• by Wayne Friedman , December 6, 2007

CBS holiday programming had something for everyone on Tuesday night--a family-friendly "Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer" and a more adult "Victoria's Secret Fashion Show."

"Rudolph" at a 5.1 Nielsen preliminary rating was almost twice as good as "Victoria's Secret," which checked in with a 2.6 rating.

Good news for "Secret" was that for the first time in a few years, the show perked up in viewers--by some 600,000 to 7.4 million, a modest 8% gain over last year's tally. Helping out was a special guest appearance by the reunited Spice Girls. When "Secret" originally debuted on ABC in 2001, it had 12.4 million viewers. Tuesday night's numbers were 40% lower than six years ago.

But it was "Rudolph" that pulled the CBS train, as CBS averaged a 3.5 rating/9 share, tying NBC for the lead.

NBC showed continued strength at 10 p.m. with "Law & Order: SVU" at a 4.0 rating, which won the time period. NBC also had good news from its two-hour "Biggest Loser," which grew hour to hour from a 2.6 to a 3.8 rating.

Fox was next, its best coming with repeats of "House" at a 3.7 and "Bones" at a 2.4. It averaged a 3.0 for the evening.

ABC was farther back with a 2.2/6, also with repeats. Univision was next at 1.5/4. CW was just behind at a 1.2/3.