ABC does the two-step

Thanksgiving tends to produce a big slowdown in network TV ratings, and last week was no exception.

Monday’s performance show of “Dancing With the Stars” gave ABC the week’s most-watched program, with 21.09 million viewers, according to figures published Tuesday by Nielsen Media Research. And Tuesday’s “Dancing” finale ended up with 20.65 million.

Thanks to a football overrun, CBS’ “60 Minutes” continued its surge this season (18.64 million), and “NCIS” had another strong week (18.12 million).

Otherwise, there was little ratings excitement to be had. Rosie O’Donnell bombed spectacularly with “Rosie Live,” NBC’s bid to revive the variety format. The critically drubbed Wednesday special logged 5.02 million viewers for a weak third place in the time slot. O’Donnell acknowledged the poor showing on her blog, saying the pilot wouldn’t be going to series: “sometimes u strike out. thats show biz.”

Barbara Walters did better with her Thanksgiving eve interview with President-elect Barack Obama and his wife, Michelle (11.61 million), though the ABC special still ran second to CBS’ “CSI: NY” (12.3 million).

Overall, CBS took the prize among total viewers (11.02 million), followed by ABC (10.33 million), NBC (6.6 million) and Fox (6.11 million).

On basic cable, the week’s most-watched program was ESPN’s Monday football matchup between the Green Bay Packers and the New Orleans Saints (11.4 million), which would have placed it 16th among the programs on broadcast television.

-- Scott Collins

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Here are the rankings for national prime-time network television last week (Nov. 24-30) as compiled by Nielsen Media Research. They are based on the average number of people who watched a program from start to finish. Nielsen estimates there are 286 million potential viewers in the U.S. ages 2 and older. Viewership is listed in millions.

*--* Program Network Viewers 1 Dancing With the Stars ABC 21.09 2 Dancing With the Stars (results) ABC 20.65 3 60 Minutes CBS 18.64 4 NCIS CBS 18.12 5 The Mentalist CBS 15.92 *--*

*--* Football: Bears at Vikings NBC 15.92 7 Desperate Housewives ABC 15.81 8 Two and a Half Men CBS 14.95 9 CSI: Miami CBS 14.33 10 Criminal Minds CBS 14.11 *--*

*--* 11 House FOX 12.88 12 CSI: NY CBS 12.30 13 Amazing Race CBS 11.83 14 Barbara Walters Special ABC 11.61 15 Cold Case CBS 11.52 *--*

*--* 16 Extreme Makeover: Home Edition ABC 11.33 17 A Charlie Brown Thanksgiving (Tue.) ABC 11.08 18 NFL Pre-Game NBC 10.83 19 Samantha Who? ABC 10.72 20 CSI: Crime Scene Investigation CBS 10.68 *--*

*--* 21 Without a Trace CBS 10.42 22 Worst Week CBS 10.15 23 Brothers & Sisters ABC 10.07 24 The Big Bang Theory CBS 10.03 25 How I Met Your Mother CBS 9.96 *--*

*--* 26 Bones FOX 9.87 27 The Unit CBS 9.55 28 College football: Oklahoma at Oklahoma St. ABC 9.52 29 America’s Funniest Home Videos ABC 8.93 30 Law & Order: SVU NBC 8.59 *--*

*--* 31 Survivor: Gabon CBS 8.31 32 Football Night in America Part 3 NBC 8.17 33 Boston Legal ABC 8.16 34 The Simpsons FOX 7.80 35 Fringe FOX 7.70 *--*

*--* 36 Gary Unmarried CBS 7.63 37 Heroes NBC 7.51 38 Eleventh Hour CBS 7.49 39 The New Adventures of Old Christine CBS 7.48 40 20/20 (Fri.) ABC 7.05 *--*

*--* 41 Numb3rs CBS 7.01 42 Family Guy FOX 6.99 43 The Biggest Loser: Families NBC 6.87 44 Chuck NBC 6.53 Movie: “The Polar Express” ABC 6.53 *--*

*--* 46 48 Hours Mystery CBS 6.47 47 Private Practice ABC 6.33 Law & Order NBC 6.33 King of the Hill FOX 6.33 50 Deal or No Deal (Wed.) NBC 6.32 *--*

*--* 51 Ghost Whisperer CBS 6.13 52 Ghost Whisperer (9 p.m.) CBS 5.89 53 Movie: “Click” FOX 5.81 54 Cops (8:30 p.m.) FOX 5.69 55 American Dad FOX 5.56 *--*

*--* 56 Cuidado con el Angel (Fri.) UNI 5.54 57 Fuego en la Sangre (Wed.) UNI 5.51 58 America’s Most Wanted: America Fights Back FOX 5.49 59 Cuidado con el Angel (Wed.) UNI 5.42 60 College Football Pre-Game ABC 5.38 *--*

*--* 61 Fuego en la Sangre (Tue.) UNI 5.33 62 A Charlie Brown Thanksgiving (Thu.) ABC 5.26 63 Prison Break FOX 5.25 64 Querida Enemiga (Fri.) UNI 5.19 65 Cops FOX 5.18 *--*

*--* 66 Querida Enemiga (Wed.) UNI 5.13 67 Cuidado con el Angel (Mon.) UNI 5.11 68 Football Night in America Part 2 NBC 5.06 69 Rosie Live NBC 5.02 Cuidado con el Angel (Tue.) UNI 5.02 *--*

*--* 71 Crimetime Saturday (8 p.m.) CBS 4.98 72 Fuego en la Sangre (Mon.) UNI 4.92 73 Querida Enemiga (Mon.) UNI 4.86 74 House (Wed.) (9 p.m.) FOX 4.76 75 Querida Enemiga (Tue.) UNI 4.69 *--*

*--* 76 Law & Order: SVU (Sat.) NBC 4.61 77 Movie: “Along Came Polly” NBC 4.57 Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles FOX 4.57 79 Movie: “The Incredibles” NBC 4.54 80 Pushing Daisies ABC 4.44 *--*

*--* 81 College football: Colorado at Nebraska ABC 4.36 82 Grey’s Anatomy ABC 4.12 83 College football: LSU at Arkansas CBS 4.07 84 My Own Worst Enemy NBC 3.75 85 King of the Hill (7:30 p.m.) FOX 3.72 *--*

*--* 86 Don Francisco Presenta UNI 3.65 87 Regalo Navideno UNI 3.55 88 The Office NBC 3.39 89 Show Suenos: Amigos UNI 3.36 90 Movie: “The Incredibles” (Fri.) NBC 3.29 *--*

*--* 91 Cristina (Mon.) UNI 3.26 92 Movie: “School of Rock” FOX 3.22 93 Aqui y Ahora (Tue.) UNI 3.12 94 King of the Hill (Sun.) (7 p.m.) FOX 2.71 95 Sabado Gigante UNI 2.64 *--*

*--* 96 Gran Estreno UNI 2.61 97 Tras la Verdad: K-Paz UNI 2.47 98 Hora Pico (Sun.) UNI 2.28 *--*

Network averages

Here is the number of viewers (in millions) that each network averaged per hour of prime time, for last week and for the season.

*--* Network Last week Season to date CBS 11.02 11.4

ABC 10.33 10.18

NBC 6.6 7.43

FOX 6.11 7.72

UNI 3.84 3.92 *--*