• by Wayne Friedman , November 24, 2006

ABC is closing in on its first outright November sweeps victory in several years.

Going into the Thanksgiving holiday, ABC grabbed another Tuesday night win--despite not having "Dancing with the Stars" on its Tuesday night schedule.

ABC was edged out by CBS in 18-49 viewers during last the November sweeps by a slim 20,000 viewers. Both ABC and CBS earned an identical 4.4 rating/12 share among 18-49 viewers. Previously, ABC would have to go back to 1999--the year of "Who Wants To Be A Millionaire"--for its last clear victory.

Although ABC's Tuesday win wasn't a dominant one, it was enough. That's thanks to a carefully scheduled "American Music Awards" the week after the "Stars" finale. The awards grabbed a Nielsen preliminary 4.7 rating/13 share among 18-49 viewers, which was ABC's average for the night.

A competing music show on NBC didn't fare as well. An old-style one-hour tribute at 8 p.m. to Tony Bennett barely registered on the TV sets and in the minds of TV viewers, only getting a 1 rating/3 share among 18-49 viewers. This placed NBC dead last, in sixth place behind Univision and the CW. So low in fact, that the CW's "Gilmore Girls," not exactly a major player in the 18-49 demo, was able to double Bennett's rating and share.

But NBC did have one trick in its pocket for the end of the evening: "Law & Order: SVU." That steady procedural crime drama was enough to give it a 4.5 win in the 10 p.m. hour over ABC's AMAs. For the night, NBC landed in fourth place with a 2.6/7.

Fox was just behind ABC for a second-place spot with a 4.2/11 for the night, fueled by the strongest show on Tuesday night for any network, "House," which surgically carved up a 6.4 rating.

CBS was in third with a 3.4/9. Its top show was its dependable "NCIS" performer, posting a 4.2 rating for a second place in the 8 p.m. hour. But CBS' new medical drama "3 Lbs." continues to lose weight with viewers--now at a 2.7 rating, down from a 2.9 rating the week before.

The CW came in fifth with a 1.6/4. The CW now touts that its main selling demographic--18-34--is up 7% versus that of the former WB, even with WB's 18-34 female numbers versus last year.

But for most media executives, those numbers are dismal--nowhere near what the net should be showing, in light of CW executives suggesting that the combination of WB and UPN programming would give the new network "the best of the best." Media-agency executives are saying that CW's ratings guarantees are down 15% in some cases.

Univision tucked in just behind the CW with a 1.5/4. Its biggest showing was its reliable telenovela "La Fea Mas Bella," which pulled down a pretty 2.0 rating.