Grey’s, Desperate Housewives and LOST Lead Youth Surge for ABC (Nielsen Top 20 18-49 Demo Shows)

April 29th, 2008 by Robert Seidman

American Idol also took the top two spots of the top 20 list that really matters, but ABC rounded out the top five of the top shows among 18-49 year olds with Grey’s Anatomy, Desperate Housewives and one of the best episodes of LOST ever.

Hell’s Kitchen, which joined Idol in the overall top 20 list where it was #17, jumps up to number seven in this list. Gordon Ramsay has some strong 18-49 year old legs. Although it didn’t make the overall top 20, Family Guy joins the FOX family on this list at #11. Stewie is an 18-49 year old force to be reckoned with! The Simpsons makes this list as well at #19. Bart still draws a youthful crowd.

CBS placed every show in its Monday night lineup on this list except The Big Bang Theory which seems to be hampered by the 8pm time slot, and How I Met Your Mother, though on a 18-49 ratings basis, Mother was tied for 19th even without Britney. I have zero doubt HIMYM will be renewed. But in 18-49 viewers, it fell to #21. Nonetheless, Two and a Half Men (#6), Rules of Engagement (#14), and CSI: Miami (#11) all made this list.

As predicted, directly up against new episodes of CSI (#8) and Grey’s Anatomy (#3), NBC’s The Office dipped to number 16 - last week it was number 5.

ABC’s Brothers & Sisters joined the aforementioned ABC shows along with Extreme Makeover: Home Edition (#17) and both airings of Dancing With The Stars (#8 and #13). ABC had seven shows in the top twenty, followed by CBS and FOX with five each and NBC with three.

Joining The Office for the peacocks were both Law & Order (#20) and Law & Order: SVU (#15). While the original L&O had over a million more viewers overall, SVU outperformed the original in the 18-49 demo.

Though ABC had more shows in the top 20 and CBS had as many as FOX, the strength of Idol still left FOX more youthful in the 18-49 and 18-34 and 25-54 age demos for the week. That and American Dad and King of the Hill both making the top 25 for FOX in the 18-49 demo (sadly, we can only report data for the top 20).

Over time I’ve seen a few comments about why are King of the Hill and American Dad still even on - the answer is because they do very well among 18-49 year olds! NCIS, Without a Trace, Medium and even granddaddy ER, also made the top 25.

Nielsen Top Twenty 18-49 Shows by viewers for the week ending 04/27/08:

Rank	Shows	ORIG	P18-49 RATING (LIVE+SD)	# Viewers 18-49 (LIVE+SD) (000)
1	AMERICAN IDOL-TUESDAY	FOX	9.0	11,857
2	AMERICAN IDOL-WEDNESDAY	FOX	8.6	11,323
3	GREY'S ANATOMY-THU 9PM	ABC	6.5	8,525
4	DESPERATE HOUSEWIVES	ABC	5.9	7,697
5	LOST	ABC	5.3	6,985
6	TWO AND A HALF MEN	CBS	5.0	6,524
7	HELL'S KITCHEN	FOX	4.9	6,378
8	CSI	CBS	4.7	6,146
9	DANCING WITH THE STARS	ABC	4.3	5,661
10	SURVIVOR: MICRONESIA	CBS	4.3	5,611
11	CSI: MIAMI	CBS	4.3	5,603
12	FAMILY GUY	FOX	4.3	5,593
13	DANCING W/STARS RESULTS	ABC	4.2	5,468
14	RULES OF ENGAGEMENT	CBS	4.1	5,408
15	LAW AND ORDER:SVU	NBC	4.0	5,259
16	OFFICE	NBC	4.0	5,212
17	EXTREME MAKEOVER:HOME ED.	ABC	3.9	5,125
18	BROTHERS & SISTERS	ABC	3.8	5,011
19	SIMPSONS	FOX	3.7	4,833
20	LAW AND ORDER	NBC	3.7	4,818