• by Wayne Friedman , December 7, 2007

ABC took a slow Wednesday night from the competition.

It tallied a Nielsen preliminary 3.2 rating/9 share average rating for the night, highlighted by a repeat of "Private Practice" with a 3.8, and a "Santa Claus is Comin' To Town" special at a 3.4. "Practice" ended up as the best-rated show of the night.

NBC was next with a 2.7/7. The second hour of "Deal or No Deal" gave the network its top 3.1 rating for the night, after the first hour pulled in a 2.6 number. NBC's 10 p.m. program "Life" showed some life, improving 14% to a 2.5 number.

CBS earned a 2.4/7, with repeats of "CSI: NY" coming in at 2.7 and "Criminal Minds" taking in a 2.5.

Fox rendered a 2.2/6, with its best coming at 9 p.m. with a 2.6 for a repeat of "Kitchen Nightmares." Other reruns of its comedies--"Back to You" and "Til Death"--each earned a 1.8 rating.

CW continues to do nicely with "Gossip Girls," which grabbed its second-best ratings of the season among 18-34 viewers with a 1.8 rating. A couple of weeks before, it hit its best at a 2.1.

"America's Next Top Model" led off the night for CW with its time slot -leading 18-34 numbers, as well as solid 2.3 among 18-49 viewers. "Girls," however, couldn't keep pace with those older viewers, only posting a 1.2 rating. For the night, CW had a 1.7/5 among 18-49 viewers.

Univision was sixth at 1.5/4, highlighted by its 10 p.m. show, "Don Francisco Presenta," which took in a 1.7.