Kennedy Center Honors boost CBS ratings

Kennedy Center Honorees John Paul Jones, Robert Plant and Jimmy Page of Led Zeppelin; comedian and late night talk show host David Letterman; blues musician Buddy Guy; ballerina Natalia Makarova; and actor Dustin Hoffman are seen during the 2012 Kennedy Center Honors Dec. 2, 2012, in Washington, D.C.

/ BRENDAN SMIALOWSKI/AFP/Getty Images

A Kennedy Center Honors special and a block of reruns put CBS ahead in the network ratings race for two nights running.

The audience for the 35th annual Kennedy Center Honors, taped earlier in the month, was up 27 percent from 2011's Tuesday broadcast during the holiday week, according to The Hollywood Reporter. The special averaged a 1.4 adults rating over two hours.

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Kennedy Center Honors 2012

The other three networks all showed blocks of encores. NBC scored a 1.1 adults rating with 4.3 million viewers and ABC pulled in a 1.0 adults rating and 3.9 million viewers. Fox's reruns averaged a 0.7 adults rating and 1.5 million viewers.

On Thursday, CBS, too, aired a block of repeats and earned the best ratings on the networks - 2.1 among adults with 9.6 million viewers.

It was up against "Happy New Year, Charlies Brown," the last of ABC's holiday specials. According to The Hollywood Reporter, the cartoon was up a tenth of a point from last year to a 1.2 rating among adults.

The other two networks also aired repeats with NBC pulling in a 0.8 adults rating and 2.6 million viewers and Fox earning a 0.7 adults rating and 1.8 million viewers.