-Percent Change From the Year-Ago Evening (Tuesday, November 20, 2007):

Note: The fast affiliate results for Tuesday will be posted at PIFeedback by 12 p.m. ET. Go to the website, click on Ratings Box (the first category), then Last Night’s Results, and Tuesday, November 18, 2008.   

NCIS (CBS), Dancing With the Stars (ABC), The Mentalist (CBS)

It was another overnight Tuesday victory for CBS care of its combination of NCIS (#1: 10.6 rating/16 share), compatible The Mentalist (#2: 9.9/15) and relocated Without a Trace (#1: 8.2/14), which built from year-ago failed occupant Cane (5.2/ 8 on Nov. 20, 2007) by a hefty 58 percent. Tuesday is one of the many nights CBS has absolutely no worries about.

Next was ABC care of the Dancing With the Stars Recap Show (repeat, #2, 8.3/12), the live Dancing With the Stars Results Show (#1: 11.6/17) and struggling Eli Stone (#3, 5.2/ 9), which held only 44 percent of the 9:30 p.m. portion of DWTS (11.7/17). Amazing how well the encore telecast of Dancing With the Stars does in the 8 p.m. hour, isn’t it? As for the show itself…Brooke Burke, Lance Bass and Warren Sapp are now officially in the final three. Although Brooke seemed like a shoo-in just last week, don’t count Lance out by any means.

Fox’s House finished third in the overnights, with a 7.3/11 from 8-9 p.m. But that should still be more than enough to win the time period among adults 18-49. Lead-out Fringe, which is not exactly a breakout hit, dipped to a 5.5/ 8 at 9 p.m. -- 27 percent below the 8:30 p.m. portion of House (7.5/11). Fringe, of course, will benefit once American Idol returns in January.

NBC’s The Biggest Loser averaged a typical 4.7/ 7 in the overnights from 8-10 p.m., building in each half-hour as follows:

While this may not sound significant, The Biggest Loser always manages to generate some interest among key adults 18-49. Next on NBC was veteran Law & Order: SVU, with finished second with a 7.2/12 in the overnights at 10 p.m. -- 20 percent below the year-ago 9.0/15 (on Nov. 20, 2007). Even so, that will still be more than enough for SVU to dominate among adults 18-49.

The CW capped off the evening with beginning-to-fade 90210 (2.0/ 3), which was still five percent above year-ago occupant Beauty and the Geek (1.9/ 3), and Privileged (#5: 1.3/ 2), which was seven percent below a repeat of Reaper on the year-ago evening (1.4/ 2). As for 90210, Kelly and Brenda are at it again. Some things never change!

Based on ratings for the week of Nov. 10, Cartoon Network built year-to-year by 21 percent in kids 2-11 (766,000), 24 percent in kids 6-11 (535,000) and 24 percent among tweens 9-14 (443,000). Adult Swim, meanwhile, finished first on Sunday, Nov. 16 among all ad-supported basic cable networks in total day delivery of adults 18-34 (442,000), adults 18-24 (275,000) and men 18-24 (190,000). Led by the debut of animated special Robot Chicken: Star Wars II, Adult Swim was up by as much as 24 percent in adults 18-24 from one year earlier.

What follows is the top tier in syndication nationally for the week of Nov. 3 based on households (AA – average audience), followed by any highlights of note:

Wheel of Fortune (CBS Television Distribution): 6.9 rating

-NBC Universal’s Deal or No Deal remains the top-rated new first-run strip, with a 1.8 rating in households (up six percent from one week earlier), 2.66 million viewers (up five percent), a 1.0 rating among women 18-49 (up 25 percent) and a 1.1 in women 25-54 (up 10 percent).

-Two and a Half Men has now led the category of off-network sitcoms for 55 consecutive weeks (without the benefit of a cable run), with an also first-place genre finish again this week in adults 25-54 (3.2), women 18-49 (2.8), women 25-54 (3.2) and men 25-54 (3.2).

-Warner Bros.’ The Bonnie Hunt Show matched its series high in households (0.9), which also equaling last week’s performance among women 18-34 (0.3), women 18-49 (0.4) and women 25-54 (0.5).

-TMZ, also from Warner Bros., topped all syndicated newsmagazines in women 18-34 (1.5), adults 18-34 (1.4) and men 18-34 (1.3) for the 31st consecutive week.

-CBS Television Distribution’s The Doctors rose to a series-high 1.6 in households -- up six percent from one week earlier. 

