Shrek is green. Like money.

The CGI giant treated his TV debut like a box-office bow, gobbling up an average of 20.8 million viewers for the new ABC special Shrek the Halls and easily scoring the week's most watched holiday offering, per the latest Nielsen Media Research rankings.

The two-part Dancing with the Stars finale, also on ABC, was the week's most watched overall show—or shows. The Helio Castroneves-crowning season-ender averaged 24.9 million (first place); the three-way dance-off averaged 24.2 million (second place).

On the sugarplum circuit, Shrek reigned over NBC's coverage of the Christmas-tree lighting at Rockefeller Center (36th place, 8.9 million) and took the shine out of the Peacock's Radio City Christmas Spectacular (64th place, 6.5 million).

His most heated Yuletide competition came from a fellow green-hued ogre, the Grinch. The umpteenth prime-time outing for Dr. Seuss' How the Grinch Stole Christmas—the 1966 cartoon, not the 2000 Jim Carrey movie, which aired on ABC after Shrek the Halls—pulled in a whole lot of Whos (and thems), averaging 18.5 million. Both shows finished in the top 10.

Shrek proved especially good with the kids. According to ABC, Shrek the Halls drew more children, ages 2-11, than any prime-time broadcast show in more than seven years, with the exception—and there's almost always an exception with these stats—of various Super Bowls.

The green guy also brought in the car- and toothpaste-buyers. His special ranked second for the week among adults aged 18-49.

With Shrek dominating, the little round-headed kid took it on the undefined chin. It wasn't that A Charlie Brown Christmas wasn't a hit—also airing on ABC, it finished 15th, and averaged 13.5 million viewers, up slightly over last year—it was just lost a bit in the pack.

ABC reaired Charlie Brown on Monday night, but it was doubtful the repeat of the repeat would overtake Shrek the Halls. (Overnight ratings for Monday's shows were unavailable Tuesday.) Barring an unforeseen surge in interest in I Want a Dog for Christmas, Charlie Brown, scheduled to air next Monday on ABC, it will be up to Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer, airing Tuesday on CBS, and Santa Claus Is Comin' to Town, arriving Wednesday on ABC, to represent for the classic holiday special and dethrone Shrek the Halls.

Shrek was last seen on the big screen in Shrek the Third, the year's second-biggest grossing movie. No word yet if he plans to get into the Easter special business.

Here are other ratings highlights for the TV week ended Sunday:

• A tornado whipped up Desperate Housewives' best numbers (fourth place, 20.7 million; first place in the 18-49 demo) in more than a year.
• Welcome back from the race-car circuit, Frankie Muniz. The ex-Malcolm in the Middle star guested on Criminal Minds and helped drive the CBS crime drama to its best numbers (eighth place, 16.2 million) since the show aired after last February's Super Bowl.
• Wonder if Muniz is available for NBC's Bionic Woman (74th place, 5.9 million)?
• If the writers' strike isn't settled soon, there won't be any Muniz guest spots to film anywhere, and ABC's Big Shots (84th place, 5.3 million) will run out of episodes that nobody's watching anyway.
• Heroes' perhaps penultimate episode—again, depending on the strike, Monday's episode could have been it for the season for the NBC series—was up 1 million viewers (21st place, 11.9 million) from the previous week.
• TV-movie sighting on network television! A unicorn or no, CBS' Hallmark Hall of Fame special, Pictures of Hollis Woods (24th place, 11.3 million) could not keep pace with Desperate Housewives or Brothers & Sisters (18th place, 12.6 million) on Sunday night.
• According to NBC, Friday Night Lights is TV's most watched drama among young adults who live in households that pull in more than $100,000 a year. Overall, it finished in 80th place (5.5 million). The poor people have spoken.
• Gossip Girl (105th place, 2.9 million) was CW's most watched show not involving a ring or spandex.
• ABC's Samantha Who? (22nd place, 11.7 million) enjoyed its last Dancing with the Stars lead-in; Notes from the Underbelly (43rd place, 7.5 million) blew its first Samantha Who? lead-in.
• In late night, Carson Daly's rush back to the air—his Last Call became the first strike-shuttered, night-owl show to return with a new episode Monday—apparently wasn't driven by ratings. During the holiday-shortened week of Nov. 19, the latest late-night ratings available, the show averaged 1.15 million viewers in repeats, just a tick below the 1.16 million it's averaging for the season to date.
• Among the late-night shows, NBC's Tonight is taking the biggest hit. NBC's Thanksgiving offering of moldy, old, sorry, classic Jay Lenos averaged 4.1 million for the week of Nov. 19, down 13 percent from the show's season average. CBS' David Letterman repeats, by comparison, were up 8 percent from that show's overall performance. 
• In cable, Sci Fi Channel's Tin Man miniseries showed heart in its Sunday night opener: 6.3 million viewers.
• A Disney Channel presentation of The Santa Clause (5 million) was the most watched Christmas movie of cable's bajillion Christmas movies.
• NFL Network complaints would seem futile. The network, which nobody gets, or so the gripe goes, averaged 10.1 million for its much-anticipated Dallas Cowboys-Green Bay Packers matchup. Only ESPN's Monday Night Football (13.1 million) scored more viewers in all the cable universe.

Overall, ABC enjoyed what might be the last big week of the season, before it all goes to hell and reality shows. It aired the top five shows, four of which scored more than 20 million viewers each.

The network was the most watched among all viewers (averaging 12.5 million), and the highest-rated among 18- to 49-year-olds.

CBS (10.6 million) was second in viewers, followed by Fox (8.3 million), which had a terrible week in the demo, and NBC (8.2 million). The CW averaged 2.7 million.

In cable, ESPN was the most watched prime-time network (3.4 million), followed by USA (2.9 million), and Disney Channel (2.6 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. Dancing with the Stars (Tuesday), ABC, 24.9 million viewers
2. Dancing with the Stars (Monday), ABC, 24.2 million viewers
3. Shrek the Halls, ABC, 20.8 million viewers
4. Desperate Housewives, ABC, 20.7 million viewers
5. Dr. Seuss' How the Grinch Stole Christmas, ABC, 18.5 million viewers
6. NCIS, CBS, 17 million viewers
7. House, Fox, 16.97 million viewers
8. Criminal Minds, CBS, 16.2 million viewers
9. CSI: Miami, CBS, 15.6 million viewers
10. Two and a Half Men, CBS, 15.3 million viewers