• by Wayne Friedman , December 12, 2008

With ABC in rerun mode, CBS had its way with the second Thursday night in December--and an easy win. "CSI" thrived with less competition at 9 p.m., specifically against a repeat of "Grey's Anatomy"--raising its number to a 5.8/14 from a 4.6/11 the week before, the best-rated 18-49 show of the night.

CBS also upped its numbers for its new "Eleventh Hour" climbng to a 3.8/10 from a 2.7/7 the previous week. "Survivor: Gabon" stayed virtually the same with its typical 4.1/11 rating, also with a usual win in the 8 p.m. time period.

CBS won Thursday with a Nielsen preliminary 4.6 rating/12 share among 18-49 viewers.

Younger viewers went to NBC on Thursday, which took top honors for the night with a 3.4/10 for the 18-34 demo. NBC came in second to CBS with a 3.5/9 against older 18-49s. All this was an improvement against the week before, when NBC earned a 3.1/8 for 18-49 viewers and a 3.1/9 against the 18-34 crowd.

All four of NBC's comedies showed gains, "The Office" had the network's best results of the night with a 4.8/12, as well as the top 18-34 numbers of any show with a 5.4/15. This was followed by a 3.8/9 for "30 Rock. "ER" also inched up to a 2.9/6, winning the 10 p.m. time period.

After CBS and NBC, ABC, Fox and Univision were in a virtual tie for third place, earning a 1.7/4, a 1.6/4 and a 1.6/4, respectively. Univision beat Fox and ABC among younger viewers with a 1.8/5 among 18-34 viewers.

The novelty of Fox's "Secret Millionaire" already seems to be ebbing. The show is now at a 2.0/5, placing third among 18-49 viewers in the 8 p.m. time slot. When it debuted on Wednesday, it earned a 2.8/8 and won the 8 p.m. time period.

Like ABC, The CW went into repeats with "Smallville" and "Supernatural," which gave the young network a collective 0.8/2 among 18-49 viewers and a 0.9/3 for its more core 18-34 audience.