Frosty the Showman

He's fat, bald and smokes. Some guys just really know how to wow a crowd.

Frosty the Snowman, the jolly, happy soul who came to life in his self-titled 1969 animated special and its 1992 sequel, was one of the ratings stars of the TV week ended Sunday.

Other standouts included a ridiculed reindeer and a persecuted toymaker.

In all, classic holiday specials dominated the top 25, with Frosty the Snowman, Frosty Returns, Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer and Santa Claus Is Comin' to Town all making the cut, per the latest Nielsen Media Research rankings.

CBS' Rudolph led the way, as its title character is wont to do, with 12.9 million (12th place) along for the annual ride to the Island of Misfit Toys.

The original Frosty, which also aired on CBS, was the second most watched of the bunch, helping slide past NBC's Las Vegas (32nd place, 9.8 million) with 12.7 million viewers (15th place).

ABC's Santa Claus Is Comin' to Town, now in its 36th year of explainin' how Kris Kringle liberated the residents of Sombertown with nary a casualty, edged CBS' NCIS (22nd place, 11 million) on Tuesday and placed 21st overall (11.1 million).

A Saturday night outing for Santa Claus on cable's ABC Family had an additional 3.5 million hanging on animated Fred Astaire's every word.

Frosty Returns, which aired on CBS, like its predecessor, also topped Las Vegas with 10.7 million (23rd place).

An ABC broadcast of the new-school Jim Carrey offering, Dr. Seuss' How the Grinch Stole Christmas (55th place, 7 million), didn't pack the same holiday punch as the older-school offerings. On cable, however, Tom Hanks' The Polar Express was a hit for ABC Family, drawing a combined 9.1 million for Friday and Saturday night broadcasts.

ABC Family emerged as the week's most watched cable network, in large part due to the CGI-animated Hanks, and in no small part due to a certain Rankin-Bass-animated reindeer.

Lesser-known sequels to 1964's Rudolph accounted for four hours' worth of ABC Family programming and a combined 7.5 million sets of eyeballs. Among the draws: Rudolph's Shiny New Year, which hooked 3 million with its red-nosed star and a caveman voiced by Morey Amsterdam.

About the only holiday special to bomb was CBS' Victoria's Secret Fashion Show (59th place, 6.8 million), which sported wings but still got Grinched on Tuesday by ABC's Boston Legal (29th place, 10.2 million) and a repeat of NBC's Law & Order: SVU (30th place, 10.1 million).

Maybe next time the models should try wearing old silk hats.

Other ratings highlights:

• NBC's Heroes (sixth place, 14.9 million) is hot, but not even its powers worked on Saturday night, where a repeat fell to Earth as the least-watched show on the four big networks (120th place, 2.5 million).
• Season finales were good for business at CBS' Amazing Race 10 (14th place, 12.7 million) and the CW's America's Next Top Model (68th place, 6.2 million). Both shows drew their biggest audiences since last year.
• The CW was pleased to announce that America's Next Top Model led the outfit to its "highest-rated night in network history." The fabled CW launched three months ago.
• Kevin James is shooting the new Adam Sandler movie, and King of Queens (28th place, 10.2 million for one episode; 35th place, 9.4 million) is back on CBS. For now.
• Supernanny (34th place, 9.6 million) has returned to save the world—and ABC's 9 p.m. Tuesday time slot from The Bachelor.
• NBC's Scrubs (43rd place, 8.4 million) is doing better on Thursdays.
• NBC's 30 Rock (58th place, 6.8 million) is doing less badly on Thursdays.
• Fox's The O.C. (95th place, 3.8 million) is being done in on Thursdays.
• On the O.C. upside, it is building on its lead-in. That's because The O.C.'s lead-in is the barely watched 'Til Death (97th place, 3.78 million), which itself is hampered by its lead-in, the still-barely watched 'Til Death (93rd place, 3.9 million).
• ABC has ordered six more episodes of Show Me the Money (54th place, 7.1 million), so it'll have something to sacrifice air opposite American Idol on Tuesday nights in January.
• No Paris, no Britney, no fun for the 17th Annual Billboard Music Awards (73rd place, 6.1 million), which attracted its smallest number of viewers ever.

In a rerun-heavy week, CBS claimed its usual victory as the most-watched network among total viewers, averaging 11.7 million, while NBC claimed its second consecutive victory as the highest-rated network among 18- to 49-year-olds.

Boosted by Sunday Night Football (second place, 19.9 million), NBC also took second in total viewers.

Down a Desperate Housewives and making do with a previously viewed Grey's Anatomy (24th place, 10.5 million), ABC fell to third in total viewers (8.4 million).

Fox (6.1 million) got one week closer to Idol's return.

The CW (3.6 million) blew past Telemundo (900,000).

Here's a look at the 10 most watched prime-time shows for the week ended Sunday, according to Nielsen Media Research:

1. CSI, CBS, 23.3 million viewers
2. Sunday Night Football, Fox, 19.9 million viewers
3. Deal or No Deal (Monday), NBC, 17.4 million viewers
4. 60 Minutes, CBS, 15.8 million viewers
5. Survivor: Cook Islands, CBS, 15.7 million viewers
6. Heroes, NBC, 14.9 million viewers
7. Extreme Makeover: Home Edition, ABC, 14.2 million viewers
8. Cold Case, CBS, 14.1 million viewers
9. Shark, 14 million viewers
10. Without a Trace, 13.9 million