CBS rescued holiday-week viewers with its Dec. 29 airing of "The Bodyguard'' and was rewarded with wins for the night in both households and adults 18-49.

The 1992 Kevin Costner-Whitney Houston picture delivered an 11.1 rating, 18 share in homes and a 6.1/16 in adults 18-49, CBS' best nonsports Tuesday in that key demographic since Feb. 28 1995 ("Rescue 911'' and "Children of the Dust, Part 2.'')

It's a stunning triumph for CBS during a low- viewership week that's generally dismissed by the networks with rerun programming. Up against "The Bodyguard'' Dec. 29, ABC, NBC and Fox fell to their lowest Tuesday 18-49 averages of the season, excepting election night.

It also demonstrates the opportunities during low- viewership periods such as summer and holidays, which is when the basic-cable services make great strides.

"The Bodyguard'' was, in fact, rerun programming, having aired three times previously on ABC, but not since Feb. 22, 1997. CBS saw more Nielsen life in the film and aggressively promoted it during Dec. 26-27 football telecasts, resulting in the picture's best Nielsens since its broadcast debut on May 1, 1995.

Each household rating point represents an estimated 994,000 homes, or 1% of the country's TV households. Each adults 18-49 rating point represents 1.239 million viewers, 1% of the U.S. total. A share is the same sort of percentage, except it's measured against only the homes or viewers watching TV during the time slot involved.