Nellie Andreeva

It was a two-network race last night between NBC and CBS, both of them powered by football. NBC’s Sunday Night Football earned a 15.2 overnight rating to give NBC a 15th straight Sunday night victory. The Packers-Patriots game was up 27% from last year’s Week 15 game between the Vikings and the Panthers. CBS’ primetime was boosted by an NFL lead-in which pushed the start of 60 Minutes to 7:18 PM. From 7-8 PM, football overrun and 60 Minutes drew a 5.5/16 in 18-49 and 21.7 million viewers. Numbers will be refined tomorrow, but from approx. 8:30-10:30 PM, the Survivor: Nicaragua finale (4.1/10 in 18-49, 13.4 million) was down 7% from last December’s Survivor: Samoa closer to rank as the lowest-rated season finale of the veteran reality franchise in adults 18-49. If the result is adjusted up in the finals to a 4.2 demo rating, that would tie Survivor‘s lowest-rated finale to date. From 10:30-11 PM, the Survivor reunion special averaged a 3.5/9 (the special bled into the local news on the East Coast.) In primetime, CBS averaged a 4.4/12 and 15.7 million viewers to rank No.2 to NBC in both measures. Fox aired all-comedy repeats led by Family Guy (2.3/6) and The Simpsons (2.2/6). ABC ran back-to-back rebroadcasts of The Santa Clause 2 and The Santa Clause 3.

TV Editor Nellie Andreeva - tip her here.