Is Tom Brady dreamier than Zac Efron?

While that question is best left for science, the latest TV ratings have shown conclusively that, for at least one night, the football star was more popular than the teen pinup.

A Monday Night Football broadcast featuring Brady's New England Patriots moved past Efron's High School Musical 2 as the most watched cable telecast ever, according to Nielsen Media Research stats.

The Dec. 3 game, which featured the Patriots extending their unbeaten season against the Baltimore Ravens, averaged 17.5 million viewers.

That was a field goal better than the 17.2 million averaged by HSM2 in its debut last August. 

The game was, obviously, cable's No. 1 show of the week, and it was the second most watched show on all of TV. Adding to its laurels, it easily bested its free-TV rival, NBC's Sunday Night Football, which averaged 12.7 million for a Ravens matchup against the Brady-less Indianapolis Colts.

Although Brady has now beaten Efron at his own game, the two remain neck and neck in the overall celebrity race.

Brady, 30, plays quarterback on the Patriots, and dates supermodel Gisele Bündchen. Efron, 20, plays Wildcats playmaker Troy Bolton in the HSM movies, and dates costar Vanessa Hudgens.

Brady recently snagged an endorsement deal with Stetson cologne; Efron recently snagged $3 million for signing to star in HSM3.

Efron does land more Bop covers. Of course, Brady does have those Super Bowl rings...

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

• Are viewers on strike? Not a single show topped 20 million. Not even first-run episodes of CBS' CSI (first place, 18.8 million) and ABC's Grey's Anatomy (second place, 17.8 million).
• Because the writers are on strike, Because the writers are on strike, the TV critics have canceled the January leg of their semi-annual convergence on Hollywood. This means you'll just have to imagine what your favorite stars of CW Now (153rd place, 845,000) would say if anyone asked why their show hasn't been canceled yet.
• At least Santa's minions had a good week. CBS' Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer (fourth place, 14.6 million) was up more than 1.5 million viewers from last year. ABC's Santa Claus Is Comin' to Town (27th place, 9.3 million) ruled over CBS' Kid Nation (51st place, 7.1 million).
• So, you say you miss Dancing with the Stars already... Imagine how ABC's Samantha Who? (50th place, 7.2 million) feels.  
• The magic of Oprah did the trick for the ABC TV-movie, Mitch Albom's for One More Day... (ninth place, 12.5 million). Now as to how it works on presidential campaigns...
  Guess 2006 was just boring. Ratings were up for Barbara Walters' 10 Most Fascinating People of 2007 special (15th place, 11.3 million) on ABC.
• If that was the end of the season for NBC's Heroes (17th place, 11.1 million), at least it went out near the top. The series was the week's fourth-most watched show among 18- to 49-year-olds, behind only Grey's Anatomy, CSI and the ageless Rudolph.
• NBC's 30 Rock (68th place, 5.8 million) aired a new episode, people—a new episode. Same goes for ABC's Ugly Betty (26th place, 9.4 million) and Men in Trees (71st place, 5.6 million). Do you know how many Office fans would kill for a new episode? Or scene?
• An edition of the Univision telenovela Destilando Amor rated higher with 18- to 49-year-olds than the likes of ABC's Private Practice (20th place, 10.4 million) and Fox's American Dad (60th place, 6.5 million).
• About that writers' strike again... Fox has ordered 13 more episodes of Don't Forget the Lyrics (56th place, 6.7 million).
• In cable, Holiday in Handcuffs drew more viewers than protests over its less than innocent-sounding title. All told, the Mario Lopez-Melissa Joan Hart made-for-TV comedy set viewership records for ABC Family Channel. Only ESPN's own record-setting MNF scored more cable viewers.
• Tim Allen's Santa Clause movies are the gifts that keep giving and giving. Friday and Saturday airings of the franchise's first two films combined to average more than 10 million for the Disney Channel.
• The SciFi Channel's Wizard of Oz redo, Tin Man, finished strong, with nearly 10 million viewers catching the debuts of the miniseries' final two chapters.
• The usual cable standouts were among the week's cable standouts: MTV's The Hills (4 million), MTV's A Shot at Love with Tila Tequila (3.7 million), TBS' House of Payne (3.5 million) and Bravo's Project Runway (3.1 million).

Overall, CBS (10.5 million) was down 13 percent in viewers for the week when compared to last year. But it was still the most watched network because NBC (8.1 million), for one, was down 23 percent.

ABC (8.8 million) and Fox (6.4 million) were both up. The CW (2.6 million) wasn't.

In cable, ESPN (3.2 million) was the top prime-time network, followed by USA (2.9 million) and the "25 Days of Christmas"-giving ABC Family Channel (2.8 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. CSI, CBS, 18.8 million viewers
2. Grey's Anatomy, ABC, 17.8 million viewers
3. 60 Minutes, CBS, 16.5 million viewers
4. Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer, CBS, 14.6 million viewers
5. Survivor: China, CBS, 13.9 million viewers
6. Extreme Makeover: Home Edition, ABC, 12.8 million viewers
7. Sunday Night Football, NBC, 12.7 million viewers
8. Without a Trace, CBS, 12.68 million viewers
9. Oprah Winfrey Presents: Mitch Albom's For One More Day..., ABC, 12.5 million viewers
10. Amazing Race 12, CBS, 11.9 million viewers