Ratings: Football wins week; 'Desperate' is top scripted show

In a seven-day period that saw several shows in repeats or off-the-air because of holiday specials, NBC’s always-dominant Sunday Night Football easily won the week ending Dec. 6, pulling in 20.9 million viewers. The second-place finisher (and week’s top scripted show, for the first time this season!) was a surging Desperate Housewives, which drew a healthy 14.9 million viewers, but was still a rather distant 6 million viewers behind Sunday Night Football. However, Desperate‘s No. 2 spot was still totally a positive: The heavily hyped hour (thank that plane crash!) was up a healthy 2.1 million over the previous week’s episode. Third place for the week went to a repeat, specifically CBS’ NCIS, the top scripted show of the season overall, which drew 14.3 million viewers.

Because of the slow week, several shows saw their star rise, in terms of where they landed on the chart. Survivor landed at No. 5 with 12.8 million viewers; The Amazing Race wrapped its season with a season-high finale at No. 7 with 12.3 million viewers; and the rarely-in-the-Top-20 Brothers & Sisters made a splash at No. 10 with 10.8 million viewers. The rest of the Top 20—with viewership totals—is after the jump.

1. Sunday Night Football | NBC | 20.9 million
2. Desperate Housewives | ABC | 14.9 million
3. NCIS (R) | CBS | 14.3 million
4. House | Fox | 13.2 million
5. Survivor: Samoa | CBS | 12.8 million
6. Big 12 Football Championship | ABC | 12.7 million
7. The Amazing Race 15 | CBS | 12.3 million
8. 60 Minutes | CBS | 12.0 million
9. Two and a Half Men (R) | CBS | 11.4 million
10. Brothers & Sisters | ABC | 10.8 million
11. The Mentalist (R) | CBS | 10.7 million
12. Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer (R) | CBS | 10.6 million
13. Extreme Makeover: Home Edition | ABC | 10.4 million
14. The Big Bang Theory (R) | CBS | 10.1 million
15. The Biggest Loser 8 | NBC | 10.0 million
16. Bones | Fox | 9.9 million
17. CSI (R) | CBS | 9.9 million
18. Cold Case (R) | CBS | 9.6 million
19. CSI: Miami (R) | CBS | 9.5 million
20. BCS Selection Show | Fox | 9.3 million

Source: Nielsen

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