Another week, and FOX took the top 2 spots in the list with American Idol. Shocking, I know! ABC rounded out the top five with Dancing with the Stars, Desperate Housewives and the Dancing With the Stars results show. Maybe ABC should title all their shows to begin with the letter D!
CBS had the most shows in the top 20 with nine, with a new airing of NCIS (#6) being its best performer followed by Two and a Half Men and CSI: NY. Impressively CBS also landed two repeats, CSI (#17) and CSI: Miami (#15)
Although critics panned it, the Democratic Debate on ABC was the 14th most-watched show of the week, coming in ahead of both Hell’s Kitchen and the finale of Oprah’s Big Give (#19). Although the debates didn’t fare nearly as well as Oprah and Hell’s Kitchen in the all important 18-49 demographic.
Speaking of which, with 9.86 million viewers, NBC’s The Office was #21, and didn’t make the list, although it was the #5 most-watched show among adults aged 18-49, but more about those numbers on Thursday.
Hell’s Kitchen (#16) was the only other FOX show beside the Idol airing to make this week’s top 20, for a total of three shows on the list. But that’s not as bad as NBC which could only place two shows – a new Law & Order: SVU (#9) and the season finale of The Biggest Loser (#12).
Every show in this week’s list (even the repeats) had over ten million viewers, but only eleven shows had more than 12 million viewers, and only six had more than 15 million. American Idol’s two airings were the only 20 million plus viewer events for the week.
Nielsen Top Twenty Shows by viewers for the week ending 04/20/08:
| Rank | Show | Net | HH RATING (LIVE+SD) | HH SHARE (LIVE+SD) | # OF HOMES (LIVE+SD) (000) | # OF PERSONS 2+ (LIVE+SD) (000) |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | AMERICAN IDOL-TUESDAY | FOX | 13.9 | 22 | 15,626 | 23,646 |
| 2 | AMERICAN IDOL-WEDNESDAY | FOX | 13.4 | 21 | 15,143 | 23,339 |
| 3 | DANCING WITH THE STARS | ABC | 11.3 | 17 | 12,762 | 17,198 |
| 4 | DESPERATE HOUSEWIVES | ABC | 10.1 | 16 | 11,438 | 15,746 |
| 5 | DANCING W/STARS RESULTS | ABC | 10.1 | 15 | 11,342 | 15,421 |
| 6 | NCIS | CBS | 9.4 | 15 | 10,629 | 15,128 |
| 7 | TWO AND A HALF MEN | CBS | 8.5 | 13 | 9,580 | 13,937 |
| 8 | CSI: NY | CBS | 8.6 | 14 | 9,694 | 13,429 |
| 9 | LAW AND ORDER:SVU | NBC | 8.8 | 14 | 9,894 | 13,268 |
| 10 | CRIMINAL MINDS | CBS | 8.2 | 13 | 9,256 | 12,978 |
| 11 | SURVIVOR: MICRONESIA | CBS | 7.3 | 12 | 8,181 | 12,014 |
| 12 | BIGGEST LOSER 5 | NBC | 6.9 | 11 | 7,732 | 11,391 |
| 13 | 60 MINUTES | CBS | 7.1 | 13 | 8,016 | 10,749 |
| 14 | ABC NEWS: DEM PRES DEBATE(S) | ABC | 7.1 | 11 | 8,053 | 10,693 |
| 15 | CSI: MIAMI (R ) | CBS | 7.3 | 12 | 8,270 | 10,628 |
| 16 | HELL'S KITCHEN | FOX | 6.3 | 9 | 7,111 | 10,560 |
| 17 | CSI (R ) | CBS | 6.9 | 11 | 7,834 | 10,476 |
| 18 | RULES OF ENGAGEMENT | CBS | 6.6 | 10 | 7,457 | 10,398 |
| 19 | OPRAH'S BIG GIVE | ABC | 6.3 | 10 | 7,108 | 10,092 |
| 20 | BROTHERS & SISTERS | ABC | 7.1 | 12 | 7,968 | 10,080 |
Nielsen Ratings Data: ©2008 Nielsen Media Research, Inc. All Rights Reserved
