Craig Ferguson (the dark prince of late night tv) received a ratings boost this week that put his CBS show, Late Late Show with Craig Ferguson,  ahead of Late Night with Jimmy Fallon (@jimmyfallon) for the first time (and the first time in his time slot for the first time since 2005).

According to The Hollywood Reporter up until last night, the two shows were in tie in the ratings.  But last night, Ferguson pulled out in front with a clear lead over Fallon and Jimmy Kimmel Live! (@jimmykimmellive) (though not by much).

Is this just a lucky fluke or the ominous sign of things to come for Fallon and NBC (along with The Tonight Show with Conan struggling against the mighty Letterman who has been beating him the ratings and The Jay Leno Show which is struggling to gain footing its tricky 10PM timeslot)?

Ratings details below. 

11:35 p.m. ET
NBC “Tonight,” 0.9 rating, 4 share*
CBS “Late Show,” 0.9/4*
ABC “Nightline,” 1.0/4

12:05 a.m. ET
ABC “Kimmel,” 0.5/3*

12:35 a.m. ET
NBC “Late Night,” 0.5/3*
CBS “Late Late Show,” 0.6/3*

1:35 a.m. ET
NBC “Last Call,” 0.3/2*

TOTAL VIEWERS

11:35 p.m. ET
NBC “Tonight,” 2.3 million viewers*
CBS “Late Show,” 3.9 million viewers*
ABC “Nightline,” 3.9 million viewers

12:05 a.m. ET
ABC “Kimmel,” 1.7 million viewers*

12:35 a.m. ET
NBC “Late Night,” 1.3 million viewers*
CBS “Late Late Show,” 1.9 million viewers*

1:35 a.m. ET
NBC “Last Call,” 0.8 million viewers*

(Asterisk: Tuesday night was coded an election night by Nielsen and not counted in the weekly average, but it doesn’t change the outcome if included).

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