Glee Got Beat by What…?!

Last night's ratings results were almost as surprising as last night's episode

What's more surprising than last night's Glee?

What beat down last night's Glee.

Hint: It glows.

You are correct if you said Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer.

In an antler-to-Evita battle last night, the holiday special outdrew Glee, 12 million estimated viewers to 11.6 million.

OK, yes, Glee owned the 18-49 demo. And, OK, yes, Glee always loses the total-viewer battle to CBS shows. But NCIS is NCIS; Rudolph is, like, a billion years old.

Make that, a timeless billion years old.

More ratings results:

• A week after the ratings on Sarah Palin's new TLC show fell, they rose (to 3.5 million viewers). So, yes, reports of the Mama Grizzly's Nielsen demise were premature.

• After two outings, the biggest audience Skating With the Stars has had was the half-hour right after the top-rated Dancing With the Stars finale (24.2 million viewers). Minus any Bristol Palin power, Monday's episode averaged just 6 million (down from 9.4 million).

• Sunday's Walking Dead scared up a new season high (5.6 million), and wound up the week's most-watched cable series. Other cable stand-outs: the Soul Train Awards (3.6 million); Sons of Anarchy (3.3 million); and, The Real Housewives of Atlanta (3.2 million).

• If you're not a football player, you're a nobody on Thanksgiving—no matter how big your name. Just ask Taylor Swift (4.4 million for the NBC turkey-day special, Speak Now), and Beyoncé (4.2 million for the ABC turkey-day special, I Am…Yours).

Here were the week's 10 most-watched (non-football) shows among demographically desirable 18-49 year-olds, per the just-released Nielsen Media Research broadcast rankings: 

1. Dancing With the Stars (Tuesday) (7 million demo viewers; 24.2 million overall viewers)
2. Dancing With the Stars (Monday) (6.5 million demo viewers; 23.7 million overall viewers)
3. Two and a Half Men (5.9 million demo viewers; 14.4 million overall viewers)
4. The Simpsons (5.4 million demo viewers; 9.4 million overall viewers)
5. Glee (5.3 million demo viewers; 10.4 million overall viewers)
6. Mike & Molly (5.2 million demo viewers; 12.9 million overall viewers)
7. NCIS (5.1 million demo viewers; 18.8 million overall viewers)
8. Modern Family (4.9 million demo viewers; 10.6 million overall viewers)
9. How I Met Your Mother (4.5 million demo viewers; 8.7 million overall viewers)
10. The Cleveland Show (4.4 million demo viewers; 7.4 million overall viewers)