "Late Night with Jimmy Fallon" (1.4/5 in metered-market households with an encore) tied CBS's first-run "Late Late Show with Craig Ferguson" (1.4/5). In the 25 markets with Local People Meters, "Late Night" (0.6/4 in 18-49 with an encore) topped "Late Late Show" (0.4/3).

At 1:35 a.m., "Last Call with Carson Daly" averaged a 0.8/3 in metered-market households with an encore and a 0.4/3 in adults 18-49 in the 25 markets with local people meters.

Here are the highlights of the 14 ad-sustained programs that aired in primetime on the broadcast networks one year ago (12/13/10):

CBS (11.55 million viewers, #1; adults 18-49: 3.5, #1) was the network to beat as its lineup of "How I Met Your Mother" (10.10 million viewers, #4; adults 18-49: 3.7, #T2), "Rules of Engagement" (10.08 million viewers, #5; adults 18-49: 3.3, #T4), "Two and a Half Men" (14.39 million viewers, #1; adults 18-49: 4.4, #1), "Mike & Molly" (12.49 million viewers, #2; adults 18-49: 3.7, #T2) and "Hawaii Five-0" (11.13 million viewers, #3; adults 18-49: 2.9, #6) all posted week-to-week gains.

The silver then went to NBC (7.81 million viewers, #2; adults 18-49: 2.6, #2) with a series high for "The Sing-Off" (9.43 million viewers, #6; adults 18-49: 3.3, #T4) followed by a repeat of "Chase" (4.57 million viewers, #11; adults 18-49: 1.3, #9).

Next up was FOX (6.67 million viewers, #3; adults 18-49: 2.1, #3) with repeats of "House" (7.36 million viewers, #7; adults 18-49: 2.4, #7) and "Lie to Me" (5.99 million viewers, #8; adults 18-49: 1.9, #8).

Meanwhile, ABC (4.62 million viewers, #4; adults 18-49: 1.0, #4) offered up its struggling "Skating With the Stars" (3.77 million viewers, #12; adults 18-49: 0.8, #12) alongside the holiday special "Mariah Carey: Merry Christmas to You" (4.89 million viewers, #10; adults 18-49: 1.1, #11) and a repeat of "Castle" (5.20 million viewers, #9; adults 18-49: 1.2, #10).

And finally, repeats of "The Vampire Diaries" (1.41 million viewers, #13; adults 18-49: 0.5, #T13) and a second "The Vampire Diaries" (1.23 million viewers, #14; adults 18-49: 0.5, #T13) on The CW (1.32 million viewers, #5; adults 18-49: 0.5, #5) rounded out the evening.

Week-to-week changes (adults 18-49): The Sing-Off (17.90%), Mike & Molly (8.80%), Hawaii Five-0 (7.40%), Two and a Half Men (7.30%), Rules of Engagement (6.50%), How I Met Your Mother (2.80%), Skating With the Stars (-20.00%)

In late-night metered market ratings, ABC's "Nightline" (3.0/7) took top honors ahead of CBS's "Letterman" (2.9/7) and NBC's "Leno" (2.9/7). Rounding out the night then were "Kimmel" (1.4/4) on ABC "Ferguson" (1.4/5) on CBS and "Fallon" (1.3/4) and "Daly" (0.7/3) on NBC.

Source: Nielsen Media Research