CBS reclaims top ratings spot

After relinquishing its crown to ABC the week before, CBS was back on top of the television ratings last week.

CBS claimed nine of the week’s Top 20 shows, according to Nielsen Media Research. In the first 17 weeks of the season, CBS has been first in viewership 15 times.

There also was good news for NBC, the week’s runner-up. Although its “Golden Globe Awards” broadcast was beaten by ABC’s “Desperate Housewives” and “Extreme Makeover: Home Edition” on Sunday, the Globes cracked the Top 10. For the week, CBS averaged 13.9 million viewers in prime time (9.0 rating, 14 share). NBC had 12.3 million viewers (8.2 rating, 13 share), ABC had 10.7 million (6.8 rating, 11 share), Fox had 9.8 million (6.0 rating, 9 share), UPN had 3.4 million (2.3 rating, 3 share) and the WB 2.7 million (1.9 rating, 3 share).

A ratings point represents 1,096,000 households, or 1 percent of the nation’s estimated 109.6 million TV homes. The share is the percentage of in-use televisions tuned to a given show.