Consistent CBS extended its winning streak in households and total viewers to seven consecutive weeks, while also dominating among adults 18-49 and adults 25-54. NBC and Fox shared the top spot in adults 18-34, but both networks were down across the board year-to-year (with losses for Fox more considerable). Excluding adults 18-34, ABC finished second overall, with its largest audience since premiere week. Female driven the CW ranked fifth, while last-place MyNetworkTV was on the plus side in households, total viewers and adults 25-54. Of note on MyNetworkTV was Friday Night Smackdown!, which rose to a record high performance on the network in households (2.2 rating), total viewers (3.7 million), adults 18-49 (1.3 rating), adults 25-54 (1.4), men 18-34 (1.6), men 18-49 (1.7) and men 25-54 (1.9).  

Included this week -- the second full week of the November 2008 sweeps -- was The 42nd Annual CMA Awards on ABC, President Elect Barack Obama on CBS’ 60 Minutes, Jennifer Aniston on NBC’s 30 Rock, and the highly publicized fire on Desperate Housewives. Unlike the not so distant past when the sweep periods were riddled with special programming events, there was very little out of the ordinary.

Here are the final national ratings for the week of November 10, 2008 (with percent change versus the comparable year-ago week in parentheses), followed by a listing of the new series results (in order of total viewers), the sophomore series report card, and the top 30 rated programs of the week.   

CBS: 7.7 rating/12 share (no change), ABC: 6.7/11 (- 1), NBC: 4.8/ 8 (- 8), Fox: 4.1/ 6 (-23), CW: 1.4/ 2 (-26), MNTV: 1.0/ 2 (+43)

CBS: 12.31 million (+ 3), ABC: 10.47 (+ 1), NBC: 7.74 (- 6), Fox: 6.78 (-21), CW: 2.09 (-30), MNTV: 1.54 (+39)

CBS: 3.3 rating/9 share (no change), ABC: 3.1/ 8 (- 6), NBC: 2.9/ 8 (- 6), Fox: 2.7/ 7 (-21), CW: 1.0/ 2 (-17), MNTV: 0.5/ 1 (no change)

CBS: 4.3/10 (no change), ABC: 3.7/ 9 (- 8), NBC: 3.2/ 8 (- 9), Fox: 2.9/ 7 (-19), CW: 0.9/ 2 (-25), MNTV: 0.6/ 1 (+20)

NBC: 2.6/ 8 (- 7), Fox: 2.6/ 8 (-21), ABC: 2.3/ 7 (-12), CBS: 2.2/ 7 (no change), CW: 1.2/ 3 (- 8), MNTV: 0.4/ 1 (-20)

Excluding repeats of In Harm’s Way, Valentine and Easy Money on the CW.

Retention out of CSI -- 61 percent in both total viewers and adults 18-49 this week -- remains a future obstacle for Eleventh Hour. 

Retention out of Two and a Half Men is also lacking, with only 65 percent in total viewers and 57 percent among adults 18-49.

The move to Wednesday out of Lost in January seems like a better fit for Life on Mars than airing out of the female oriented Grey’s Anatomy.

Just picked-up for the remainder of the season with an order for seven additional episodes (and two more scripts on top of that). If the scripts go to episodes, that’s a full 22 for Gary Unmarried.

NBC may want to rethink the full season pick-up for Knight Rider.

See you in Mr. TV’s 5th annual listing of TV Turkeys next week, Kath & Kim. An absolute abomination!

Picked-up for five additional episodes, bringing the freshman season order for Privileged to 18.

(Pre-empted this week: Pushing Daisies (ABC), Private Practice (ABC), Dirty Sexy Money (ABC)

60 Minutes (CBS): 25.10 million, Sunday Night Football, Dallas at Washington (NBC): 19.27, CSI (CBS): 19.05, NCIS (CBS): 18.75, Dancing With the Stars – Monday (ABC): 18.69, Desperate Housewives (ABC): 16.84, Dancing With the Stars Results Show (ABC) and The Mentalist (CBS): 16.52 each, The 42nd Annual CMA Awards (ABC): 15.90, Grey’s Anatomy (ABC): 14.90, Criminal Minds (CBS): 14.83, Two and a Half Men (CBS): 14.50, CSI: Miami (CBS): 13.81, House (Fox): 13.06, Survivor: Gabon (CBS): 12.88, Cold Case (CBS): 12.28, Without a Trace (CBS): 12.23, The Amazing Race 13 (CBS): 12.13, Sunday Night Pre-Kick (NBC): 11.92, Eleventh Hour (CBS): 11.63, CSI: NY (CBS): 11.62, Ghost Whisperer (CBS): 11.57, Bones (Fox): 10.87, Samantha Who? (ABC): 10.40, Dancing With the Stars Recap (ABC): 10.32, Extreme Makeover: Home Edition (ABC): 10.31, The Unit (CBS): 10.23, The Big Bang Theory (CBS): 10.01, Brothers & Sisters (ABC): 10.00, ER (NBC): 9.90

