Last week, Nielsen issued the Top Ten’s of 2008 for a variety of media.  This week Nielsen takes a more detailed look at the top timeshifted television programs in the U.S. during this calendar year.   
The charts below show the top ten primetime TV programs that saw the biggest increase in timeshifted playback within seven days from the original telecast. 
The first chart is ranked by total gain in household audience from timeshifting, and the second chart is ranked by the percent increase in household rating.

Nielsen has issued a year-end look at the most popular trends among Americans during 2008, covering everything from the top TV programs to the most popular consumer packaged goods.
FOX’s “American Idol” was the top TV program of 2008, according to Nielsen.  Tuesday night broadcasts of “American Idol,” through December 7, drew 15.5% of U.S. TV households, on average, while Wednesday night “American Idol” broadcasts drew an average of 15.3% of all TV households.
Viewers with DVR access gave NBC’s “Heroes” the biggest bump any primetime program received in 2008.  The average …

FOX’s “House” was the number one-ranked primetime telecast on broadcast TV for Tuesday, December 9, 2008, with almost 14.1 million average viewers.
CBS’s “The Mentalist” and “NCIS” rounded out the top three, with approximately 13.69 million and 13.66 million average viewers, respectively.

Rank
Program
Network
Viewers (P2+)

1
HOUSE
FOX
14,051,000

2
MENTALIST, THE
CBS
13,695,000

3
NCIS
CBS
13,662,000

4
LAW AND ORDER:SVU
NBC
11,015,000

5
BIGGEST LOSER 6
NBC
9,356,000

6
WITHOUT A TRACE
CBS
8,555,000

7
AMER FUNN HM VIDEOS-12/9(S)-12/09/2008
ABC
7,032,000

8
FRINGE
FOX
6,953,000

9
CUIDADO CON EL ANGEL TUE
UNI
5,519,000

10
FUEGO EN LA SANGRE TUE
UNI
5,222,000

Source: The Nielsen Company (December 9, 2008).

Overall, CBS won the night with an average audience of almost 12 million viewers,
while FOX took second place with almost 11 million average viewers.  NBC and ABC
claimed …

CBS’s “The Mentalist” and “NCIS” were the number one- and two-ranked primetime telecasts on broadcast TV for Tuesday, December 2, 2008.
FOX’s “House” rounded out the top three.

Rank
Program
Network
Viewers (P2+)

1
MENTALIST, THE
CBS
18,742,000

2
NCIS
CBS
18,518,000

3
HOUSE
FOX
12,517,000

4
WITHOUT A TRACE
CBS
12,319,000

5
LAW AND ORDER:SVU
NBC
10,331,000

6
SANTA CLAUS COMIN’ TO TWN(S)-12/02/2008
ABC
8,896,000

7
BIGGEST LOSER 6
NBC
8,755,000

8
FRINGE
FOX
8,535,000

9
ACCORDING TO JIM-TU 9PM
ABC
6,134,000

10
CUIDADO CON EL ANGEL TUE
UNI
5,468,000

Source: The Nielsen Company (December 2, 2008).

Overall, CBS won the night with an average audience of almost 16.5 million viewers,
while FOX took second place with almost 10.6 million average viewers. NBC and ABC
claimed third and fourth places with roughly 9.3 million and 6.5 million average …

ABC’s “Dancing With The Stars” was the number one-ranked primetime telecast on broadcast TV for Tuesday, November 25, 2008 with approximately 20.6 million average viewers.
CBS’s “NCIS” and “The Mentalist” rounded out the top three with approximately 18.1 and 15.9 million average viewers respectively.

Rank
Program
Network
Viewers (P2+)

1
DANCING W/STARS RESULTS
ABC
20,647,000

2
NCIS
CBS
18,118,000

3
MENTALIST, THE
CBS
15,925,000

4
HOUSE
FOX
12,877,000

5
CHARLIE BROWN THANKSGVING(S)-11/25/2008
ABC
11,085,000

6
WITHOUT A TRACE
CBS
10,416,000

7
LAW AND ORDER:SVU
NBC
8,589,000

8
FRINGE
FOX
7,704,000

9
BIGGEST LOSER 6
NBC
6,875,000

10
FUEGO EN LA SANGRE TUE
UNI
5,335,000

Source: The Nielsen Company (November 25, 2008).

Overall, ABC won the night with an average audience of almost 17.5 million viewers, while CBS took second place with just over 14.8 million average viewers. …

CBS’s “NCIS” and “The Mentalist” were the number one and number three-ranked primetime
telecasts on broadcast TV for Tuesday, November 18, 2008.
ABC’s “Dancing W/Stars Results” was sandwiched in between the two, in second place.

Rank
Program
Network
Viewers (P2+)

1
NCIS
CBS
17,990,000

2
DANCING W/STARS RESULTS
ABC
17,590,000

3
MENTALIST, THE
CBS
15,844,000

4
HOUSE
FOX
13,263,000

5
WITHOUT A TRACE
CBS
11,850,000

6
DANCING W/STARS RECAP #5(S)-11/18/2008
ABC
11,604,000

7
LAW AND ORDER:SVU
NBC
10,109,000

8
FRINGE
FOX
9,175,000

9
BIGGEST LOSER 6
NBC
7,774,000

10
ELI STONE
ABC
6,358,000

Source: The Nielsen Company (November 18, 2008).

