Weekly Ratings: 12/7 – 12/12

Sunday Ratings for Race Finale, Leverage Debut and More

Just a few Sunday snippets, as CBS' procedurals took a knee:

7 pm/ET
The CW's first rerun of Jericho delivered 1.13 million total viewers.

8 pm
NBC's football coverage won the 8 o'clock hour and averaged 12.18 million viewers for the night (down 10 percent from last week). Extreme Makeover (10.35 mil) dropped 890 thou, while the finale of Amazing Race 13 (10.57 mil) performed eight percent better than the close of Cycle 12. TNT's The Librarian: Curse of the Judas Chalice averaged 5.44 mil over its two-hour run.

9 pm
Housewives flirted with an audience of 16 million, up 370K.

10 pm
Rising 480K to 10.67 mil, Brothers & Sisters enjoyed its largest audience since the season opener. TNT's Leverage premiered to five mil and gave the cabler its "best delivery ever of adults 18-49 for an original series telecast during the broadcast season," says the press release.

Monday Ratings: CBS Is First with Laughs!

8 pm/ET
Charlie Brown and his scrawny tree topped the hour with 11.37 million total viewers. Combining for second, CBS' Big Bang Theory hit yet another (!) all-time high — 10.8 mil, up 600K from its last fresh outing — and Mother (10.49 mil, +450K) delivered its biggest audience since Britney circa March 24. Opposite a fuller slate, Chuck (6.93 mil) dipped 320 thou and Sarah Connor (5.2 mil) dropped 11 percent. Gossip Girl (3.01 mil) slipped a hair.

9 pm
CBS comedies ruled, with Men (15.65 million viewers) enjoying its best numbers since February and Worst Week (10.6 mil) gathering its largest audience since its premiere. Boston Legal placed second, averaging 10.2 mil over its two-hour swan song — a 21 percent surge from its previous episode. Heroes (7.78 mil, -220K), Prison Break (5.39 mil, -410K) and Privileged (1.9 mil, 0300K) all dropped, though the CW charmer matched its best numbers in target demos.

10 pm
CSI: Miami dominated with 13.6 million viewers, down 500K. Lagging behind Boston, My Own Worst Enemy (3.96 mil) continued its lame-duck decline.

Tuesday Ratings: Big Gains for Loser, But NCIS Rerun Tops Night

8 pm/ET
An NCIS repeat was the night's most watched program, delivering 14.1 million total viewers. Running a close second was a new House (go, Orangemen!), which surged 12 percent to 13.9 mil. The penultimate episode of The Biggest Loser: Families averaged 9.2 mil over its two-hour run, up 15 percent week-to-week.

9 pm
A repeat of The Mentalist dominated with 13.65 million viewers — or, quite impressively, 91 percent of the audience that watched the episode the first time around. A pair of According to Jims, averaging 5.2 mil (down 600K), lagged well behind a Fringe repeat (7.08 mil). Privileged added 1.06 mil to its Monday audience (the series returns Tuesday, Jan. 6).

10 pm
Opposite a warmed-over Without a Trace, SVU shot to the top with 10.9 mil (up 630 thou). Eli Stone matched last week's 4.9 mil.

Wednesday Ratings: Old Christine Eyes Another New High

8 pm/ET
The CBS sitcombo of Old Christine (8.25 million total viewers, up 650K) and Gary Unmarried (8.03 million, up 310K) claimed the top spot this Wednesday, with the former setting a new season high. Placing second (and, shoot me, winning the demos) was Fox's Secret Millionaire (7.19 mil), which dipped 190 thou from its debut. In fourth behind some NBC holiday thing, Pushing Daisies (4.96 mil) pushed up a teeny tiny bit.

9 pm
Criminal Minds led the hour and was the night's most watched program, with an audience of 14.7 mil (up 700K from its last fresh ep). Private Practice (6.86 mil) dropped 12 percent from last week's bloated numbers, but still was on the high side. Life (5.46 mil) was up 140K from its last "regular" outing.

10 pm
CSI: NY grew nine percent from its previous new episode to deliver 13.25 million viewers. Law & Order (7.47) slipped from last week's competition-free season high, but still improved on its typical audience by some 19 percent. Dirty Sexy Money (5.22 mil) dipped 480 thou — but hurrah for Blair Underwood and his Globe nod!).

Tuesday ratings addendum: TNT's Leverage scored 3.1 million viewers in its regular time slot premiere.

Thursday Ratings: The Finest Hour Yet, CSI Says "High" to Fishburne

This Thursday, as ABC sat the bench....

8 pm/ET
Survivor: Gabon — Earth's Last Eden/TV's Longest Subtitle rode to an easy win, delivering 13.24 million total viewers (a slight increase over the previous cycle's penultimate episode). My Name Is Earl (6.62 mil, up 520K) claimed second for the front half of the hour, but lead-out Kath & Kim (5.33 mil, +450K) got bested by the back end of Fox's Secret Millionaire.

9 pm
With Grey's on bed rest, Laurence Fishburne's CSI debut drew an audience of 20.6 million — an 18 percent increase over last week and the procedural's best numbers since the season opener. In second, both The Office (8.8 mil, +460K) and 30 Rock (7.47 mil, +330K ... though not including me, frickin' flaky Cablevision) saw gains.

10 pm
Eleventh Hour seized the opportunity to surge 23 percent week-to-week and deliver its best audience ever, 13.43 million viewers. At 8.92 mil, ER was up 700 thou.

Wednesday ratings addendum: Top Chef: New York served up the Bravo series' highest non-finale telecast ever among total viewers (3.02 million).