This list is really not all that meaningful, but…it’s the list everyone seems to be used to — the overall “most-watched” list. But the rankings are fun to look at, especially when you see NCIS at #3 overall, but #24 among 18-49 year olds. Shows like Grey’s Anatomy and House and even Sunday Night Football this week get pushed down this list, but rank near the top of 18-49 year old viewing.

Of course there are fan favorites like The Office, The Big Bang Theory and How I Met Your Mother that perform very well among 18-49 year olds, and don’t make this list at all. While 60 Minutes, Cold Case and Without a Trace do very well overall, but are no where to be found among the top 20 shows among 18-49 year olds. Wouldn’t you rather see the top 20 list for 18-49 viewing?

No? I didn’t think so onto this list:

Nielsen Top Twenty Shows by viewers for the week ending 11/23/08:

Nielsen Ratings Data: ©2008 The Nielsen Company. All Rights Reserved

All numbers above based on live plus same day DVR viewing.

CBS dominated the top 20, with twelve shows, ABC had five, NBC had two — Sunday Night Football, which came in second place for the week, and first among 18-49 year olds, as well as the Sunday Night Football pregame. Fox could muster but one show in the top 20, House, though the Fox network did win among 18-34 year old viewers for the week.

Some will chime in about CBS’ older skew (myself included) because it’s true it does skew older – but it was still the number on network for the week among 18-49 year old viewers. On the other hand, it was the number four network among 18-34 year olds, but remember that the relative difference between number one Fox and CBS was only about 250,000 viewers aged 18-34 on average. We believe the 18-49 demo pays most of the bills.

Though it’s true CBS had four shows on this list that were not among the top twenty-seven shows among 18-49 year olds (we only saw rankings for the top 27 this week), it placed two shows in the 18-49 top twenty that didn’t make this list: The Big Bang Theory (#17) and How I Met Your Mother (#12).

Nielsen Top Twenty Shows by viewers for the week ending 11/16/08:

Nielsen Ratings Data: ©2008 The Nielsen Company. All Rights Reserved

All numbers above based on live plus same day DVR viewing.

CBS isn’t so dominate among 18-49 year olds where it placed seven shows (NBC place six, ABC five and Fox two) but it was still dominant and, it pulled something off I never thought I’d see: two out of three shows from Friday making the top 20 - Numb3rs and a repeat (yes a repeat!) of NCIS. Ghost Whisperer was not far behind at number 23. Just so you know I still have my head screwed on more or less correctly, yes I know it was a strange week with election coverage preempting all of the Tuesday shows. While I don’t personally find this particular list as meaningful as the 18-49 list (and neither, by the way, do the networks) CBS is still cleaning up here and among 18-49 year olds as well. Actually making a night out of Fridays is to be commended in my book.

Still, with almost four million more viewers, Grey’s Anatomy had a million more 18-49 year old viewers than CSI. But there’s no shame in that. The shame for now lies a little at Fox and a LOT at NBC. Without sports, and election coverage NBC would’ve placed no shows on this list (and without Sunday Football that would be the case every week!). Fox at least would’ve place House if not for the election coverage. But the fun doesn’t start for Fox until American Idol comes back, which is going to be a while. Though it will be very interesting to see how the two hour movie, 24: Redemption does in a couple of weeks.

Nielsen Top Twenty Shows by viewers for the week ending 11/09/08: