nielsen ratings
(fast national numbers for thursday, december 30, 2010)

Here are the highlights of the 17 ad-sustained programs that aired in primetime on the broadcast networks last night:

CBS (9.09 million viewers, #1; adults 18-49: 1.8, #1) was the network to beat on an original-free Thursday with its mix of "The Big Bang Theory" (9.06 million viewers, #3; adults 18-49: 2.3, #1), "Bleep My Dad Says" (7.26 million viewers, #4; adults 18-49: 1.8, #2), "CSI: Crime Scene Investigation" (9.19 million viewers, #2; adults 18-49: 1.6, #5) and "The Mentalist" (9.93 million viewers, #1; adults 18-49: 1.7, #T3).

NBC (3.14 million viewers, #4; adults 18-49: 1.2, #2) then snagged the silver with its lineup of "Community" (2.78 million viewers, #13; adults 18-49: 0.9, #13), "30 Rock" (2.97 million viewers, #12; adults 18-49: 1.1, #T11), "The Office" (3.87 million viewers, #8; adults 18-49: 1.7, #T3), "Outsourced" (3.22 million viewers, #9; adults 18-49: 1.2, #T6), another "Outsourced" (3.22 million viewers, #10; adults 18-49: 1.2, #T6) and another "The Office" (2.77 million viewers, #14; adults 18-49: 1.2, #T6).

Next up was FOX (4.87 million viewers, #2; adults 18-49: 1.1, #3) with repeats of "Bones" (5.21 million viewers, #5; adults 18-49: 1.2, #T6) and a second "Bones" (4.54 million viewers, #7; adults 18-49: 1.1, #T11).

Meanwhile, ABC (3.56 million viewers, #3; adults 18-49: 0.9, #4) offered up repeats of "Happy New Year Charlie Brown" (4.92 million viewers, #6; adults 18-49: 1.2, #T6), "Grey's Anatomy" (3.04 million viewers, #11; adults 18-49: 0.8, #T14) and "Private Practice" (2.74 million viewers, #15; adults 18-49: 0.8, #T14).

And finally, repeats of "The Vampire Diaries" (1.19 million viewers, #17; adults 18-49: 0.4, #T16) and "Nikita" (1.34 million viewers, #16; adults 18-49: 0.4, #T16) on The CW (1.26 million viewers, #5; adults 18-49: 0.4, #5) closed out the evening.

In late-night metered market ratings, ABC's "Nightline" (2.8/6) took top honors over NBC's "Leno" (2.4/5) and CBS's "Letterman" (2.7/6). Rounding out the night then were "Kimmel" (1.3/4) on ABC "Ferguson" (1.5/4) on CBS and "Fallon" (1.2/4) and "Daly" (0.6/2) on NBC.

Here are the highlights of the 14 ad-sustained programs that aired in primetime on the broadcast networks one year ago (12/31/09):

ABC (7.17 million viewers, #1; adults 18-49: 2.1, #1) was the network to beat on the final night of 2009 with its presentation of "Wild Hogs" (6.69 million viewers, #4; adults 18-49: 1.8, #2) and the primetime portion of "Dick Clark's New Year's Rockin' Eve with Ryan Seacrest" (8.15 million viewers, #1; adults 18-49: 2.7, #1).

The silver then went to CBS (6.43 million viewers, #2; adults 18-49: 1.1, #2) with its all-repeat lineup of "Medium" (4.16 million viewers, #6; adults 18-49: 0.8, #11), "CSI: Crime Scene Investigation" (7.10 million viewers, #3; adults 18-49: 1.2, #T4) and "The Mentalist" (8.04 million viewers, #2; adults 18-49: 1.5, #3).

Next up was NBC (3.00 million viewers, #4; adults 18-49: 1.0, #3) with repeats of "30 Rock" (3.36 million viewers, #7; adults 18-49: 1.1, #T6), another "30 Rock" (2.93 million viewers, #9; adults 18-49: 1.0, #8), yet another "30 Rock" (2.55 million viewers, #10; adults 18-49: 0.9, #T9), even more "30 Rock" (2.45 million viewers, #11; adults 18-49: 0.9, #T9) and the primetime segment of "New Year's Eve with Carson Daly" (3.35 million viewers, #8; adults 18-49: 1.2, #T4).

Meanwhile, FOX (3.27 million viewers, #3; adults 18-49: 0.9, #4) offered up repeats of "Bones" (4.33 million viewers, #5; adults 18-49: 1.1, #T6) and "Fringe" (2.22 million viewers, #12; adults 18-49: 0.7, #12).

And finally, repeats of "The Vampire Diaries" (1.09 million viewers, #13; adults 18-49: 0.4, #13) and "Supernatural" (0.72 million viewers, #14; adults 18-49: 0.3, #14) on The CW (0.90 million viewers, #5; adults 18-49: 0.3, #5) rounded out the evening.

Source: Nielsen Media Research