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Local Nielsen ratings snapshot (Thurs., Nov. 11) -- CBS tops in total viewers; shares wealth with 18-to-49-year-olds

By ED BARK
CBS' comedies and crime hours again drew Thursday's overall biggest D-FW audiences, sweeping the 7 to 10 p.m. Nielsens.

The Mentalist as usual emerged as prime-time's top draw, with 387,839 total viewers in the 9 p.m. hour.

Among advertiser-craved 18-to-49-year-olds, Mentalist and CBS' The Big Bang Theory won their time periods while the network's CSI: Crime Scene Investigation ran second at 8 p.m. to ABC's Grey's Anatomy and its $#*! My Dad Says plunged to fourth place from 7:30 to 8 p.m.

Plunged is putting it kindly. Big Bang had Thursday's biggest haul of 18-to-49-year-olds (174,402) before William Shatner's excrement adventure fell to 52,650 viewers in this age range. That's a bigger bailout than TARP, with Fox's second half-hour of Bones, The CW's 7:30 to 8 p.m. portion of The Vampire Diaries and NBC's 30 Rock all beating the $#*! out of $#*!. OK, I've had my fun.

In local news derby results, CBS11 returned to the 10 p.m. rose garden with first place finishes in total viewers and 25-to-54-year-olds, the main advertiser target audience for news programming on most stations. Its 249,325 total viewers were more than any prime-time program on either Fox or NBC.

NBC5 won at 6 a.m. in total viewers while Fox4 took the 25-to-54 gold.

WFAA8 and CBS11 tied for first place at 6 p.m. in total viewers, with Fox4 again on top with 25-to-54-year-olds. WFAA8 swept the 5 p.m. Nielsens.

CBS11 and sister station TXA21 had particularly dismal returns on two fronts Thursday.

The 5 p.m. newscast on CBS11 drew a subterranean 3,107 viewers in the key 25-to-54 demographic compared to front-runner WFAA8's 68,347. And at 8 p.m., TXA21's newscast had "hashmarks" (no measurable audience) among 25-to-54-year-olds while drawing a sub/sub-puny 932 of 'em in the 7 p.m. hour.

In TXA21's case, it might be time to bring in Uncle Barky and His Dancing Dairyland Dogs, featuring Sid the Gassy Retriever.

Just trying to help.
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