Nellie Andreeva

After hitting a series low earlier in the fall, NBC’s The Biggest Loser gradually found its groove, especially after shifting to the 9-11 PM time period 3 weeks ago. The season finale of the veteran reality series last night hit season highs, drawing a 4.0/11 in adults 18-49 and 11 million viewers overall. This was up 29% in 18-49 from last week in 18-49 but down 20% from the Biggest Loser fall finale last December. Vs. the spring finale in May, it was up a tenth. With Minute to Win It (2.3/7, 7.7 million) at 8 PM up 21% from last week to score its best 18-49 rating since the show’s premiere and its largest audience ever, NBC (3.4/10, 9.9 million) logged its first nightly win in 18-49 this season outside of football-dominated Sunday.

It was a  two-network race between NBC and CBS last night, with Fox and the CW airing wall-to-wall reruns of their flagship series Glee (2.1/6, 5.5 million) and The Vampire Diaries (0.5/1, 1.3 million), respectively, and ABC (1.1/3, 4.3 million) re-airing the I Want a Dog For Christmas, Charlie Brown special (1.6/5, 5.5 million) at 8 PM, which was down 11% from last December, and running repeats of No Ordinary Family (1.0/3) and Detroit 1-8-7 (0.8/2).

CBS picked things up exactly where it left off on Nov. 23 when it last aired originals on the night. NCIS (4.0/12) was up a tenth. Airing against the Biggest Loser finale, NCIS: LA (3.2/9) and The Good Wife 2.1/6, the only broadcast series to land a best drama Golden Globe nomination yesterday, were both flat with their season-low Nov. 23 results. CBS (3.1/9, 16.1 million) won the night in total viewers and was No.2 in 18-49.

TV Editor Nellie Andreeva - tip her here.