American Idol and unscripted programming rules the ratings, and with ABC’s Dancing with the Stars back on the scene, the top four most viewed programs of the week were all unscripted (two AI, two DWTS). A new episode of CBS’ top comedy, Two and a Half Men landed in the number five spot, followed by Survivor: Micronesia, 60 Minutes, and The New Adventures of Old Christine with CBS ruling the the fifth through eighth slots on the list. ABC’s LOST and Extreme Makeover: Home Edition rounded out the top ten.
The bottom half of the top twenty was also led by FOX with Moment of Truth followed by a repeat of NCIS and a repeat of Law & Order. Crime and legal dramas seem to fare well in reruns. Next were two installments of Deal or No Deal and an original Medium, which along with the Law & Order rerun represented NBC’s only shows on this list.
More people watched the Sunday postgame coverage of the NCAA tourney than actually watched any of the games, though technically only 1000 more people watched that than watched the overrun of the actual games on Sunday evening.
The bottom two spots on the list were Oprah’s Big Give, which narrowly edged out number 20, a rerun of CSI: Miami (side note, in the overnights for 3/24, the new episode of CSI: Miami pulled in around 16 million and is sure to be much higher on the list next week).
If you include sports as “unscripted” (which excepting WWE, they absolutely are but are not quite in the same genre as other unscripted programming) thirteen shows out of this week’s top 20 were unscripted. And there you have it.
Top Twenty Shows by viewers for the week ending 03/23/08:
| Rank | Show | NET | HH RATING (LIVE+SD) | HH SHARE (LIVE+SD) | # OF PERSONS 2+ (LIVE+SD) (000) |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | AMERICAN IDOL-TUESDAY | FOX | 15.2 | 23 | 27,338 |
| 2 | AMERICAN IDOL-WEDNESDAY | FOX | 15.3 | 24 | 26,078 |
| 3 | DANCING WITH THE STARS Monday | ABC | 13.3 | 21 | 21,147 |
| 4 | DANCING W/STARS SP Tuesday | ABC | 10.8 | 16 | 17,019 |
| 5 | TWO AND A HALF MEN | CBS | 8.5 | 13 | 14,057 |
| 6 | SURVIVOR:MICRONESIA WE-SP(S) | CBS | 6.7 | 11 | 11,556 |
| 7 | 60 MINUTES | CBS | 7.3 | 13 | 11,537 |
| 8 | OLD CHRISTINE | CBS | 7.1 | 11 | 11,470 |
| 9 | LOST | ABC | 7.0 | 11 | 11,461 |
| 10 | EXTREME MAKEOVER:HOME ED. | ABC | 6.4 | 11 | 11,365 |
| 11 | MOMENT OF TRUTH | FOX | 7.0 | 11 | 10,922 |
| 12 | NCIS (R ) | CBS | 6.8 | 11 | 10,601 |
| 13 | LAW AND ORDER (R ) | NBC | 7.1 | 12 | 10,490 |
| 14 | DEAL OR NO DEAL 3/20(S) | NBC | 6.6 | 11 | 10,259 |
| 15 | DEAL OR NO DEAL-MON | NBC | 6.2 | 10 | 10,080 |
| 16 | MEDIUM | NBC | 6.4 | 11 | 10,072 |
| 17 | CBS NCAA POST GAME SUN 1(S) | CBS | 6.1 | 12 | 10,027 |
| 18 | CBS NCAA BSKBL CHMP-SA-3(S) | CBS | 6.0 | 12 | 10,026 |
| 19 | OPRAHS BIG GIVE | ABC | 6.1 | 10 | 9,807 |
| 20 | CSI: MIAMI (R ) | CBS | 6.4 | 11 | 9,643 |
Nielsen Ratings Data: ©2008 Nielsen Media Research, Inc. All Rights Reserved
