• by Wayne Friedman , December 3, 2013

Although there was little change at the top of the TV broadcast network leader board when it came to Monday programming versus a week ago -- with NBC solidly ahead and CBS behind in second place -- second- and third-place broadcasters ABC and Fox posted sharply lower results.

ABC went with two holiday specials: “A Charlie Brown Christmas,” which garnered a Nielsen preliminary 1.9 rating/5 share among 18-49 viewers and “CMA Country Christmas,” which took in a 1.5 rating/4 share. All this gave ABC a 1.6/4 versus a 2.1/6 for its regular Monday night lineup of “Dancing with the Stars” and “Castle” of a week ago.

Fox stuck with its new “Almost Human” drama at 8 p.m., down to a 1.7 rating/5 share from a 1.9/5. But after that, Fox sat on the sidelines -- running a “Sleepy Hollow” repeat at 9 p.m. for a mild 0.9/2. All this gave Fox a 1.3/3 versus a 2.1/5 the week before.

NBC scored a 3.5/9 for the night, up from a 3.2/9 the week before. This was mostly the result of two hours of “The Voice,” which earned a 3.5/9.

Better news: the net's hot new drama “The Blacklist” posted a stronger 3.5/10 in the now-always-tougher 10 p.m. time period on any night -- due to overall heavy time-shifting by TV viewers. The show was up from a 3.0 rating/8 share the week before.

CBS was slightly down to a 2.0/5 from a 2.1/6. CBS comedies continue to do well on Monday: “How I Met Your Mother” (2.9/8); “2 Broke Girls” (2.7/7); and “Mike & Molly” (2.4/6); and “Mom” (2.1/5). Only its 10 p.m. new drama “Hostages” still fails to keep pace at a 1.1/3 -- the same numbers versus a week before.

Univision was at a 1.1/3 -- the same as the week before. The CW ticked up to a 0.4/1 from a 0.3/1, as well as registering 1.12 million total average viewers from 920,000 for its last Monday outing .