Overall, CBS won the night with an average audience of almost 15.2 million viewers,
while ABC took second place with almost 12.0 million average viewers. FOX and NBC
claimed third and fourth places with roughly 11.3 million and 8.6 million …

CBS’s “NCIS” and “The Mentalist” were the number one and number three-ranked primetime telecasts on broadcast TV for Tuesday, November 11, 2008.
ABC’s “Dancing W/Stars Results” was sandwiched in between the two, in second place.

Rank
Program
Network
Viewers (P2+)

1
NCIS
CBS
18,745,000

2
DANCING W/STARS RESULTS
ABC
16,521,000

3
MENTALIST, THE
CBS
16,516,000

4
HOUSE
FOX
13,062,000

5
WITHOUT A TRACE
CBS
12,232,000

6
DANCING W/STARS RECAP #4(S)-11/11/2008
ABC
10,320,000

7
LAW AND ORDER:SVU
NBC
9,419,000

8
FRINGE
FOX
8,612,000

9
BIGGEST LOSER 6
NBC
8,101,000

10
ELI STONE
ABC
7,005,000

Source: The Nielsen Company (November 11, 2008).

Overall, CBS won the night with an average audience of almost 15.8 million viewers,
while ABC took second place with almost 11.4 million average viewers. FOX and NBC
claimed third and fourth places with roughly 10.9 million and 8.5 …

ABC’s “Dancing With the Stars” was the number one-ranked primetime telecast on broadcast TV for Tuesday, October 28, 2008.
CBS’s “NCIS” and “The Mentalist” rounded out the top three, claiming second and third places, respectively, in Nielsen’s ranking.

Rank
Program
Network
Viewers (P2+)

1
DANCING W/STARS RESULTS
ABC
17,445,000

2
NCIS
CBS
17,258,000

3
MENTALIST, THE
CBS
16,073,000

4
HOUSE
FOX
13,498,000

5
WITHOUT A TRACE
CBS
12,192,000

6
GREAT PUMPKIN, C. BROWN(S)-10/28/2008
ABC
10,383,000

7
LAW AND ORDER:SVU
NBC
9,329,000

8
BIGGEST LOSER 6
NBC
8,139,000

9
ELI STONE
ABC
6,916,000

10
FRINGE
FOX
5,664,000

Source: The Nielsen Company (October 28, 2008).

Overall, CBS won the night with an average audience of almost 15.2 million viewers, while ABC took second place with almost 11.7 million average viewers. FOX and NBC claimed third and fourth places with …

CBS’s “NCIS” and “The Mentalist” were the number one- and number three-ranked primetime telecasts on broadcast TV for Tuesday, October 21, 2008.
ABC’s “Dancing With The Stars” was sandwiched between the two, in second place.

Rank
Program
Network
Viewers (P2+)

1
NCIS
CBS
17,226,000

2
DANCING W/STARS RESULTS
ABC
16,350,000

3
MENTALIST, THE
CBS
15,282,000

4
HOUSE
FOX
13,085,000

5
WITHOUT A TRACE
CBS
11,629,000

6
LAW AND ORDER:SVU
NBC
9,497,000

7
DANCING W/STARS RECAP(S)-10/21/2008
ABC
9,037,000

8
FRINGE
FOX
8,914,000

9
ELI STONE
ABC
8,012,000

10
BIGGEST LOSER 6
NBC
7,407,000

Source: The Nielsen Company (October 21, 2008).

Overall, CBS won the night with an average audience of just over 14.7 million viewers, while ABC took second place with just over 11.2 million average viewers. FOX and NBC claimed third and fourth places with roughly 11 …

CBS’s “NCIS” and “The Mentalist” were, respectively, the number one- and two-ranked primetime telecasts on broadcast TV for Tuesday, October 14, 2008.
“NCIS” drew an average audience of just over 18 million viewers, while “The Mentalist” drew roughly 14.9 million average viewers.
ABC’s “Dancing With The Stars” rounded out the top three, with just over 14.8 million average viewers.
The season premiere of ABC’s “Eli Stone,” which drew almost 8.4 million average viewers, also made the top ten.

RANK
PROGRAM
NETWORK
VIEWERS (P2+)

1
NCIS
CBS
18,038,000

2
MENTALIST, THE
CBS
14,935,000

3
DANCING W/STARS RESULTS
ABC
14,816,000

4
HOUSE
FOX
13,269,000

5
WITHOUT A TRACE
CBS
11,051,000

6
LAW AND ORDER:SVU
NBC
9,512,000

7
FRINGE
FOX
9,157,000

8
ELI STONE
ABC
8,394,000

9
BIGGEST LOSER 6
NBC
7,637,000

10
FUEGO EN LA SANGRE TUE
UNI
5,188,000

Source: …