nielsen ratings
(fast national numbers for friday, december 17, 2010)

Here are the highlights of the 13 ad-sustained programs that aired in primetime on the broadcast networks last night:

NBC (5.63 million viewers, #1; adults 18-49: 1.3, #1) squeezed out a victory on Friday thanks to a repeat of "Minute to Win It" (4.02 million viewers, #7; adults 18-49: 1.0, #T6) and a new two-hour edition of "Dateline NBC" (6.43 million viewers, #1; adults 18-49: 1.4, #T2).

A competitive silver then went to CBS (4.96 million viewers, #2; adults 18-49: 1.2, #2) with its mix of "Yes, Virginia" (4.84 million viewers, #5; adults 18-49: 1.2, #5), "Frosty the Snowman" (5.60 million viewers, #2; adults 18-49: 1.6, #1), "Frosty Returns" (5.17 million viewers, #4; adults 18-49: 1.4, #T2), "I Get That a Lot" (3.38 million viewers, #10; adults 18-49: 1.0, #T6) and "Blue Bloods" (5.39 million viewers, #3; adults 18-49: 1.0, #T6).

Next up was ABC (4.12 million viewers, #3; adults 18-49: 1.1, #3) with fresh installments of "Supernanny" (4.00 million viewers, #8; adults 18-49: 1.0, #T6), "Primetime: What Would You Do?" (4.38 million viewers, #6; adults 18-49: 1.3, #4) and "20/20" (3.98 million viewers, #9; adults 18-49: 1.0, #T6).

And finally, a repeat of the feature "Are We There Yet?" (3.04 million viewers, #11; adults 18-49: 0.9, #11) on FOX (3.04 million viewers, #4; adults 18-49: 0.9, #4) and repeats of "The Vampire Diaries" (1.57 million viewers, #12; adults 18-49: 0.6, #T12) and another "The Vampire Diaries" (1.42 million viewers, #13; adults 18-49: 0.6, #T12) on The CW (1.50 million viewers, #5; adults 18-49: 0.6, #5) rounded out the evening.

Week-to-week changes (adults 18-49): Primetime: What Would You Do? (-13.30%), Supernanny (-16.70%), 20/20 (-33.30%).

In late-night metered market ratings, NBC's "Leno" (3.1/7) and CBS's "Letterman" (3.1/7) took top honors over ABC's "Nightline" (2.8/6). Rounding out the night then were "Kimmel" (1.3/4) on ABC "Ferguson" (1.6/5) on CBS and "Fallon" (1.7/5) and "Daly" (1.0/3) on NBC.

Here are the highlights of the 14 ad-sustained programs that aired in primetime on the broadcast networks one year ago (12/18/09):

ABC (5.40 million viewers, #3; adults 18-49: 1.4, #T1) and CBS (5.54 million viewers, #2; adults 18-49: 1.4, #T1) split top honors on Friday as the former offered up new episodes of "Supernanny" (4.10 million viewers, #10; adults 18-49: 1.1, #10), "20/20" (5.39 million viewers, #7; adults 18-49: 1.4, #T4) and another "20/20" (6.72 million viewers, #2; adults 18-49: 1.8, #3).

The Eye then offered up its all-repeat lineup of "Frosty the Snowman" (7.00 million viewers, #1; adults 18-49: 2.1, #1), "Frosty Returns" (6.51 million viewers, #3; adults 18-49: 1.9, #2), "Medium" (4.51 million viewers, #9; adults 18-49: 1.2, #T7) and "NUMB3RS" (5.35 million viewers, #8; adults 18-49: 1.2, #T7).

Next up was NBC (5.92 million viewers, #1; adults 18-49: 1.3, #3) with its mix of "Law & Order" (6.20 million viewers, #4; adults 18-49: 1.2, #T7), "Dateline NBC" (5.99 million viewers, #5; adults 18-49: 1.4, #T4) and "The Jay Leno Show" (5.56 million viewers, #6; adults 18-49: 1.4, #T4).

Meanwhile, FOX (2.10 million viewers, #4; adults 18-49: 0.7, #4) served up a new "Dollhouse" (2.16 million viewers, #11; adults 18-49: 0.7, #T11) followed by a second hour of "Dollhouse" (2.05 million viewers, #12; adults 18-49: 0.7, #T11).

And finally, a repeat of "The Vampire Diaries" (1.48 million viewers, #13; adults 18-49: 0.6, #T13) lead into another repeat of "The Vampire Diaries" (1.44 million viewers, #14; adults 18-49: 0.6, #T13) on The CW (1.46 million viewers, #5; adults 18-49: 0.6, #5).

Source: Nielsen Media Research