CBS takes another Thursday

Network edges out ABC in young adults

By RICK KISSELL

CBS made it three-for-three on Thursdays in the November sweep, again edging out ABC for the night's lead among young adults. NBC, meanwhile, saw more troubling declines for rookie comedy "Kath & Kim," though the net rallied to win at 10 o'clock behind "ER."

According to preliminary nationals from Nielsen, CBS started the night a winner as usual with "Survivor" (4.1/11 in 18-49, 13.0 million viewers overall), which rallied from its season low of the previous week. "CSI" followed (5.1/12 in 18-49, 18.9 million viewers overall) with a second-place finish in 18-49, and led its hour once again in both adults 25-54 and total viewers. Closing out the night, "Eleventh Hour" ran second in most demos (3.1/8 in 18-49, 11.7 million viewers overall).

At ABC, "Ugly Betty" (2.8/7 in 18-49, 9.2 million viewers overall) placed second at 8 o'clock, and "Grey's Anatomy" (6.0/14 in 18-49, 15.8 million viewers overall) was in line with its previous week's performance to win in 18-49 at 9 o'clock. "Life on Mars" (2.9/8 in 18-49, 8.9 million viewers overall) also came in at last week's level, running third.

(Note that ABC's preliminary numbers include averages for NFL football on its affiliate in Boston.)

NBC started on a solid note as "My Name Is Earl" (2.8/8 in 18-49, 7.0 million viewers overall) matched its season high, but "Kath & Kim" cratered at 8:30 (2.1/5 in 18-49, 5.1 million viewers overall), retaining just 75% of its lead-in. And that made it difficult for "The Office" (4.0/9 in 18-49, 8.2 million viewers overall) and "30 Rock" (3.6/8 in 18-49, 7.5 million viewers overall), which were both below recent levels. At 10, though, auds returned to "ER" (first-place 3.7/10 in 18-49, 9.8 million viewers overall) for a special guest appearance by Anthony Edwards, whose Mark Greene character had died years ago; this was the show's best demo score in five weeks and its largest overall audience in 13 months.

Fox had another modest night with two hours of "Kitchen Nightmares," averaging a 2.2/6 in 18-49 and 4.8 million viewers overall from 8 to 10 p.m. -- but was up a tick week to week. The net tied in 18-49 with Univision, which was airing the "Latin Grammy Awards."

CW's "Smallville" (1.7/4 in 18-49, 4.4 million viewers overall) and "Supernatural" (1.6/4 in 18-49, 3.9 million viewers overall) were both solid, though they figure to come down a bit since these preliminaries include averages for NFL football on the net's affiliate in New York.

Preliminary 18-49 averages for the night: CBS, 4.1/10; ABC, 3.9/10; NBC, 3.3/8; Fox and Univision, 2.2/6; CW, 1.6/4.

In total viewers: CBS, 14.5 million; ABC, 11.2 million; NBC, 7.9 million; Univision, 5.5 million; Fox, 4.8 million; CW, 4.1 million.