ABC’s “New Year’s Rockin Eve ‘09 Special” claimed the top slot in Nielsen’s ranking of the top primetime telecasts on broadcast TV for Wednesday, December 31, 2008.  The telecast drew just over 8.5 million average viewers on New Years Eve.
CBS’s “CSI: NY Special” and “Criminal Minds Special” rounded out the top three, with 6.9 and 6.7 million average viewers, respectively.

Rank
Program
Network
Viewers (P2+)

1
NEW YEAR’S ROCKIN EVE ‘09(S)-12/31/2008
ABC
8,549,000

2
CSI: NY SPECIAL(S)-12/31/2008
CBS
6,850,000

3
CRIMINAL MINDS SPECIAL(S)-12/31/2008
CBS
6,699,000

4
ABC WED MOVIE OF WK-12/31(S)-12/31/2008
ABC
6,308,000

5
BONES SP-NY EVE 8P(S)-12/31/2008
FOX
4,671,000

6
KNIGHT RIDER 12/31(S)-12/31/2008
NBC
4,540,000

7
BONES SP-NY EVE 9P(S)-12/31/2008
FOX
4,452,000

8
OLD CHRISTINE SPECIAL(S)-12/31/2008
CBS
4,132,000

9
LAW AND ORDER:SVU 12/31(S)-12/31/2008
NBC
4,034,000

10
GARY UNMARRIED SPECIAL(S)-12/31/2008
CBS
3,893,000

Source: The Nielsen Company …