Nielsen Ratings

No writers? No problem for JAY LENO, at least on Wednesday night, when several major late-night TV shows ended an eight-week hiatus brought on by the writers' strike. Seven-point-two million viewers watched Leno on NBC's Tonight Show, which secured a comfortable victory over DAVID LETTERMAN and CBS' Late Show, despite Letterman's returning writing staff, thanks to a separate agreement with the Writers Guild of America.

The newly-bearded Letterman was seen by 5.5 million viewers. NBC's CONAN O'BRIEN was more popular with viewers than CBS' CRAIG FERGUSON later in the night, even though he also was without his writers. O'Brien and Late Night attracted 2.8 million viewers, while 2.2 million people watched Ferguson and Late Late Show. Ferguson went back on the air with his writers under the same agreement made by Letterman's production company.

The country was certainly curious to see how these hosts would respond to the ongoing strike. Leno, Letterman, O'Brien and Ferguson all saw a spike in ratings in comparison to their pre-strike averages, with The Tonight Show enjoying a 43-percent increase.

In other Nielsens news, the NFL regular season ended with a bang last weekend. Most notably, the New England Patriots' victory over the New York Giants Saturday night was seen by 34.5 million people. The NFL Network's telecast of the game, in which the Patriots became the first team in 35 years to finish a regular season undefeated, was simulcast on NBC and CBS.

CBS won the primetime ratings race last week, followed by NBC, Fox, ABC, the CW, MyNetworkTV and ION Television.

Here are the top 10 primetime programs for the week of December 24th-30th, according to Nielsen Media Research:

1. NBC Sunday Night Football: Tennessee at Indianapolis, NBC, 15.8 million viewers.

2. NFL Football: New England at N.Y. Giants, CBS, 15.68 million viewers.

3. NFL Football: New England at N.Y. Giants, NBC, 13.23 million viewers.

4. 60 Minutes, CBS, 12.39 million viewers.

5. CSI: Crime Scene Investigation, CBS, 10.69 million viewers.

6. Without a Trace, CBS, 10.54 million viewers.

7. Sunday Night NFL Pre-Kick, NBC, 10.38 million viewers.

8. Deal Or No Deal, (Tuesday) NBC, 9.78 million viewers.

9. Amazing Race 12, CBS, 9.69 million viewers.

10. CSI: NY, (Thursday) CBS, 9.49 million viewers.