Just as last year, ABC dominated the top of the charts for the first official week of the new season with Dancing With the Stars, Desperate Housewives and Grey’s Anatomy. Better still for the Mouse network, Grey’s and Housewives took the top two spots in the top shows among 18-49 year olds.
NCIS was CBS most-watched show at number five with over 18 million viewers, but it was only ranked 25 among 18-49 year olds. CBS ‘s most-watched show among 18-49 year olds was Two and a Half Men (#5 among 18-49 year olds) which was 11th on this list. Still, both CSI: Miami and Two and a Half Men did better among 18-49 year olds than House, which must be at least a little disconcerting for Fox. Fringe, which didn’t make this list was #18 among 18-49 year olds and The Simpsons and Family Guy (which also didn’t make this list) were number 14 and 17 respectively among 18-49 year olds.
NBC had nothing in the top twenty most-viewed shows list outside of NFL Sunday Night Football and the pregame (which was only 8 minutes worth). The peacocks fared a bit better among 18-49 year olds also placing Heroes (#8) and The Office (#10) on that list. You can see the full top twenty among 18-49 year olds here.
If you don’t see an 18-49 ranking it merely means the show was not among the top 26 shows we saw data for among 18-49 year olds for the week.
You can see how the networks performed relative to each other during primetime last week, and relative to last year, as well.
Nielsen Top Twenty Shows by viewers for the week ending 09/28/08:
| Rank | Shows | Net | # Viewers (LIVE+SD) (000) | HH RATING (LIVE+SD) | HH SHARE (LIVE+SD) | # OF HOMES (LIVE+SD) (000) | 18-49 Rank |
| 1 | DANCING WITH THE STARS | ABC | 21,338 | 13.4 | 20 | 15,344 | 4 |
| 2 | DESPERATE HOUSEWIVES | ABC | 18,684 | 11.4 | 17 | 13,105 | 2 |
| 3 | GREY’S ANATOMY-THU 9PM | ABC | 18,469 | 11.9 | 18 | 13,595 | 1 |
| 4 | DANCING W/STARS SP-9/23(S) | ABC | 18,302 | 11.7 | 18 | 13,374 | 11 |
| 5 | NCIS | CBS | 18,026 | 11.3 | 18 | 12,988 | 25 |
| 6 | NBC SUNDAY NIGHT FOOTBALL | NBC | 17,340 | 10.8 | 17 | 12,311 | 3 |
| 7 | CSI: MIAMI | CBS | 17,233 | 11.1 | 18 | 12,723 | 6 |
| 8 | CRIMINAL MINDS | CBS | 17,007 | 10.5 | 16 | 12,030 | 12 |
| 9 | DANCING W/STARS RESULT SP(S) | ABC | 15,867 | 10.4 | 17 | 11,860 | 24 |
| 10 | MENTALIST, THE | CBS | 15,603 | 9.9 | 15 | 11,301 | |
| 11 | TWO AND A HALF MEN | CBS | 14,877 | 9.1 | 13 | 10,365 | 5 |
| 12 | CSI: NY | CBS | 14,591 | 9.2 | 16 | 10,564 | 20 |
| 13 | SURVIVOR: GABON | CBS | 13,058 | 7.7 | 12 | 8,788 | 16 |
| 14 | 60 MINUTES | CBS | 12,592 | 8.0 | 14 | 9,122 | |
| 15 | HOUSE | FOX | 12,378 | 7.5 | 12 | 8,617 | 7 |
| 16 | OT, THE | FOX | 12,185 | 7.6 | 13 | 8,750 | 9 |
| 17 | BROTHERS & SISTERS | ABC | 12,029 | 7.7 | 13 | 8,834 | 13 |
| 18 | EXTREME MAKEOVER:HM ED-8P | ABC | 11,946 | 7.4 | 11 | 8,446 | 23 |
| 19 | SUNDAY NIGHT NFL PRE-KICK | NBC | 11,933 | 7.4 | 12 | 8,416 | 15 |
| 20 | COLD CASE | CBS | 11,358 | 7.4 | 11 | 8,417 |
Nielsen Ratings Data: ©2008 The Nielsen Company. All Rights Reserved
All numbers above based on live plus same day DVR viewing.
ABC and CBS.. the only real networks these days. Great numbers for both.
Disgusting. I don’t watch anything on CBS or ABC, just FOX and NBC. If everyone were like me (which I’m glad they aren’t JUST like me) than this list would be completely different.
Stunning Observations:
ABC had the four most watched shows of the week and seven of the top twenty. You automatically know DWTS is going to be one and two but I didn’t know their dramatic series were so strong. CBS has great murder mysteries across the board.
DWTS is the only series averaging 20+ million viewers per week?
NBC has nothing after football season ends in December.
I wonder why it is that the networks are allowed to get away with blatnt ageism? If any other business discriminated against customers on the basis of age, they would be penalized!
Excuse my misspelling of blatant. Sticky fingers!!!
You know how I feel Angel. I wonder when the tweens will be counted in the rating because they account for billions of dollars in spending. We all know it comes down to $$$. We spend wisely on ourselves but spend lavishly our families. Where’s the AARP when you need them?