nielsen ratings
(fast national numbers for monday, december 26, 2011)

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

[EDITOR'S NOTE: Due to local sports preemptions, Fast Nationals for ABC and NBC are inflated.]

CBS (6.62 million viewers, #1; adults 18-49: 1.9, #1) took home top honors on Monday with its all-repeat mix of "How I Met Your Mother" (5.93 million viewers, #6; adults 18-49: 1.8, #4), "2 Broke Girls" (6.18 million viewers, #4; adults 18-49: 1.9, #3), "Two and a Half Men" (8.09 million viewers, #1; adults 18-49: 2.4, #1), "Mike & Molly" (7.35 million viewers, #2; adults 18-49: 2.1, #2) and "Hawaii Five-0" (6.10 million viewers, #5; adults 18-49: 1.6, #T6).

NBC (5.04 million viewers, #2; adults 18-49: 1.4, #2) then claimed the silver with a new "Who's Still Standing?" (6.90 million viewers, #3; adults 18-49: 1.7, #5), a repeat of "Fear Factor" (4.75 million viewers, #7; adults 18-49: 1.6, #T6) and a new "Rock Center With Brian Williams" (3.46 million viewers, #10; adults 18-49: 0.9, #T9).

Next up was ABC (3.76 million viewers, #3; adults 18-49: 0.9, #3) and its lineup of "Rudolph's Shiny New Year" (3.26 million viewers, #11; adults 18-49: 0.9, #T9), the season finale of "You Deserve It" (3.64 million viewers, #9; adults 18-49: 1.0, #8) and a repeat of "Castle" (4.37 million viewers, #8; adults 18-49: 0.9, #T9).

Meanwhile, FOX (2.86 million viewers, #4; adults 18-49: 0.8, #4) offered up a repeat of "House" (2.96 million viewers, #12; adults 18-49: 0.9, #T9) and a second "House" (2.77 million viewers, #13; adults 18-49: 0.8, #13).

And finally, the feature "The Education of Charlie Banks" (0.74 million viewers, #14; adults 18-49: 0.3, #14) on The CW (0.74 million viewers, #5; adults 18-49: 0.3, #5) closed out the evening. In the netlet's target demo (women 18-34), the film posted a 0.4 rating.

Week-to-week changes (adults 18-49):
+13.33% - Who's Still Standing?
-9.09% - You Deserve It
-25.00% - Rock Center With Brian Williams

Year-to-year changes (adults 18-49):
+112.50% - Who's Still Standing? (vs. Chuck (Repeat))
+28.57% - Rock Center With Brian Williams (vs. Chuck (Repeat))
-41.18% - You Deserve It (vs. Charlie and the Chocolate Factory (Repeat))

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," 2.3/5 with an encore telecast; CBS's "Late Show with David Letterman," 2.0/5 with an encore; and ABC's combo of "Nightline," 2.5/6; and "Jimmy Kimmel Live," 1.2/3 with an encore.

In the 25 markets with Local People Meters, adult 18-49 results were: "The Tonight Show with Jay Leno," 0.6/2 with an encore; "Late Show," 0.5/2 with an encore; "Nightline," 0.8/3; and "Jimmy Kimmel Live," 0.4/2 with an encore.

At 12:35 a.m., "Late Night with Jimmy Fallon" (1.2/4 in metered-market households with an encore) beat CBS's "Late Late Show with Craig Ferguson" (1.0/3 with an encore). In the 25 markets with Local People Meters, "Late Night" (0.5/3 in 18-49 with an encore) topped "Late Late Show" (0.4/2 with an encore).

At 1:35 a.m., "Last Call with Carson Daly" averaged a 0.7/3 in metered-market households with an encore and a 0.2/2 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 (12/27/10):

CBS (7.64 million viewers, #1; adults 18-49: 1.9, #1) won the repeat sweepstakes on Monday with its lineup of "How I Met Your Mother" (6.43 million viewers, #4; adults 18-49: 1.9, #3), "Rules of Engagement" (6.04 million viewers, #5; adults 18-49: 1.7, #T4), "Two and a Half Men" (9.70 million viewers, #1; adults 18-49: 2.4, #1),"Mike & Molly" (8.24 million viewers, #2; adults 18-49: 2.0, #2) and "Hawaii Five-0" (7.71 million viewers, #3; adults 18-49: 1.7, #T4).

ABC (5.54 million viewers, #2; adults 18-49: 1.6, #2) then nabbed the silver with "Charlie and the Chocolate Factory" (5.46 million viewers, #7; adults 18-49: 1.7, #T4) followed by "Castle" (5.70 million viewers, #6; adults 18-49: 1.5, #7).

Next up was FOX (3.48 million viewers, #3; adults 18-49: 1.0, #3) with repeats of "House" (4.04 million viewers, #8; adults 18-49: 1.2, #8) and "Lie to Me" (2.92 million viewers, #10; adults 18-49: 0.8, #T9).

Meanwhile, NBC (2.74 million viewers, #4; adults 18-49: 0.8, #4) was out of the hunt with its marathon of "Chuck" (3.29 million viewers, #9; adults 18-49: 0.8, #T9), another "Chuck" (2.60 million viewers, #11; adults 18-49: 0.7, #T11) and yet another "Chuck" (2.33 million viewers, #12; adults 18-49: 0.7, #T11).

And finally, repeats of "90210" (0.99 million viewers, #13; adults 18-49: 0.4, #13) and "Gossip Girl" (0.76 million viewers, #14; adults 18-49: 0.3, #14) on The CW (0.88 million viewers, #5; adults 18-49: 0.3, #5) closed out the evening.

In late-night metered market ratings, ABC's "Nightline" (3.0/7) took top honors ahead of CBS's "Letterman" (2.6/6) and NBC's "Leno" (2.3/5). Rounding out the night then were "Kimmel" (1.4/4) on ABC "Ferguson" (1.2/4) on CBS and "Fallon" (1.0/3) and "Daly" (0.7/3) on NBC.

Source: Nielsen Media Research