Sunday Night Football, Dallas at Washington (NBC): 7.4 rating/17 share, 60 Minutes (CBS): 6.3/16, Desperate Housewives (ABC): 6.2/14, Grey’s Anatomy (ABC): 5.7/13, House (Fox): 5.5/14, CSI (CBS): 5.1/12, The 42nd Annual CMA Awards (ABC): 5.0/13, Two and a Half Men (CBS): 4.9/11, Sunday Night Pre-Kick (NBC): 4.6/12, Dancing With the Stars – Monday (ABC) and How I Met Your Mother (CBS): 4.2/10 each, Family Guy (Fox): 4.2/ 9, The Office (NBC): 4.1/10, Survivor: Gabon (CBS): 4.0/11, NCIS (CBS) and The Mentalist (CBS): 4.0/10 each, The Big Bang Theory (CBS): 3.9/10, The Simpsons (Fox): 3.9/ 9, Criminal Minds (CBS): 3.8/10, Fringe (Fox): 3.8/ 9, CSI: Miami (CBS) and ER (NBC): 3.7/10 each, Law & Order: SVU (NBC): 3.6/10, Dancing With the Stars – Tuesday (ABC) and Brothers & Sisters (ABC): 3.6/ 9 each, Heroes (NBC) and 30 Rock (NBC): 3.6/ 8 each, The Biggest Loser (NBC) and Bones (Fox): 3.5/ 9 each, Extreme Makeover: Home Edition (ABC) and The Amazing Race (CBS): 3.5/ 8 each

 8:00 p.m. Pushing Daisies

 9:00 p.m. Private Practice

 8:00 p.m. The New Adventures of Old Christine

 8:30 p.m. Gary Unmarried

 9:00 p.m. Criminal Minds

 8:00 p.m. Knight Rider

 9:00 p.m. Life

 9:00 p.m. House (R)

 8:00 p.m. America’s Next Top Model (season finale)

 8:00 p.m. World’s Funniest Moments 

 9:00 p.m. Shaken Not Stirred: Pamela Anderson

 8:00 p.m. Boston Legal (R)

 9:00 p.m. Boston Legal (R)

CBS Television Distribution crime dramas Criminal Minds and Numb3rs are heading to off-network weekend syndication in fall 2010.   Criminal Minds has racked up clearances in 95 percent of the country, while Numb3rs is right behind at 90 percent. Both have been cleared on the CBS Television Stations group, and stations in the Gannett Broadcast Group, Belo Corp., Cox Television, LIN Television and the Meredith Broadcasting Group. Both have also been cleared in all top 20 markets.

Former Everybody Loves Raymond star Patricia Heaton, who came and quickly went on Fox’s Back to You last season, will headline an ABC sitcom pilot called The Middle. Heaton will play the mother of a middle-class Midwestern family.

Which one of the following actors did not appear in the pilot of NBC’s long running Law & Order?

Remember drama Promised Land, which featured a family traveling around the country in a trailer? What show was it spun-off from?

Is: e) Touched by an Angel, which aired on CBS from 1994 to 2003. Promised Land ran from 1996 to 1999.

Mark Amato, Mikki Beno, Gerry Bixenspan, Kimay Bloch, Larry Collins, Mark Cosenza, Chris Dykhuisen, John Emmett, John Ferlazzo, Jim Forkan, Leslie Franzen, Julie Friedlander, Geoffrey Gordon, Bob Ingersoll, Kevin Jones, Deb Kainer, Mary Kalnin, Marie Lefevre Karp, Adam Licker, Kelly Lindley, Beverly Morris, Scott Osbourne, Alan Perris, Lisa Tatum-Roehrig, Maureen Ruane, David Ruckman, Neal Sabin, Michelle Stanton, Ged Young