• by Wayne Friedman , December 4, 2006

A day after the November sweeps ended, CBS and CW took a break, running mostly re-runs on Thursday night. All this gave ABC and NBC a chance to step on the gas.

ABC's "Grey's Anatomy" took back its dominant lead over CBS' "CSI: Crime Scene Investigation," almost doubling its adult 18-49 rating--a Nielsen 9.5 rating/23 share over a "CSI" 5.0/12. That said, CBS put "CSI" into rerun mode, along with 10 p.m. rookie show, "Shark," which earned a 2.8/7.

For the night, ABC easily took top honors with 5.8/14--almost one and a half points better than second-place finishers CBS and NBC.

For the first time, NBC was able to show off its new four-show Thursday comedy block: "My Name is Earl," "The Office," "Scrubs," and "30 Rock." "Rock," the struggling rookie show, was able to make slight gains to a 2.7/7, above its season average.

This put NBC into a tie for the night with CBS, with a 4.4 rating. CBS did a smidge better in terms of share, grabbing an 11.2 number.

NBC continued to dominate the 10 p.m. time period, with "E.R." posting 5.8/15 numbers. That bested "Men in Trees," the low-rated Anne Heche-starring drama, which soared to new heights sitting behind the big "Grey's Anatomy" audience, with a 3.8/10. "Trees" had been a poor rating player on Friday nights.

Fox, however, continues to suffer on Thursday, finishing well behind the other three networks with a 1.8/4 number for the night. A double run of Fox's first-year comedy "'Til Death" posted a slightly better 2.0/5 rating and share numbers among 18-49 viewers, while "The O.C." continued its ratings-challenged life this season with a 1.6/4.

The CW, with reruns of "Smallville" and "Supernatural," pulled up last with a 1.1/3.