ABC’s 9pm to 11pm coverage of the U.S. presidential election results was the top-rated primetime telecast on Election Night, Tuesday, November 4, 2008.
NBC’s 8pm to 11:30pm coverage of the voting results claimed second place, and ABC’s 8pm to 9pm Election Night coverage rounded out the top three.
Election returns coverage on CBS, FOX, and Univision dominated the rest of the top ten.

Rank
Program
Network
Viewers (P2+)

1
VOTE 2008-9:00PM(S)-11/04/2008
ABC
14,185,000

2
DECISION ‘08 PRIME(S)-11/04/2008
NBC
12,462,000

3
VOTE 2008-8:00PM(S)-11/04/2008
ABC
11,206,000

4
CAMPAIGN 2008 ELECT 3(S)-11/04/2008
CBS
7,410,000

5
YOU DECIDE 2008(S)-11/04/2008
FOX
4,733,000

6
DESTINO 2008 7 11/4(S)-11/04/2008
UNI
4,535,000

7
DESTINO 2008 8 11/4(S)-11/04/2008
UNI
4,474,000

8
DESTINO 2008 6 11/4(S)-11/04/2008
UNI
4,365,000

9
DESTINO 2008 5 11/4(S)-11/04/2008
UNI
3,669,000

10
DESTINO 2008 4 11/4(S)-11/04/2008
UNI
3,505,000

Source: The Nielsen Company (November …

Rank
Program
Network
Viewers (P2+)

1
FOX WRLD SERIES GM5 CONCL(S)
FOX
19,844,000

2
CSI
CBS
19,098,000

3
DANCING WITH THE STARS
ABC
18,876,000

4
DANCING W/STARS RESULTS
ABC
17,445,000

5
NCIS
CBS
17,258,000

6
NBC SUNDAY NIGHT FOOTBALL
NBC
16,741,000

7
MENTALIST, THE
CBS
16,073,000

8
DESPERATE HOUSEWIVES
ABC
15,933,000

9
GREY’S ANATOMY-THU 9PM
ABC
15,319,000

10
60 MINUTES
CBS
14,322,000

Source: The Nielsen Company (October 27, 2008 – November 2, 2008).

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 “CSI” and “Survivor: Gabon” were the number one- and number three-ranked primetime telecasts on broadcast TV for Thursday, October 30, 2008.
ABC’s “Grey’s Anatomy” was sandwiched in between the two, in second place.
The season premiere of NBC’s “30 Rock” also made the top 10.

Rank
Program
Network
Viewers (P2+)

1
CSI
CBS
19,098,000

2
GREY’S ANATOMY-THU 9PM
ABC
15,319,000

3
SURVIVOR: GABON
CBS
13,015,000

4
ELEVENTH HOUR
CBS
11,248,000

5
OFFICE
NBC
9,514,000

6
E.R.
NBC
9,192,000

7
30 ROCK
NBC
8,663,000

8
UGLY BETTY
ABC
8,550,000

9
LIFE ON MARS
ABC
8,139,000

10
MY NAME IS EARL
NBC
6,269,000

Source: The Nielsen Company (October 30, 2008).

Overall, CBS won the night with an average audience of almost 14.5 million viewers, while ABC took second place with just over 10.7 million average viewers. NBC and Univision …

The conclusion of Game 5 of the MLB World Series, which aired on FOX, was the number one-ranked primetime telecast on broadcast TV for Wednesday, October 29, 2008.
CBS’s “Criminal Minds” and “CSI: NY” rounded out the top three.
NBC’s and CBS’s telecasts of Sen. Barack Obama’s half-hour political infomercial also made the top 10.

Rank
Program
Network
Viewers (P2+)

1
FOX WRLD SERIES GM5 CONCL(S)-10/29/2008
FOX
19,844,000

2
CRIMINAL MINDS
CBS
13,966,000

3
CSI: NY
CBS
13,754,000

4
FOX WRLD SRS GM5 CONCLPRE(S)-10/29/2008
FOX
12,080,000

5
FOX WRLD SRS GM5 CONCLPST(S)-10/29/2008
FOX
10,538,000

6
OBAMA: PAID POLITICAL-NBC(S)-10/29/2008
NBC
9,911,000

7
OBAMA: PAID POLITICAL-CBS(S)-10/29/2008
CBS
8,602,000

8
DEAL OR NO DEAL-WED
NBC
8,337,000

9
PRIVATE PRACTICE
ABC
7,933,000

10
OLD CHRISTINE
CBS
7,607,000

Source: The Nielsen Company (October 29, 2008).

Overall, FOX won the night with an average …

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 …

ABC’s “Dancing With the Stars” was the number one-ranked primetime telecast on broadcast TV for Monday, October 27, 2008. 
Game 5 of the MLB World Series, which aired on FOX, claimed second place, and CBS’s “Two And A Half Men” rounded out the top three.

Rank
Program
Network
Viewers (P2+)

1
DANCING WITH THE STARS
ABC
18,876,000

2
FOX WORLD SERIES GAME 5(S)-10/27/2008
FOX
13,237,000

3
TWO AND A HALF MEN
CBS
11,881,000

4
CSI: MIAMI
CBS
10,587,000

5
SAMANTHA WHO?
ABC
10,470,000

6
GARY UNMARRIED-MON 930 SP(S)-10/27/2008
CBS
8,654,000

7
BOSTON LEGAL
ABC
8,581,000

8
HEROES
NBC
8,189,000

9
BIG BANG THEORY, THE
CBS
7,932,000

10
HOW I MET YOUR MOTHER
CBS
7,260,000

Source: The Nielsen Company (October 27, 2008).

Overall, ABC won the night with an average audience of almost 14.2 million viewers, while FOX …

Rank
Program
Network
Viewers (P2+)

1
CSI
CBS
19,492,000

2
DANCING WITH THE STARS
ABC
18,497,000

3
NCIS
CBS
17,226,000

4
DANCING W/STARS RESULTS
ABC
16,350,000

5
DESPERATE HOUSEWIVES
ABC
15,953,000

6
FOX WORLD SERIES GAME 4(S)
FOX
15,479,000

7
MENTALIST, THE
CBS
15,282,000

8
CRIMINAL MINDS
CBS
15,012,000

9
FOX WORLD SERIES GAME 1(S)
FOX
14,634,000

10
TWO AND A HALF MEN
CBS
14,630,000

Source: The Nielsen Company (October 20, 2008 – October 26, 2008).

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 …

CBS’s “CSI” and “Survivor: Gabon” were the number one- and number three-ranked primetime telecasts on broadcast TV for Thursday, October 23, 2008.
ABC’s “Grey’s Anatomy” was sandwiched in between the two, in second place.
Game two of the MLB World Series, which aired on FOX, claimed fourth place, with almost 12.8 million viewers, on average.

Rank
Program
Network
Viewers (P2+)

1
CSI
CBS
19,492,000

2
GREY’S ANATOMY-THU 9PM
ABC
14,451,000

3
SURVIVOR: GABON
CBS
13,309,000

4
FOX WORLD SERIES GAME 2(S)-10/23/2008
FOX
12,777,000

5
ELEVENTH HOUR
CBS
11,849,000

6
E.R.
NBC
8,818,000

7
SNL:WKND UPDT 10/23(S)-10/23/2008
NBC
8,796,000

8
UGLY BETTY
ABC
8,704,000

9
OFFICE
NBC
7,976,000

10
LIFE ON MARS
ABC
7,861,000

Source: The Nielsen Company (October 23, 2008).

Overall, CBS won the night with an average audience of almost 15 million viewers, while FOX took second …