Weekly ratings: CBS extends win; NFL boosts NBC

CBS continued its winning streak last week, edging out a resurgent, football-fueled NBC.

The Eye finished the week ending Dec. 14 ahead among total viewers and adults 18-49, maintaining its season-to-date ratings lead. NBC was right on its heels, however, aided by a "Sunday Night Football" game that was the highest-rated primetime event all season.

CBS' "CSI" (20.9 million viewers, 5.8 rating/15 share in adults 18-49) landed in first place among scripted programming. The Thursday drama sported stronger-than-usual ratings thanks to a lack of competition from repeat-filled ABC and the debut of a character played by Laurence Fishburne.

The performance pushed 10 p.m.'s "Eleventh Hour" (13.4 million, 3.8/10) to a series high. Monday's "The Big Bang Theory" (10.5 million, 3.7/10) continued to climb, hitting a series high in viewers. And Sunday's two-hour finale of "Survivor: Gabon" (13.8 million, 4.4/10) posted a rating that was slightly above last spring's finale but below last fall's more appropriately comparable outing.

NBC placed second, with Sunday's New York Giants-Dallas Cowboys game (23.1 million, 8.6/21) the most-watched game in the three-year history of the franchise. The network's Thursday comedy block performed strongly, collectively hitting its highest rating in several weeks, led by "The Office" (8.7 million, 4.7/12). The penultimate "Biggest Loser" on Tuesday hit season highs.

Fox was third, paced by Tuesday's "House" (14.1 million, 5.6/15) and the second week of Wednesday's "Secret Millionaire" (7.3 million, 2.8/8), the latter growing from its performance in the same time slot a week earlier.

Fourth-place ABC's top shows were in repeats. The two-hour series finale of Monday's "Boston Legal" (9.9 million, 2.3/6) hit its best rating in the demo since the season premiere, and the annual telecast of "Charlie Brown Christmas" performed well Monday night.

MyNetworkTV had another best week ever, and enjoyed its third straight weekly victory over repeat-filled the CW

Overall, CBS (11.9 million, 3.3/9) won the week, followed by NBC (8.8 million, 3.2/9), Fox (6 million, 2.2/6), ABC (6.3 million, 1.9/5), MyNetworkTV (2.4 million, 0.8/2) and the CW (1.5 million, 0.6/2).