Late-night viewers did not look for the union label.
Jay Leno's writerless Tonight Show trumped David Letterman's writer-packed Late Show on Wednesday night, as the shows returned with their first new episodes since the strike by Hollywood scribes shut them down in November.
Leno scored 7.2 million viewers versus Letterman's 5.5 million, Nielsen Media Research stats showed Thursday.
The math speaks for itself: Even on a super-sized night for Letterman—his ratings were easily his best of the season—Leno was king.
Tonight was up more than 40 percent over its season average, and padded its double-digit lead over Late Show.
Conan O'Brien, who also returned Wednesday after a two-month layoff, similarly enjoyed a back-to-work bump, with his Late Night (2.8 million) up more than 30 percent.
O'Brien, like the mountain-man-looking Letterman, sported a full beard on his first night back. But the future Tonight host had more in common with the current Tonight host: namely, no writers.
Striking writers are still striking at the NBC-owned Tonight Show and Late Night, as the lines outside the shows' respective studios reminded Wednesday.
Letterman, on the other hand, returned with the blessing of the writers' union, with his show, which he owns, having reached an independent deal with the scribes.
Letterman scored a similar deal for The Late Late Show, which his company also owns. And like Late Show, the Craig Ferguson-hosted Late Late Show enjoyed a poststrike boost—but not as big a boost as time-slot rival O'Brien.
On Wednesday, the writers-approved Late Late Show notched 2.2 million viewers, up about 20 percent from its season average, but still about 20 percent shy of the total posted by the writers-disapproved Late Night.
The Late Night surge seemed to benefit Carson Daly's Last Call, which was up 40 percent, per preliminary stats. Wednesday was just another work night for Daly, who was pressed to return to his night-owl show in late November, becoming the first late-night host to break the strike ranks.
With just about all eyes on Leno and Letterman, Jimmy Kimmel, meanwhile, was somewhat neglected in his own late-night return. ABC's Jimmy Kimmel Live (1.7 million viewers) was the only late-night show to post a loss, down about 10 percent from its season average.
The late-night wars resume Thursday, with Letterman boasting scheduled guests (and union talents) Bill Maher and Juno's Ellen Page and Leno boasting...well, nobody the Tonight Show is willing to reveal yet.
Good thing for Leno that at least the viewers seem willing to be present.
Here, meanwhile, are what passed for ratings highlights from TV's traditionally little-watched Christmas week:
- Pigskin saved the networks' hide. The New England Patriots' perfect-season clincher on Saturday night averaged a combined 33.4 million viewers for CBS, NBC and cable's the NFL Network. CBS won the battle for bragging rights—more people caught the game on its channel than anywhere else.
- The Patriots game, by the way, goes down in the books as the most watched regular-season NFL telecast since 1995.
- The Patriots game, however, does not go down in the books as the most singularly watched telecast of the week. That distinction belongs to the Indianapolis Colts-Tennessee Titans matchup, which averaged 15.8 million for NBC's Sunday Night Football, tops in all of TV.
- CBS' 60 Minutes (fourth place, 12.4 million) surged—and its Mike Wallace-Roger Clemens showdown was still a week away.
- The von Trapps still have it. A Sunday night presentation of The Sound of Music on ABC averaged a respectable 7.7 million (16th place), the biggest single holiday audience for any movie, broadcast or cable.
- No movie, broadcast or cable, assembled a bigger combined audience than the ever-durable A Christmas Story, which aired 12 times on TBS on Christmas Eve and Christmas Day, and scored 33.6 million total viewers for its marathon effort to caution against poked-out eyes.
- It's a Wonderful Life (53rd place, 4.5 million), as aired on NBC on Christmas Eve, is looking tired; High School Musical 2 (5.5 million), as aired on Disney Channel on Friday, isn't.
- Is Leon Fleisher box-office poison? Viewership for CBS' broadcast of the Kennedy Center Honors (29th place, 6.2 million), honoring the esteemed pianist, as well as some folks named Steve Martin, Diana Ross, Martin Scorsese and Brian Wilson, were down nearly 40 percent from last year.
Overall, CBS' repeats averaged more total viewers (8.6 million) than its rivals' encore broadcasts; NBC's football-heavy lineup scored more young adults than its rivals.
In cable, ESPN (4.5 million) was the most watched prime-time network, followed by the Disney Channel (2.7 million) and USA (2.7 million).
Here's a look at the 10 most watched broadcast network prime-time shows for the week ended Sunday, according to Nielsen Media Research:
1. Sunday Night Football (Tennessee at Indianapolis), NBC, 15.8 million viewers
2. NFL Saturday Night Special (New England at New York Giants), CBS, 15.7 million viewers
3. NBC NFL Special (New England at New York Giants), NBC, 13.2 million viewers
4. 60 Minutes, CBS, 12.4 million viewers
5. CSI, CBS, 10.7 million viewers
6. Without a Trace, CBS, 10.5 million viewers
7. Sunday Night Football Pre-Kick, NBC, 10.4 million viewers
8. Deal or No Deal (Tuesday), NBC, 9.8 million viewers
9. Amazing Race 12, CBS, 9.7 million viewers
10. CSI: NY, CBS, 9.5 million viewers