CBS’s “NCIS” special, “Numbers,” and “Ghost Whisperer” claimed the top three slots in Nielsen’s ranking of the top primetime telecasts on broadcast TV for Friday, October 31, 2008.
ABC’s “20/20″ and NBC’s “Deal Or No Deal” rounded out the top five.

Rank
Program
Network
Viewers (P2+)

1
NCIS FRIDAY 9PM SPECIAL(S)-10/31/2008
CBS
11,238,000

2
NUMB3RS
CBS
10,722,000

3
GHOST WHISPERER
CBS
9,403,000

4
20/20-FRI
ABC
6,953,000

5
DEAL OR NO DEAL-FRI
NBC
4,878,000

6
SMARTER THAN 5TH GRADER
FOX
4,628,000

7
DON’T FORGET THE LYRICS
FOX
4,539,000

8
SUPERNANNY
ABC
4,118,000

9
CRUSOE
NBC
4,088,000

10
FUEGO EN LA SANGRE FRI
UNI
4,055,000

Source: The Nielsen Company (October 31, 2008).

Overall, CBS won the night with an average audience of just over 10.4 million viewers, while ABC took second place with just over 4.8 million average viewers. …

CBS’s “Ghost Whisperer” and “Numbers” were the number one- and number two-ranked primetime telecasts on broadcast TV for Friday, October 24, 2008.
ABC’s “20/20″ rounded out the top three.

Rank
Program
Network
Viewers (P2+)

1
GHOST WHISPERER
CBS
10,142,000

2
NUMB3RS
CBS
9,334,000

3
20/20-FRI
ABC
7,504,000

4
DEAL OR NO DEAL-FRI
NBC
6,124,000

5
CRUSOE
NBC
6,088,000

6
SMARTER THAN 5TH GRADER
FOX
5,870,000

7
DON’T FORGET THE LYRICS
FOX
5,622,000

8
LIFE
NBC
5,589,000

9
FUEGO EN LA SANGRE FRI
UNI
5,519,000

10
EX LIST, THE
CBS
5,329,000

Source: The Nielsen Company (October 24, 2008).

Overall, CBS won the night with an average audience of almost 8.3 million viewers, while NBC took second place with just over 5.9 million average viewers. FOX and ABC claimed third and fourth places with roughly 5.7 million and 5.5 …