Quick quiz: -- what gets the most viewers, sexy or family TV programs? You're wrong -- at least for the first week in December. Tuesday night CBS ran the animated classic "Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer." Its ratings beat those for "Victoria's Secret Fashion Show," which ran on CBS two hours later, by almost 7 million viewers (14.3 million to 7.4 million viewers).

The only question for NBC about the new revenue-sharing deal with "Celebrity Apprentice" is: What took you so long? For a long time, Mark Burnett Productions has been virtually the only producer making any real money on branded entertainment when it comes to a prime-time network show -- because it retained all branded entertainment rights in "The Apprentice"....

Sixty-year-old men need not apply for being a Katie Couric fan -- because CBS doesn't want them. We understand. We understand all that old-time research says older demographics don't change their lifelong brand loyalties. To advertisers, that means it's a waste of money in targeting these "playing-the-back-nine" men since they are not going to change their minds about anything.

Networks never really like to brand themselves seven days a week -- but one day might do. Any number of marketing themes might work: "Wondering Wednesdays," "Thumping Thursdays," or "Suck-up Saturdays." It's hard to get viewers to commit fully every night of the week to a network. But one night? Maybe.

Striking TV writers now have some other numbers to crunch -- and no, it's not the billion or so they say each of the networks currently make from the Internet. It's a better estimate of just how much advertising money they make from the streaming of network shows on the Internet. Starcom USA says the four networks will pull in around $120 million this year from advertising dollars from the Internet streaming of TV shows.

Family-friendly programming is a place where all families can get together watching the same TV show -- even if it means someone's head gets ripped off. Isn't that a comforting thought?

The NFL Network finally has some good blocking upfront this week -- or so it thinks. The network is airing the big Dallas Cowboys-Green Bay Packers game Thursday night to its limited consumer base of 35 million homes. This is just the situation the NFL seemingly wanted: a big game that consumers can't get too easily.

With the coming of the new year, marketers are getting increasingly nervous about the drop in ratings, a potential of tons of make-goods, and the long-term effects of a continuing writers' strike. Oh, have I forgotten to mention this was the first year of commercial ratings guarantees. What kind of market is this? Simply put, it's the opposite of stability.

With the crazy dual-headed disruption monster of commercial ratings and the writers' strike, this TV season has had more fire-breathing turmoil and injured parties than anyone could imagine -- except at Fox. The network has seemingly already beaten the odds.

Last July German TV networks stopped airing the Tour de France because one mid-level German cyclist from a German-based team tested positive for performance-enhancing drugs. In this country, one of the biggest names in U.S. sports, San Francisco Giants baseball slugger Barry Bonds, has been indicted for lying about taking steroids to boost his baseball numbers. Will U.S.-based TV networks have similar troubles: for example, selling Major League Baseball to advertisers next year because of this scandal? More specifically, will local TV sponsors stop advertising on San Francisco Giants baseball games?