• by Wayne Friedman , November 8, 2006

November sweeps tend to shake up early fall network trends. This year is no different. NBC had been establishing itself as a new leader on Monday night, regularly beating CBS. But ABC upset things with a strong Country Music Awards show that grabbed a Nielsen 5.4 rating 13 share for its three-hour broadcast.

The music show did better than 3.0 average ratings for ABC's usual "Wife Swap," "The Bachelor: Rome" and "What about Brian" programming trio. Still, it was one of the lowest-rated CMA telecasts, matching what CBS did with the event a year ago.

But it was enough to push NBC into second place with a 4.8/12. NBC's phenom rookie show, "Heroes," continued its strong first season, posting its best-ever 6.7/15 rating during the 9 p.m. hour. Early in the evening at 8 p.m., NBC delivered "Deal or No Deal" with a steady 4.5/11 rating. "Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip" continued its stagnation with a 3.3/8 at 10 p.m., coming in at third place for the time period.

CBS was close to NBC, in third place for the evening at 4.3/11. Since its rise to top show status, "Heroes" seems to have had a negative effect on CBS' 9-10 p.m. shows, "Two and a Half Men" and "The New Adventures of Old Christine"--pushing down their respective ratings. At 10 p.m., "CSI: Miami" was number one--posting a 5.7 and beating ABC's "CMA Awards," which earned a 5.2, during the 10 p.m. hour. Still, "CSI" was down by almost a half rating point from the week before.

Fox's "Prison Break" grabbed a 3.5/9, slightly better than its performance the week before. Fox's rookie show, "Justice"--highly touted during the World Series--sank a bit to a 1.8/4. Overall, Fox pulled in with a 2.7/6.

The CW's comedy quartet--"Everybody Hates Chris," "All of Us," "Girlfriends" and "The Game"--continued their quiet first season under the new CW network banner, averaging a 1.3/3 for the night. Univision did a bit better with a 1.7/4, highlighted by "La Fea Mas Bella," which came in at a 2.1.