Nellie Andreeva

We now finally know who the Gossip Girl is (spoiler: It’s a boy!). Last night’s series finale of the CW’s Gossip Girl posted across-the-board season highs. It was the show’s most-watched (1.51 million) episode and highest-rated in adults 18-49 (0.8/2, up 2 tenths) since April 2011. In 18-34 (1.1/3), it was Gossip Girl‘s strongest performance since September 2011. With a Gossip Girl retrospective special at 8 PM, the CW posted its most-watched Monday night (1.41 million) since January. In the 9 PM hour, the network outrated ABC and NBC among adults 18-34 (1.1/3) and women 18-34 (1.8/5).

From 8-9:30 PM, the performance finale of NBC’s The Voice (4.1/11 in 18-49) was up 8% from last week, when it aired from 8-9 PM, and up 8% vs. the performance finale of the reality series’ previous cycle in May. The Voice was the highest-rated program of the night in 18-49 and provided strong lead-in for a preview of NBC’s new comedy 1600 Penn (2.3/6), which got decent sampling though it was down 8% from what The New Normal scored in its September preview with the same 4.1 demo rating lead-in from The Voice. Howie Mandel’s Take It All (1.5/4) dropped 32% from last Monday’s premiere when it immediately followed The Voice.

CBS logged a second consecutive Monday win in adults 18-49 and total viewers, with most of its series up week-to-week despite HUT levels dipping 4% vs. last Monday. The hourlong winter finale of How I Met Your Mother (3.4/9) was up 6% from last week’s half-hour episode. At 9 PM, 2 Broke Girls (3.5/9) was down 5% from last week when it didn’t face The Voice. Mike & Molly (3.3/8) was up 6% from its last original two weeks ago, while Hawaii Five-0 (2.4/6) was down 4% from last week.

ABC and Fox stayed largely out of contention with ratings in the low 1s. On ABC, whose fast nationals may have been inflated by an NFL pre-emption, Extreme Makeover: Home Edition posted a 1.0/3 and a 1.2/3 at 8 and 9 PM, down 9% from last week and flat, respectively. They were followed by a Castle repeat (1.1/3). Fox aired specials. Dragons: Gift Of The Night Fury and Ice Age: A Mammoth Christmas Special did best, averaging a 1.5/4. Ice Age was up 36% from last year’s encore. Happiness Is A Warm Blanket, Charlie Brown (0.9/2) was down a tenth from last year’s encore (1.0/3) but up 50% from its airing on the night after Thanksgiving last month.

TV Editor Nellie Andreeva - tip her here.