Christmas specials seem to be taking a hit this year. ABC’s broadcast last night of the 1970 stop-motion Santa Claus Is Coming To Town (1.7/5) fell 23% from its December 1, 2011 airing. On the CW, A Muppets Christmas: Letters To Santa (0.4/1) cratered 56% from its November 30, 2011 airing. (Last week, CBS’ Rudolph The Red-Nosed Reindeer was down 28% from 2011.) With 17.51 million watching, CBS’ NCIS (2.8/8) drew the most viewers Tuesday night, but the show fell 22% from its last broadcast two weeks ago. NCIS: LA (2.6/7) was down 10% from the 2.9/7 of its November 27 show. Both shows hit season lows. Vegas (1.5/4) followed, down 6% from two weeks ago, a series low.

On NBC, the one-hour live semifinal results on The Voice (3.5/10) was flat with last week’s show. Airing as a strip this week, Howie Mandel’s Take It All (2.3/6) was up 5% over the 2.2/5 of Monday’s show. Ending NBC’s primetime, Parenthood (2.0/6) was up 11% compared with last week, matching its highest rating since November 29, 2011. With an audience of 14.252 million, CBS won the night in overall viewers, while NBC topping the adults 18-49 demo.

Following Santa on ABC, Happy Endings (1.3/3) was flat with last week’s show. Don’t Trust The B—- In Apt 23 (1.0/3) was down 17%, while the soon-to-end Private Practice (1.2/3) was even with its December 4 episode.

Fox’s Tuesday comedy block kicked off with Raising Hope (1.7/5), which was up 21% in 18-49 and 8% in total viewers from last week’s show. A repeat of the Ben And Kate (0.8/2) pilot followed, with New Girl (2.0/5) after that; the latter was flat with last week. At 9:30 PM, The Mindy Project (1.4/4) had its Christmas party and got a little gift with a rise of 8% over last week. The CW’s Hart Of Dixie (0.62) jumped 20% from its December 4 show.

Deadline's Dominic Patten - tip him here.