CBS and ABC took the top five spots when it came to broadcast primetime shows with the largest average audiences, with Fox sneaking into the top ten twice with the 2008 World Series between the Philadelphia Phillies and Tampa Bay Rays.
CBS had the most shows on this list, with 9, a sports-fueled Fox was second with six and ABC was third with five. The peacocks at NBC were completely shut out.
We believe this list mostly just amounts to bragging rights and it’s the 18-49 demographic viewing that generally pays the bills. So while Desperate Housewives had fewer viewers than NCIS, it still had much more advertising revenue because it was number one among 18-49 year olds while NCIS was number twenty-three.
You can see the full top twenty shows among 18-49 year olds, that list is quite different than the one below. NBC fared at least a bit better on that list where it placed The Office, The Saturday Night Live Weekend Update special, and Heroes. Fringe and How I Met Your Mother also made that list, but not this one.
Only eight shows averaged more than fifteen million viewers, and Grey’s Anatomy was not one of them. Worse still for Shonda Rhimes and crew is that Grey’s, while still a “hit” in the demos is starting to slip, and among 18-49 year olds, Desperate Housewives jumped ahead of it (Desperate Housewives was already ahead in total viewers).
The 2008 World Series on Fox will go down as the lowest-rated, barring some miracles and a game seven, and that isn’t a surprise to us. But three out of four games still made this list. Game three on Saturday didn’t, however. It was number twenty-eight.
Nielsen Top Twenty Shows by viewers for the week ending 10/26/08:
| Rank | Shows | Net | # Viewers (LIVE+SD) (000) | HH RATING (LIVE+SD) | HH SHARE (LIVE+SD) | # OF HOMES (LIVE+SD) (000) | 18-49 Rank |
| 1 | CSI | CBS | 19,492 | 11.7 | 17 | 13,403 | 3 |
| 2 | DANCING WITH THE STARS | ABC | 18,497 | 12.0 | 18 | 13,723 | 13 |
| 3 | NCIS | CBS | 17,226 | 10.7 | 17 | 12,257 | 23 |
| 4 | DANCING W/STARS RESULTS | ABC | 16,350 | 10.7 | 16 | 12,231 | 22 |
| 5 | DESPERATE HOUSEWIVES | ABC | 15,953 | 10.1 | 15 | 11,620 | 1 |
| 6 | FOX WORLD SERIES GAME 4(S) | FOX | 15,479 | 9.3 | 15 | 10,689 | 6 |
| 7 | MENTALIST, THE | CBS | 15,282 | 9.6 | 14 | 11,026 | |
| 8 | CRIMINAL MINDS | CBS | 15,012 | 9.5 | 14 | 10,838 | 12 |
| 9 | FOX WORLD SERIES GAME 1(S) | FOX | 14,634 | 9.2 | 15 | 10,480 | 8 |
| 10 | TWO AND A HALF MEN | CBS | 14,630 | 8.9 | 13 | 10,150 | 5 |
| 11 | GREY’S ANATOMY-THU 9PM | ABC | 14,451 | 9.5 | 14 | 10,887 | 4 |
| 12 | CSI: NY | CBS | 14,390 | 9.2 | 15 | 10,577 | 20 |
| 13 | CSI: MIAMI | CBS | 13,505 | 8.9 | 15 | 10,142 | 21 |
| 14 | SURVIVOR: GABON | CBS | 13,309 | 7.8 | 12 | 8,874 | 10 |
| 15 | OT, THE | FOX | 13,277 | 8.2 | 14 | 9,396 | 7 |
| 16 | HOUSE | FOX | 13,085 | 7.8 | 12 | 8,951 | 2 |
| 17 | FOX WORLD SERIES GM4-PRE(S) | FOX | 13,059 | 8.0 | 13 | 9,135 | 9 |
| 18 | 60 MINUTES | CBS | 12,816 | 8.5 | 14 | 9,740 | |
| 19 | FOX WORLD SERIES GAME 2(S) | FOX | 12,777 | 8.1 | 13 | 9,263 | 14 |
| 20 | EXTREME MAKEOVER:HM ED-8P | ABC | 12,257 | 7.3 | 11 | 8,375 | 18 |
Nielsen Ratings Data: ©2008 The Nielsen Company. All Rights Reserved
All numbers above based on live plus same day DVR viewing.
No surprises here. I’m really glad Life is moving out of the Friday night death slot, but am a bit concerned that it will be going up against the already well established and obviously hugely popular other procedural drama Criminal Minds. What do you guys think? Is there any way to estimate how it will fare, or will only time tell? I’m surprised the numbers this season have been so low. Shame too, as it has a great feel to it. I think so anyway…
Rick, it’s hard for me to predict what happens for Life on Wednesdays. My guess is it will do a bit better than it did on Friday. My feeling is that even against Criminal Minds, it is better to be on Wednesdays than Fridays, but we’ll see if that’s true next week.
Jeez, has NBC really sunk this low that they don’t have one single show in the top 20? I know SNF wasn’t on last week, but man have they taken a dive.
NBC is the new Cw
The only show I watch in that network is Heroes and the shows I watch in CW are America’s Next Top Model and Gossip Girl.
I watch all shows in ABC and 2 reality shows (Survivor/The Amazing Race) in CBS.
Yeah…the CW genuinely sucks…except for one thing: Supernatural. One of the best shows on television, and hardly anyone knows it. Heroes on NBC is no longer any good, but I rather enjoy Chuck. Otherwise, I would agree that it’s failing.
what kind of world do we leave in when Slightly Better Than Mediocre Sitcome Two and a Half Men, is getting better ratings the the Once Again Extraordinary Drama Grey’s Anatomy?!?!?! I mean i know that last season was not up to par, but its as good as it was in season 2 right now! The American viewers are obviously just fair weather fans, who have the attention span of a skittle.
and p.s. CSI is seriously done to death.
Grey’s Anatomy sucks. House is better than any other show in the top 20.
I am sad for NBC. I had hoped with the Olympics coverage over the summer, Nielsen powerhouse that it was, they could have found some way to promote their shows and garner better Nielsen ratings this fall.
I guess if nothing else, this data proves that Nielsen households love crime procedurals and DWTS! And a few of them still watch the World Series, too ;. The 18-49 rankings show that several of the CBS hits still skew toward older demos, too…