By Lisa de Moraes
Wednesday, November 19, 2008

The future First Couple and a faux psychic handed CBS the biggest weekly audience of any network this season -- 12.3 million viewers.

WINNERS

The Obamas. They're pop culture icons -- moving magazine sales, influencing fashion -- and now the president-elect and future first lady are the stars of the No. 1-ranked telecast this season. Barack and Michelle Obama attracted more than 25 million viewers to "60 Minutes" in their first interview since election night -- the long-running newsmag's biggest audience in a decade.

"The Mentalist." The new TV season's only bona fide hit continued its ratings climb -- now up to nearly 17 million viewers. That's more than double the crowd that went with Fox's highly hyped "Fringe" in the same Tuesday hour. The CBS drama also beat Fox among younger viewers. Paired with "The Mentalist," CBS's six-season-old "NCIS" hit a series high at 8 that night when nearly 19 million tuned in, beating Fox's "House."

"Jeff Dunham's Very Special Christmas Special." The ventriloquist clocks Comedy Central's biggest audience ever -- 6.6 million viewers -- eclipsing the "South Park" cliffhanger resolution, "Cartman's Mom Is Still a Dirty Slut," which had logged 6.2 million viewers way back in 1998. It's a shame to see the classics going down.

"Gary Unmarried." Once again, Male Pattern Optimism -- doughy dumbish guy with hot younger chick -- proves a winning formula for CBS, scoring a full-season order.

"ER." Anthony Edwards's return produced "ER's" biggest audience in more than a year -- 10 million viewers. In its 15th season on-air, it was the Thursday-at-10 time slot's youngest-skewing series, with a median age of 48 years, compared with CBS's "Eleventh Hour" (55 years) and ABC's "Life on Mars" (51).

"How I Met Your Mother." CBS's little pocket of hipness crushed NBC's fading "Heroes" among 18-to-49-year-olds and, for the first time, actually tied "Heroes" among the 18-to-34-year-olds advertisers and editors swoon over.

CMAs. While the Country Music Awards logged a lowest-yet 15.9 million viewers, that's still double what ABC has been averaging on Wednesday nights with its Do-Over lineup: "Pushing Daisies," "Private Practice" and "Dirty Sexy Money."

LOSERS

"Fringe." Even its "House" lead-in can't save the new drama from suffering ever smaller numbers -- now down to 8.6 million.

"The Price Is Right." Dead-people dramas and game shows do not mix, as CBS found out on Friday when nearly a third of "Ghost Whisperer" viewers tuned out the "Price Is Right" special that followed.

ABC Saturday college football. The network's weekend franchise, averaging a healthy 10 million viewers this season, fell victim to the intense apathy toward Boston College and Florida State. How bad was it? 4.5 million bad.

The week's 10 most watched programs, in order, were: CBS's "60 Minutes," NBC's "Sunday Night Football," CBS's "CSI," CBS's "NCIS," ABC's "Dancing With the Stars," ABC's "Desperate Housewives," ABC's "Dancing With the Stars" results show, CBS's "The Mentalist," ABC's CMAs, and ABC's "Grey's Anatomy."