ABC has best Tuesday of season

'House' helps Fox carry night in young adults

By RICK KISSELL

One week from its finale, ABC reality smash "Dancing With the Stars" set a season high for its results show Tuesday, teaming with Charlie Brown holiday specials and a "Bachelor" special to give the net its best showing on the night this season. ABC enjoyed its strongest Tuesday of the season, although thanks to "House," Fox again carried the night among young adults.

According to preliminary nationals from Nielsen that include same-day DVR playback, the "Dancing With the Stars" results show surged to a 4.9 rating/12 share in adults 18-49 and 20.7 million viewers overall — up nearly 20% week to week and standing as the night's most-watched program overall. The Alphabet net was also stronger than usual both in the 8 o'clock hour with a pair of "Charlie Brown" Thanksgiving specs (averaging a 3.4/9 in 18-49, 10.2 million viewers overall) and at 10 with its spec "Bachelor: After the Final Rose" (4.1/11 in 18-49, 12.8 million viewers overall). "Final Rose" won the 10 o'clock hour, was up sharply over the franchise's most recent wrap-up episode last May, and also gave the net its strongest performance in the hour this season.

At Fox, "Bones" (3.0/8 in 18-49, 8.7 million viewers overall) kicked off the night with a third-place finish, and "House" (6.8/16 in 18-49, 16.8 million viewers overall) surged from there, easily winning the hour in 18-49. Both shows continue to outperform their averages at this point last season.

CBS was again strong at 8 with "NCIS" (first-place 3.7/10 in 18-49, 17.4 million viewers overall) and solid enough at 9 o'clock with "The Unit" (3.0/7 in 18-49, 10.7 million viewers overall), before slipping at 10 with rookie drama "Cane" (2.0/5 in 18-49, 7.6 million viewers overall). "Cane" was up a bit week to week, perhaps due to a lack of drama-series competition on ABC.

NBC was down week to week with its two-hour "Biggest Loser" (3.1/8 in 18-49, 7.5 million viewers overall) and "Law & Order: Special Victims Unit" (3.9/10 in 18-49, 11.7 million viewers overall). "SVU," which failed to win the hour for the first time this season, lost a chunk of its core young, female audience to the "Bachelor" spec on ABC.

CW's "Beauty and the Geek" (1.2/3 in 18-49, 2.6 million viewers overall), while "Reaper" aired a repeat (0.8/2 in 18-49, 1.8 million viewers overall).

Preliminary 18-49 averages for the night: Fox, 4.9/13; ABC, 4.1/11; NBC, 3.4/9; CBS, 2.9/8; Univision, 1.7/4; CW, 1.0/3.

In total viewers: ABC, 14.6 million; Fox, 12.8 million; CBS, 11.9 million; NBC, 8.9 million; Univision, 3.8 million; CW, 2.2 million.