• by Wayne Friedman , December 22, 2008

The networks were into their heavy holiday rerun mode--and that played into the hands of CBS, and its usual stronger repeat programming.

CBS' hour crime procedurals--"CSI" and "Eleventh Hour"--easily over took other network offerings, with a Nielsen Media Research 2.9/8 and a 2.3/7, respectively, among 18-49 viewers. This gave CBS a night-leading average of 2.3/7.

NBC was next, but it did not put up much of a fight. Only "The Office" went above the two-rating barometer with a 2.3/7, which came in second place to "CSI." "The Office" tagged the best results among all shows among 18-34 viewers, with a 2.1/7.

NBC ended the evening at a 1.8/5 among 18-49 viewers.

Fox tried to put up a fight with originals in its reality/game arena---"Secret Millionaire" and "Are You Smarter Than a 5th Grader?" Those shows earned a 1.9/6 and a 1.6/4, respectively. "Millionaire" in its series finale beat the other show with the word "million" in its title, CBS' "Million Dollar Password," which earned a 1.5/5. Fox ended the night with a 1.7/5.

ABC was behind Fox at a 1.5/5, with a "Grey's Anatomy" rerun in second place in the period behind the "CSI" rerun, earning a 1.8/5.

Univision tied ABC for the night among 18-49 viewers with a 1.5/5 and was slightly ahead of ABC among the younger 18-34 demos, at a 1.6/5 against a 1.4/5.

CW was also in repeats with its usual Thursday programs, "Smallville" and "Supernatural," averaging a 0.8/2 for the night. Among younger viewers 18-34, it landed with a 0.7/2.

MyNetworkTV came in at about half that of the CW, at a 0.4/1 among 18-49 viewers--running a "Wrestlemania Encore" rerun and an original "Celebrity Expose."