Parton, Tree Lighting, Cowboys Power NBC

NEW YORK (AP) — With the help of Dolly Parton, an iconic Christmas tree lighting, “The Voice” and the Dallas Cowboys, NBC enjoyed one of its best weeks in television ratings in years.

Aside from times when NBC had the Olympics or Super Bowl, the week ending Sunday was the network’s most-watched in 19 years, said Bob Greenblatt, NBC chairman.

The Parton movie, “Christmas of Many Colors,” finished among the Nielsen company’s top 10 programs last week. The network also had strong weeks for “The Voice” and the growing freshman drama, “This is Us.”

NBC hopes its success continues this week with the high-profile musical “Hairspray Live!” airing Wednesday.

“We always plan for these December bumps (in the ratings) because we have so many specials,” Greenblatt said. “They just give us a little lift that we’ve come to expect. Thankfully, it’s the case this year.”

With the Cowboys playing on NBC Thursday night, that NFL game accomplished the unusual feat of getting a higher rating than NBC’s Sunday night game.

NBC averaged 10.6 million viewers for the week. CBS was second with 6.7 million viewers, Fox had 5.8 million, ABC had 5 million, the CW had 2.1 million, Univision had 1.8 million, Telemundo had 1.7 million and Ion Television had 1.4 million.

The election’s over, but Fox News Channel was still the most popular cable network last week, averaging 2.59 million viewers in primetime. ESPN had 2.57 million, Hallmark had 2.25 million, AMC had 1.57 million and ABC Family had 1.53 million.

ABC’s “World News Tonight” narrowly won the evening news ratings race, averaging 8.45 million to NBC “Nightly News'” 8.39 million. The “CBS Evening News” had 6.9 million.

The Top 20

Primetime viewership numbers compiled by Nielsen for Nov. 28-Dec. 4. Listings include the week’s ranking and viewership.

1. NFL Football: Dallas at Minnesota, NBC, 21.76 million.

2. NFL Football: Carolina at Seattle, NBC, 17.75 million.

3. “The Big Bang Theory,” CBS, 14.54 million.

4. “Sunday Night NFL Pre-Kick,” NBC, 13.65 million.

5. NFL Football: Green Bay at Philadelphia, ESPN, 13.06 million.

6. “Thursday Night NFL Pre-Kick,” NBC, 12.23 million.

7. “The OT,” Fox, 12.18 million.

8. “60 Minutes,” CBS, 11.85 million.

9. Movie: “Christmas of Many Colors,” NBC, 11.58 million.

10. “The Voice” (Tuesday), NBC, 10.64 million viewers.

11. “This is Us,” NBC, 10.53 million viewers.

12. “Christmas in Rockefeller Center,” NBC, 10.5 million.

13. “The Walking Dead,” AMC, 10.48 million.

14. “Football Night in America, NBC, 9.88 million.

15. “The Voice” (Monday), NBC, 9.81 million.

16. “Rudolph the Red-Nose Reindeer,” CBS, 9.39 million.

17. “NCIS,” CBS, 9.27 million.

18. College Football: Wisconsin vs. Penn State, Fox, 9.19 million.

19. “Pro Football Pre-Game,” NBC, 9.1 million.

20. “Survivor,” CBS, 8.86 million.